Top 10 Best Nature classes, courses, learnings kits and gifts in the UK

This workshop teaches the art of sharpening your hand tools, focussing on spoon carving tools including knives, crook knives and carving axes. The ticket is for four adults and can be booked for a day and time to suit the group. You will learn to sharpen tools that we provide, or you can bring along your own tools that need sharpening. Stephen, your tutor, has been carving for over 30 years and has a wealth of experience and knowledge in this field. You will be supported throughout and he will be on hand with advice on the best kind of tools to buy. There will also be the opportunity to buy some during the session.

Based on the season, you will be gently introduce into the magical world of plants, using our senses to identify around 15 wild edible plants and flowers that provide us with both food and medicine. Packed with vitamins and minerals they are a true superfood, and a magical addition to the stew pot of salad both. We will also be shown any poisonous plants that we encounter, making sure we learn how to recognise and understand them so we can safely avoid them. This is a mindful foraging walk that will ensure everyone feels confident in naming and identifying each of the plants, along with how best to prepare them. This herbal knowledge has long been our heritage, and reconnecting with the landscape in this way is both very simple and often quite profound. It is a lesson that will last a lifetime! We will then have tea and cakes on the Heath with some of the plants we've collected together. Meet our host! Tamara Colchester is a wild food teacher and writer who guides people in the old ways of foraging as a route to a simpler, more connected way of life. Trained by renowned wild food teacher and author Ffyona Campbell, she now travels the UK reintroducing people to our wild heritage. Incorporating her interest in psychotherapy and healing (she trained at Tavistock & Portman), she specialises in using foraging and tracking techniques as a means of helping those suffering from PTSD, Depression and Anxiety, as well as those who are simply interested in deepening their relationship with their environment and the food we eat.

Are you looking to reconnect with nature? Are you having a rethink about your impact on the natural world? Or are you just a food-lover who wants to try new and unique flavours? This is your chance! Find out what delicious wild food grows in typical UK countryside and learn how to forage for yourself. This is a 4-hour workshop with a foraging expert, including ID guidance, finding and tasting wild ingredients and a walk at Alderley Edge National Trust. This course is designed to get you as involved as possible - this includes identifying, picking and tasting a range of wild plants that will be found on the day. There will also be lots of food and drink for everyone to get stuck into! What you can expect from your Foraging Workshop: a short introduction outlining foraging tips, ethics, etiquette and law a circular walking route taking in different growing environments around the beautiful National Trust site at Alderley Edge. a closer look at edible wild plants and any poisonous lookalikes by a professional forager with a focus on Spring species. small tasters of wild food, drink and preserves. These may include syrups, salts, jams, soup and even freshly-picked items straight from the hedgerow! the opportunity to hand-pick seasonal wild ingredients

**An introduction to natural dying - relaxing, eco making. 3 techniques across 3 sessions ** Discover the beauty of natural colour using flowers, leaves and food waste to transform textiles and paper in these relaxing and sustainable workshops. You will be guided on natural dye techniques that unearth the potential of plant colour. Each workshop will cover a different technique and you will leave with not only a knowledge of plants and dyes, but also with beautifully dyed fabric in a range of colours. These workshops are the perfect way to unwind with a glass of wine and create with nature. Come join us for a session or get in touch for a discounted price to all 3 sessions! **Thurs 6th Oct: Flower printing and bundle dyeing with food and garden waste ** Discover fun and sustainable ways to use food and garden waste to create fantastic prints and patterns. This workshop is ideal for those who are interested in natural dyeing but do not know where to start! Please bring a ziplock bag! **Thurs 3rd Nov: Shibori and Natural Dyeing ** Shibori (しぼり/絞り) (verb " shiboru" – "to wring or squeeze") is a Japanese manual resist dyeing technique, which produces organic yet geometric patterns on fabric. In this session you will explore how to pinch and fold fabrics and extract pigments from food waste to make a dye bath. **Thurs 17th Nov: Make your own natural inks ** If you’re into the unexpected, come to this workshop! In this introductory workshop, we will explore how to extract pigments and make inks out of natural stuff around us including food and garden waste and how to preserve them. We will then share some time and space painting with them and exploring the magical world of natural inks! Please bring two or three small containers with lids to store your inks. Workshop Facilitator: Renata Minoldo aka @renrrnren is an artist and educator exploring rituals, crafts and emotional bodies through textiles, objects and experiences with people. She has academic training in Fashion and Visual Arts and is interested in alternative ways to approach art education, aiming to stimulate intuitive learning and focusing on individual processes and needs. Her practice aims to be more sustainable every day. She works with a wide variety of people, from children in galleries and primary schools to teenagers and older adults in community centres, charities and public spaces. Her work has been awarded with residencies internationally. www.renataminoldo.com

The soft, tactile quailty of clay is the perfect material for capturing the beauty of nature. In this two hour workshop you will have the chance to create your own natural patterns and produce a set of tiles or a dish. Set in the peaceful grounds of the Ecology Centre the workshop begins with a walk around the grounds collecting foraged natural mateirals to create textures with. We will then be working under shelter to experiment with printing into the clay surface to create beautiful pieces of natural art. Your work will be taken away to be glazed and fired and will be ready to collect 2 weeks after the workshop. I'm afraid I'm not able to post items for risk of breakages so your items will need to be collected from me. We will meet at the Ecology Centre entrance on Festival Walk by Carshalton Ponds Covid guidelines The session will take place outdoors but will remain socially distanced and I will wear a mask if in close contact with you. Please bring a towel for drying hands. There is a toilet on site but please bring your own sanitiser. There is no access to refreshments on site however we are near Honeywood Museum Cafe or you're welcome to bring a flask.