DATES FOR 2013.

  I have been asked to run courses on specialist areas like how to plant and sow herbs in the ideal conditions, how to harvest, freeze and store for winter use and how to incorporate herbs in your garden design. Gardening Clubs and other groups are asking for garden tours with an emphasis on herbs or roses. I use roses in all areas of my garden and pick the most scented petals to use in recipes. Do contact me if you have topics you would like covered in half-day courses.Keep an eye open for Herb Society events and my articles in the Daily Telegraph gardening section and gardening magazines.

HERB COURSES will be held in June when the garden is at its best. Herbs are at their youngest and freshest, hundreds of alliums light up the borders and my vast collection of roses are in bloom.

ROSE DAYS. I am running a course in the first half of June on choosing and using roses to most effect, including suggestions for other plants to use with them in a rose garden. I am also holding a day teaching rose pruning in March, which I have been doing for several years.

TUSSIE-MUSSIES.  After writing in the Daily Telegraph about making these bunches of herbs and scented flowers for my older son's recent wedding I have been asked to run a course on how to do it. They have been used for centuries to ward off illness because people thought that disease came from bad air. During plagues these small posies of antiseptic herbs like rosemary, sage and thyme, combined with scented roses and dianthus, were carried to prevent infection and counteract bad smells. Today we know more about dealing with infections, but they do make a perfect present. After learning about growing the herbs and scented plants and then making your own posy with roses and herbs, you end the afternoon by taking it home.

GARDEN TOURS are held for groups of 20 to 50. Tours specialising in herbs will include herb tasting in the barn and a teaching session in the herb garden. Tours focusing on how to use roses in different ways all over the garden can also be booked for June. But there will also be a chance to see and learn about  the other parts of the six acre garden - the white garden, water garden, the pergola garden, the sunken garden, the rose garden with underplanting of foxgloves, opium poppies, nigella and salvia, as well as the main herbaceous garden. Please check the page on garden tours for details.

 Email Judith at media.advantage@virgin.net  to book a course and find further information. We are in the South Cotswolds, between Cirencester and Burford.

 COURSES. All classes start at 2pm when fresh herb teas and biscuits will be served. Herb tastings take place during the afternoon. All courses cost £65 and more details about their content are available on the Herb Courses page. Other courses can be organised to suit demand and for special groups, including Saturdays.

HERB COURSES FOR JUNE.

JUNE 10th. Herbs and food.

12th. Roses for all types of garden.

14th Tussie-Mussies.

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