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Nurture a passion for growing your own with River Cottage’s Head Gardener Adam Crofts.

At River Cottage they believe growing your own veg has the power to change your life. In these times of intensive farming, reliance on harmful pesticides and the detrimental effect it has on our environment, we now more than ever need to be more reliant on locally grown and sustainable food systems.

From propagation and tools, to considering what varieties to grow and how to nurture them, this is the perfect course for both the curious and committed. You will be taught a comprehensive range of skills and techniques focusing on organic vegetable growing.

Once you’ve got to grips with growing your veggies, Gelf Alderson (Head Chef at River Cottage) will show you how you can get them from plot to plate. Using your home-grown produce, you will learn a range of skills and techniques so that you can fully embrace all kinds of veg in your cooking.

Obby - Discover London's favourite classes and workshops.

Eat the Veg Patch

Botanically speaking, ‘bulbs’ is a collective name which tubers, corms and rhizomes alongside tulips and narcissi. This course covers how to plant spring flowering bulbs in the naturalistic style used by Van der Kloet and Oudolf: bulbs that are planted in autumn, go through a cold period in winter and start to flower in spring. The first lesson features all kinds of other spring flowering bulbs (except tulips) which can cheer up our gardens, from early to late spring, like snow drops, grape hyacinths and ornamental onions, to name a few.

Spring Flowering Bulbs with Perennials

Over four weekly lessons, Clive gives invaluable advice on both the practical and artistic aspects of flower and plant photography, drawn from his 25 years’ experience.

In the course, Clive uses over 150 beautiful and striking examples of his flower and plant photographs to illustrate approaches and techniques you can use in your own work. This journey begins with considering the ways in which different types of light can be used to transform your images.

Clive moves on to discuss ways of composing images using the wonderfully diverse range of shapes and colours found in plants and flowers. He then looks at techniques for creating images in both indoor and outdoor environments. The course is completed with a discussion of more advanced creative techniques.

This Flower and Plant Photography Masterclass is filled with detailed advice on the many ways you can create striking images of flowers and plants, given by an acknowledged expert in his field.

Flower and Plant Photography

Multi award winning lecturer Chris Beardshaw shares his secrets of the naturalistic design, beauty and maintenance of pots.

During this 4-part course, perfect for taking at home, Chris takes you on a journey to look at Container Gardening from both aesthetic and practical perspectives. Armed with all the inspiration and information you need; you will learn how to create your own style of container gardening. By the end of the course, with the support of Chris and his team, you will have designed a series of containers to suit your outdoor space and your design ambition - from the simple to the complex - and gained the horticultural knowledge to give your plants and containers the best conditions in which to thrive.

This course focuses primarily on ornamental plants and is aimed at the amateur and enthusiastic gardener. Each lesson includes both a design and practical element.

Container Gardening

Over four weekly lessons, Clive gives invaluable advice on both the practical and artistic aspects of flower and plant photography, drawn from his 25 years’ experience. He also sets assignments based on subjects discussed in the lessons and gives personalised feedback on your work.

In the course, Clive uses over 150 beautiful and striking examples of his flower and plant photographs to illustrate approaches and techniques you can use in your own work. This journey begins with considering the ways in which different types of light can be used to transform your images.

Clive moves on to discuss ways of composing images using the wonderfully diverse range of shapes and colours found in plants and flowers. He then looks at techniques for creating images in both indoor and outdoor environments. The course is completed with a discussion of more advanced creative techniques.

This Flower and Plant Photography Masterclass is filled with detailed advice on the many ways you can create striking images of flowers and plants, given by an acknowledged expert in his field.

Clive Nichols has established a reputation as one of the world's finest flower and garden photographers. His passion for the subject comes across in every image that he makes. Clive has photographed many of the world's best gardens, including HRH The Prince of Wales's own private garden in Scotland, Lord Rothschild's private garden in Corfu and Lord Heseltine's private garden in Oxfordshire. In addition his work has appeared in hundreds of books as well as in countless magazines, calendars and brochures. Over the past 25 years he has amassed a stunning collection of over 60,000 images which are available for reproduction. Clive regularly gives master classes in flower and garden photography for The Royal Horticultural Society and for the past 5 years he has been one of the two main judges for the prestigious 'International Garden Photographer of the Year' awards.

Flower and Plant Photography with Expert tuition

Van der Kloet has worked alongside her compatriot, garden designer Piet Oudolf, to incorporate bulbs into New York City’s Battery Park which we feature in Piet Oudolf and Dr Noel Kingsbury’s latest course here at Learning with Experts.

Longevity is a kind of sustainability, and that may be one reason van der Kloet’s designs have caught on. Jacqueline has had commissions around the world, including a ten-acre renovation of beds at Holland’s Keukenhof, one of the largest ­public flower gardens in the world. The projects she’s done in the United States have met with resounding success. Van der Kloet collaborated with Oudolf again in Chicago’s Millennium Park in 2007, followed by a stint at the New York Botanical Garden’s Seasonal Walk, in 2008. TV host and author Martha Stewart unveiled her at her New York, home, which includes 116,000 bulbs, all in shades of blue and distributed by van der Kloet’s signature “sprinkling,” which means handfuls of bulbs are lovingly tossed onto the ground, to be planted where they fall.

Botanically speaking, ‘bulbs’ is a collective name which tubers, corms and rhizomes alongside tulips and narcissi. This course covers how to plant spring flowering bulbs in the naturalistic style used by Van der Kloet and Oudolf: bulbs that are planted in autumn, go through a cold period in winter and start to flower in spring. The first lesson features all kinds of other spring flowering bulbs (except tulips) which can cheer up our gardens, from early to late spring, like snow drops, grape hyacinths and ornamental onions, to name a few.

Spring Flowering Bulbs with Perennials with Expert Tuition

Multi award winning lecturer Chris Beardshaw shares his secrets of the naturalistic design, beauty and maintenance of pots.

During this 4-part course, perfect for taking at home, Chris takes you on a journey to look at Container Gardening from both aesthetic and practical perspectives. Armed with all the inspiration and information you need; you will learn how to create your own style of container gardening. By the end of the course, with the support of Chris and his team, you will have designed a series of containers to suit your outdoor space and your design ambition - from the simple to the complex - and gained the horticultural knowledge to give your plants and containers the best conditions in which to thrive.

This course focuses primarily on ornamental plants and is aimed at the amateur and enthusiastic gardener. Each lesson includes both a design and practical element.

Over three decades, plantsman, broadcaster and designer Chris Beardshaw has become one of the most highly regarded and influential figures in design and horticulture. He is a hugely popular garden designer, having produced award winning schemes at all RHS shows - including RHS Chelsea Flower Show - and has picked up many Best in Show's and Gold medals as well as awards from other international flower and garden shows.

You’ll recognise Chris as being a regular on BBC hit series Gardeners’ World, Hidden Gardens and The Flying Gardener. Chris is also a panellist on BBC Radio 4 Gardeners' Question Time - and regularly faces a live audience of gardening enthusiasts!

Container Gardening with Expert Tuition

At River Cottage they believe growing your own veg has the power to change your life. In these times of intensive farming, reliance on harmful pesticides and the detrimental effect it has on our environment, we now more than ever need to be more reliant on locally grown and sustainable food systems.

From propagation and tools, to considering what varieties to grow and how to nurture them, this is the perfect course for both the curious and committed. You will be taught a comprehensive range of skills and techniques focusing on organic vegetable growing.

Once you’ve got to grips with growing your veggies, Gelf Alderson (Head Chef at River Cottage) will show you how you can get them from plot to plate. Using your home-grown produce, you will learn a range of skills and techniques so that you can fully embrace all kinds of veg in your cooking.

Adam Crofts is an expert in organic gardening with a commitment to growing and eating the seasons.
His fascination with gardening and the natural world started at an early age. Adam comes from a family of organic gardeners, and with gardening in his blood and a long held belief in the importance of organic produce, he has been growing veg for as long as he can remember.

Eat the Veg Patch with Expert Tuition

This course inspires those who want to rebuild or restructure a small backyard or just redecorate a corner to get more privacy and atmosphere and host beautiful soirées summer after summer. This course can be a starting point to renovate an old rooftop into the new bar in the neighborhood as well as to rearrange the herb section in an existing and well designed backyard.

Annie will guide you step by step through design process, starting with where to get inspiration and how to assess your site. The next stage is surveying and analysing every element of the garden, before working on the site arrangement and the detailed design. Once you are happy with the layout of your garden you can choose and design you own planting scheme. If you have a small garden that is really puzzling you, then this is the course for you.

Small gardens whether urban or rural can seem daunting when it comes to designing and arranging the space and selecting the right plants. The size restriction may seem like a disadvantage but actually this is not the case. It is true that with smaller gardens you need to make every single element work hard. Sometimes you need to make one thing have two uses. For example a retaining wall can also act as a seat and so on.

Designing Small Gardens

This course inspires those who want to rebuild or restructure a small backyard or just redecorate a corner to get more privacy and atmosphere and host beautiful soirées summer after summer. This course can be a starting point to renovate an old rooftop into the new bar in the neighborhood as well as to rearrange the herb section in an existing and well designed backyard.

Annie will guide you step by step through design process, starting with where to get inspiration and how to assess your site. The next stage is surveying and analysing every element of the garden, before working on the site arrangement and the detailed design. Once you are happy with the layout of your garden you can choose and design you own planting scheme. If you have a small garden that is really puzzling you, then this is the course for you.

Small gardens whether urban or rural can seem daunting when it comes to designing and arranging the space and selecting the right plants. The size restriction may seem like a disadvantage but actually this is not the case. It is true that with smaller gardens you need to make every single element work hard. Sometimes you need to make one thing have two uses. For example a retaining wall can also act as a seat and so on.

Annie Guilfoyle is an award-winning garden designer with her design studio Creative Landscapes in West Sussex (UK). Her work is varied from contemporary to traditional and urban to rural. She has been the Director of Garden Design at KLC School of Design and now teaches at the world famous gardens of Great Dixter (UK), Chanitcleer (USA) and West Dean (UK). She lectures in Denmark, Russia, Italy and the USA. Annie is inspired by the natural landscape, modern art and architecture and writes regularly for the premier UK garden magazines such as Gardens Illustrated and has been commissioned to write a book on the creative approach to garden design.

Designing Small Gardens with Expert Tuition

Learn the basics of crochet whilst creating some fabulous granny squares even your granny would be jealous of - what's not to love?A fabulous workshop for beginners and intermediates alike!

Can't find a date that works? No worries, we have lots of other crochet classes - just click here to see!

In this class

This class is great for beginners and will teach you how to use the hook and yarn correctly and all the most common crochet stitches.

Some vibrant colours, a splash of fun and voila, the world is your oyster! You can take your granny squares wherever you want - leave it as a blanket or transform it into a scarf. There is nothing you can't do! If you are left-handed - no need to worry. We have worked with hundreds of left-handed students before and they have managed to master it, so will you!

The beauty of it is you don't even need to bring anything. We will provide you with:
a crochet hook
a pattern
enough yarn to create all the vibrant granny squares your heart desires!

Now you can

learn the basics of crochet such as how to hold the hook and yarn
learn the three commonly used crochet stitches
learn how to crochet some fantastic granny squares

Beginners Crochet: Granny Squares

Learn how to arm knit yourself a super cozy blanket. Our popular workshop is back! Arm knitting with arms and without needles! This is the simplest and most satisfying form of giant knitting (or to some known as extreme knitting) you will get. With the scrummiest of all super sized yarn and just a few hours you will go home proud as punch with your blanket!

Giant knitting is a knitting technique using super jumbo giant yarn to create high quality pieces, ideal for making large scarves or snoods, blankets, cushions and even carpets! And we love spreading the love of giant arm knitting too! Its addictive and a lot of fun. Perfect to get rid of any stress or to get those creative juices flowing again.

Arm Knitting - Knit a Large Blanket with your Arms

After this class, making handwoven wall art at home will no longer be a pipedream or something you see on Pinterest! This class is suited to anyone and everyone, no prior experience in weaving (or anything to be honest!) required.

In this class

The time has finally come! Tea & Crafting are finally offering a class in weaving so you no longer have to drool over Pinterest and can start making instead!

Let your imagination run wild! We are talking colours, textures, whatever. This class is all about the creativity. So bring a mate (or don't, there will be plenty of weaving and Obby lovers attending!). Don't worry about bringing anything - we will provide all the materials for you!

Now you can

set the warp on your loom
weave some beautiful stitches using an assortment of different textiles in the class
finish off your piece with handmade fringing

Beginners Tapestry Weaving for ALL LEVELS

We're not sure when and we can't be sure who started it, but somewhere along the line, knitting became the quirky girl's pastime du jour.

In this class

Girls all over the shop are seen knitting, not just the hip indie girl you see knitting on the train, its been said that Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz and Madonna all like to have a tussle with knitting. If you're feeling out of the loop, then come to this class to get in on the action.

By the end of this two and a half hours of knitting and knattering, you'll feel like a pro; you'll have learned all the basics including the classics like knit and purl stitch, how to cast on and cast off, stocking stitch and even that cheeky garter stitch.

AND take home the take away kit so you can keep practising your new skills at home.

Beginners Knitting Class

This artistic and highly creative class provides you with the best opportunity to learn a fun and useful new skill. Join this evening class and learn how to embroider a pretty hoop to hang on your wall.

In this class

You do not need to have any previous experience prior to taking this course. Complete beginners are welcome.

In this workshop you will learn all the techniques of embroidery and learn five popular embroidery stitches including back stitch, satin stitch, straight stitch and the French knot. You’ll be able to choose a fun design (or a drawing of your own) to embroider yourself using all the new skills you have learnt.

Your embroidery design will stay in the hoop and you can hang it on the wall for show!  Once you’ve mastered the skill, you can try napkins, sheets, pillowcases… In fact, there won’t be a soft furnishing in your house left unadorned!

Tea and crafting will provide templates with images for you to choose from, but you are also welcome to bring in your own images/ designs to experiment with during the class. This is a fun and relaxed class - the focus is on creativity and practice so it's up to you what you create!

Now you can

Start practicing what you have learnt at home as you hone in your craft
Create wonderfully personal and unique gifts for friends and family
Spread the joy! Introduce a new hobby into someone's life by teaching them what you now know

Best of all make your own to keep and display proudly!

Learn how to Embroider Beautiful Art Work!

This class is aimed at beginners and will give you the basics for exploring watercolour, using fun and easy techniques. Designer and illustrator Michelle from Roxwell Press will take you through the different paints, brushes and papers that are available, and give an introduction to colour mixing. After playing with colours, she will go through the different effects you can achieve with watercolour, such as layering colours, blending and pulling. This will provide you with the essentials to create basic shapes and strokes with your brush.

Once you’ve had the chance to explore colours and effects, Michelle will show you how to create the prettiest hand painted card.

This a really practical workshop so you’ll be learning and painting at the same time which means you will have plenty of reference sheets to take home to refer to so you can continue painting pretty pictures at home.

This class at Tea & Crafting is targeted toward complete beginners, but if you do have some painting and art experiencer and want to build your skills, you are welcome to attend also.

Beginner's Watercolour Painting Workshop

Learn to print vintage patterns

In this class

This class is quite simply the perfect all round introduction to screen printing and it only takes a couple of hours.

Using quick and easy methods, you will be able to print your design onto fabric like the professionals and customise just about any piece of clothing.

You'll also be shown how to re-create a screen printing studio and process, with little cost and preparation at home. You can get plenty of inspiration from an expert textile artist for your Tote Bag or Tea Towel as well leave with plenty of tips and advice for taking this technique further at home.

What would be fab from you, is if you could come to the workshop with an idea in mind of the design you would like to print.

Beginner Screen Printing

As macrame becomes increasingly popular, cropping up everywhere from homewares to jewellery to clothing and all over Pinterest, we are showing you how to recreate these designs yourself with our beginner's workshop. In this class you will learn:

All the basics of macrame need to make this stunning plant holder.
What materials to use and where to buy them
How to do basic macrame knots
How to read macrame patterns

You will combine different knots and techniques to create a beautiful vintage inspired macrame plant hanger to take home with you. Use your skills to make yourself a wall hanging when you get home. Its all possible once you know the basic knots and how to read a pattern.

Beginner's Macrame Plant Hanger Workshop

Intaglio printing has exciting results obtained from easy to prepare plates with no chemicals. Marks are incised onto a card or a drypoint plastic plate with a variety of tools which create a wide range of textures and tone within the resulting printed image.  Comprehensive examples, possibilities and demonstrations will guide you through the process from start to finish so you learn and gain confidence in this fascinating art form. You will be shown how to make you own printing plate and how to use the etching press, how to add colour and collage elements to your print.   Several finished prints and your plate will be yours to take home. There will be time for a brief stop to enjoy my marvellous homemade cake and tea/coffee too. Bring any visual inspiration or be inspired by many ideas when you get here. You may get messy so don't wear your best clothes! I will provide an apron and gloves.

Drypoint Etching Workshop

Get to know your sewing machine and leave the class with a machine sewn totebag - the perfect accessory to your wardrobe to carry all your bits around.

In this class

Get to know your sewing machine and leave the class with a machine sewn totebag - the perfect accessory to your wardrobe to carry all your bits around.

This is a great way to learn how to upcycle some of your unloved clothes into perfect gifts for family and friends (or just for you, why not - you deserve it!). The class is aimed at those new to using sewing machines or for those who are a bit rusty.

In this class you will learn how to thread a sewing machine, wind a bobbin, change needles and gather some tips on how to sew in a straight line.

Sewing machines and materials are provided in the class however do feel free to bring any old clothing you would love to upcycle.

Beginner Sewing Machine Class - Sew a Tote Bag

Egyptian Belly Dance is an exciting and glamorous dance style.  It features wonderful drum rhythms, fantastic movements that require real skill, and it develops a dancer's balance, strength, endurance, and co-ordination.

The lovely outfits with hip scarves and veils are accessories that make movement fun and creative.  Asmahan has a background as a professional dancer who performed in Cairo and the class will feature Egyptian music and  dance style from the culture of Egypt.

Dancers will learn a correct posture, how to move with grace and in a connected and authentic style that makes this dance so magical.

Eternal Foundation is the basic principles of the dance style that create the dance. There are eight basic steps that dancers learn in the beginning that create a form of movement that is a new dance experience. The emphasis of Egyptian Dance is to work from the centre of the body, so the dancers gains control of the deep muscle groups working in circles and curves, learning to move in new and exciting ways.

The class will feature the dance show technique with a taksim, balady and dancing to a song. There will be a warm up, posture, with technique principles, dance orientation, and then the teaching of the basic steps with a short music sequence to practice all of this.  Then putting the steps together with a view to dancing.

LEVEL 2 is dancing to songs, doing a veil dance called an Magencie, and more Balady!

So come along for an new and exciting dance style.

Egyptian Belly Dance - Foundation Class

Learn how to crochet with Tea & Crafting. This a project based class meaning we teach you how to crochet and at the same time we use those stitches to make an easy peasy scarf!

Our "Learning how to Crochet" series is Tea & Crafting’s most popular workshops and it’s suitable for total beginners and intermediates alike – you provide the hands and we’ll provide the inspiration (and cake of course). We will teach you how to crochet, how to change colour and how to ensure you scarf stays straight!

Vibrant colours work a treat and always add a splash of fun to any scarf.

If you are left handed don't worry - we have taught 100's of left handers to crochet too.

Learn to Crochet - An Easy Scarf

Learn all about the grit and determination that goes into making every garden. Express your creative side and begin learning all about the maintenance and preservation of your garden  because there’s a whole host of wonderful garden designs waiting to be brought to life.

GARDEN classes, courses, learning kits and gifts on Obby

Eat the Veg Patch

Spring Flowering Bulbs with Perennials

Flower and Plant Photography

Container Gardening

Flower and Plant Photography with Expert tuition

Spring Flowering Bulbs with Perennials with Expert Tuition

Container Gardening with Expert Tuition

Eat the Veg Patch with Expert Tuition

Designing Small Gardens

Designing Small Gardens with Expert Tuition

Beginners Crochet: Granny Squares

Arm Knitting - Knit a Large Blanket with your Arms

Beginners Tapestry Weaving for ALL LEVELS

Beginners Knitting Class

Learn how to Embroider Beautiful Art Work!

Beginner's Watercolour Painting Workshop

Beginner Screen Printing

Beginner's Macrame Plant Hanger Workshop

Drypoint Etching Workshop

Beginner Sewing Machine Class - Sew a Tote Bag

Egyptian Belly Dance - Foundation Class

Learn to Crochet - An Easy Scarf

Use obby giftcards
on any learning kit

GARDEN classes, courses, learning kits and gifts on Obby

Eat the Veg Patch

Spring Flowering Bulbs with Perennials

Flower and Plant Photography

Container Gardening

Flower and Plant Photography with Expert tuition

Spring Flowering Bulbs with Perennials with Expert Tuition

Container Gardening with Expert Tuition

Eat the Veg Patch with Expert Tuition

Designing Small Gardens

Designing Small Gardens with Expert Tuition

Beginners Crochet: Granny Squares

Arm Knitting - Knit a Large Blanket with your Arms

Beginners Tapestry Weaving for ALL LEVELS

Beginners Knitting Class

Learn how to Embroider Beautiful Art Work!

Beginner's Watercolour Painting Workshop

Beginner Screen Printing

Beginner's Macrame Plant Hanger Workshop

Drypoint Etching Workshop

Beginner Sewing Machine Class - Sew a Tote Bag

Egyptian Belly Dance - Foundation Class

Learn to Crochet - An Easy Scarf

Use obby giftcardson any learning kit

Use obby giftcards
on any learning kit