Plant Allies

Aylsham

Our October to May programme is almost fully booked- there is 1 space left on the October, November and February workshops.

Meeting our Plant Allies: a folk herbalism course in Aylsham

We’ll get to know one native plant a month:

Learning the folk history, growing preferences and benefits
Making folk remedies to support your physical and mental health
Mapping out Aylsham’s Food and Medicine Forests and learning how to identify allies where you live
Listening to what we can learn through plant meditation
Sharing plant folklore and stories: exploring ways in which these plants are weaved into our past and our present
Conducting your own research and creating your own book of Plant Allies

Come and meet your plant allies and new friends to take us through Autumn, Winter and Spring: Monthly on a Friday from Oct 2025 to May 2026.

Workshop Dates

All sessions are now almost fully booked– email us to join the waiting list or to hear about future Plant Allies workshops.

3 October 2025 – Nettle – (one space available)
7 November 2025 – Burdock – (one space available)
5 December 2025 – Mugwort – Fully booked
9 January 2026 – Skullcap – Fully booked
6 February 2026 – Rose – (one space available)
6 March 2026 – Gorse – Fully booked
17 April 2026 – Raspberry – Fully booked
15 May 2026 – Lemon Balm – Fully booked

All sessions will take place from 9.30am until 2.30pm.

What to expect

Each workshop date will focus on a different native plant. Outside the workshops, over the course of the month, you will be invited to continue exploring and connecting with that plant in your own time, and share with us what you learn. We will invite you to do this during our in-person gatherings, and via a Plant Allies WhatsApp group.

Each workshop will follow a similar format: We will spend the morning learning about the plant, and spend some quiet time meditating together while drinking the plant prepared as a herbal tea*. During the afternoon, we will spend time connecting more deeply with our plant allies through making folk remedies, walking and mapping, or researching the stories and properties of the plants.

*technically, since it doesn’t contain actual tea, it’s an infusion, not a tea. This nugget of information is an excellent example of the sorts of things we’ll be learning, together!

How to Sign Up:

To sign up, you will first need to send an expression of interest by email to hello@wastesmiths.co.uk and let us know why you would like to take part, what you are hoping to get out of taking part, and the workshop dates you hope to book onto.

Once we have reviewed your expression of interest, we will get in touch to confirm your booking/s and ask you about any access needs, allergies or dietary requirements.

The booking process will generally work on a first-come, first-served basis, but in the event that we are rapidly oversubscribed, we will prioritise bookings from people who are able to attend more than one of the workshop dates.

Meeting Our Plant Allies is a series of workshops designed to work like a course, with the learning each month building on and reinforcing that of the previous month. With this in mind, we do encourage people who are keen to take part and get the most out of the course to come along to all of the dates, if possible.

However, we do understand that for some people, it will not be possible to come to every date, and that for others, there may only be one or two dates that are achievable. For this reason, you are welcome to book to attend individual dates, and either treat these as one-off workshops, or stay connected throughout the course by engaging with the plants in your own time and participating in the WhatsApp community.

We ask that if you book, but find that you can no longer attend on a specific date, that you let us know with as much notice as possible, so that we can offer your space to someone on the waiting list. You can do this by sending an email to hello@wastesmiths.co.uk.

You will need:

Ingredients and materials:

Meeting our Plant Allies has been kindly funded by the Love Norfolk Fund, thanks to Norfolk Community Foundation. This means that we are able to offer free places on each workshop date. However, you will need to cover the costs of your own ingredients and materials for each medicine-making session, and purchase or gather your own herbs for tea-making outside the sessions. You will be responsible for bringing your own materials with you to each workshop. You can source these things independently, but we will be putting together ‘Plant Allies Kits’ that you can purchase from us – more details below.

Lunch!

Since the workshops are all-day, you will need to bring your lunch with you. There will not be time during the lunch-break to leave the site to go and buy lunch, and there is nowhere on site to buy lunch.

There will be the facility to make hot drinks in the classroom, and we will provide biscuits to go with this.

Other things:

We will provide cups for the plant meditation but you might like to bring your own reusable cup with you to make teas and coffees.

You might wish to bring a pen and notebook/journal with you.

The classroom we will be using can get quite cold during the winter months, so we suggest you dress for the weather and wrap up warm. You might like to bring a blanket or a hot water bottle with you to feel cosy.

Plant Allies ‘Kits’

We will be putting together ‘Plant Allies Course Kits’ which include all the materials and equipment required for the whole course of workshops, which you can choose to purchase from us. This should work out as more cost-effective than buying your ingredients and materials individually. You will be able to collect your course kit from us at the Make, Grow + Mend day on Saturday 6th September, or on the first Plant Allies workshop on Friday 3rd October.

If you would like to purchase a course kit, let us know when you send your expression of interest and we will send you further details of how to do this.

Expression of interest

If you are interested in taking part, please email hello@wastesmiths.co.uk

The venue

We’ll be using the teaching room at Eves Hill Veg Co in Aylsham. You can find this venue at Bushey Place, Old Cromer Rd, Aylsham, NR11 6HF.

Directions: Eves Hill Veg Co is a 5 minute walk from the centre of Aylsham. As you come out of Aylsham down Red Lion Street, go past Bushey Place house and take the track on your left sign posted to Bushey Farm. We are at the end of the track on the left.

The Eves Hill Veg Co website is HERE

Accessibility

The mobile classroom where these sessions will take place is accessed via a set of steps. In the event of an emergency, participants would need to be able to evacuate without assistance. The carpark and toilets can either be accessed via a gravel driveway or a shortcut through a grass field. Unfortunately there is no wheelchair accessible toilet on site.

If you would like to discuss any accessibility requirements, we are keen to hear from you. Please email us on hello@wastesmiths.co.uk

Plant Allies is part of the Make, Grow + Mend project. If you would like to find out more, you can visit our website, find us on Facebook, or follow our updates on Instagram.

If you’d like more information about Plant Allies, or anything else we do, we would love you to get in touch – send us an email to hello@wastesmiths.co.uk

Funded by the Love Norfolk Fund, thanks to Norfolk Community Foundation.