Award Winning Nant-y-Bedd Garden -   RHS Partner Garden of the Year 2022 -  is a very special 10 acres of organic garden, forest, river and pasture which truly blends into its surrounding landscape, making an already sizeable garden feel even bigger.  The garden nestles in the forested Grwyne Fawr valley at 1200 feet up in the Black Mountains of Wales. Crafted over 40 years the garden stretches up the hill into the forest and slopes gently down to the Grwyne Fawr river.  It is difficult to see where garden ends and wild begins, so well does it sit within its landscape.  It is this naturalness that makes Nant y Bedd so beloved by so many people, be they garden professionals or simply garden lovers. Not for Sue the stripy lawns and regimented beds of so many gardens. Here wildflowers – weeds to some – combine with vegetables and fruit trees, unusual varieties sit happily alongside age-old favourites, plants for pollinators abound and seed heads are left for the birds. A forager’s, florist’s and photographer’s haven. \ Please follow the directions shown in How to Find Us on our website.  \ Please car share where possible as parking is very limited.  \ The great scourge of modern life - the mobile phone signal - has now reached us for some networks. We would be most grateful if you could refrain from using your phone, except for photographs while you are in the garden. Standard entry is any time from 11.00am until 4.00pm. Garden closes at 5.00pm.   Inclusions What you'll need 📋 Other - Good footwear and suitable clothing for the time of year

A trip round Nant- y -Bedd is a fantastic experience in itself, but a tour round with garden creator Sue brings an added dimension.  Following the great success of last year's tours,  you can hear all about how the garden came into being and how it has evolved over the 40+ years of Sue’s stewardship.  These tours are only available on the Fridays that we are open, will start at 11.00 and last about two hours.  Numbers are limited to ten. Garden Organic discounts do not apply to these tours.   Inclusions What you'll need 🧤 Warm Clothing 📋 Other - Sensible footwear.

This course is for those interested in expanding their knowledge of this fantastic material and how to use woody material from their own garden. We’ll be looking at the whole range of different uses of wood in the Nant-y-bedd garden, from tree sculptures to seating to gates & fencing, wood chip and charcoal.   The day will start with understanding the carbon cycle, loading and firing a simple Charcoal kiln, once that’s in process we’ll take a practical look at coppicing, pollarding and making dead hedges. Log walls and Habitat piles. Constructing a Hugelkultur bed. In the afternoon participants will have a choice of making either a solitary bee hibernating post or a garden sign, (maybe it’s possible to combine those two functions?)  Examples will be provided but your creativity will be encouraged. We will be charring the bases of any posts to preserve them in the ground. The day will end with quenching and opening the charcoal kiln and looking at how to turn charcoal into bio-char and the uses of wood ash in the garden.

Give your beloved plants the support they need, but at the same time make your garden look even lovelier. There’s only one thing to beat a hand-crafted plant support, and that is a hand- crafted plant support crafted by your own hand! This workshop is timed to take advantage of the part of year when cutting back coppiced and pollarded growth provides a good amount of useable material. Mick is the genius who designed and built – with a little help and hindrance from me – our natural swimming pond, designed and built Cedric our spectacular tree sculpture and did the original designs for the tree-house and more recently the Chasie Log in our Silent Space.  Mick is renowned for his works, particularly in the country parks of South Wales. His ‘Sultan the Pit Pony in Penallta Park is the largest earth sculpture in Wales and is made up of more than 60,000 tons of earth, rock and coal shale, celebrating the role of the pit ponies in the former coal mines. Please note that the price excludes a 4% +VAT booking fee, capped at a maximum of £5+VAT .   Inclusions What's Included 🥤 Drink - Tea, coffee 🧰 Equipment - Materials.   What you'll need 🧤 Warm Clothing - will take place outdoors ☂️ Waterproofs 📋 Other - loppers, secateurs etc

Writing the Landscape: a one-day workshop on nature writing. In this workshop we will take a deep look at the wider world to help us find our voice in writing, whether that's for a personal project, a newsletter, blog or book draft. Nature and garden writing has a long and wonderful tradition of helping us to find our place in the world. We will look at how to craft your style so that you can write authentically about the natural world and find ways to give voice to the more-than-human.    Alys has been writing about the natural world and gardening for over twenty years. She is widely published in the Guardian, The Observer, Financial Times, Gardens Illustrated and The National Geographic and has written seven books, including The Edible Garden and Eat What You Grow  Her nature writing memoir, Hidden Nature was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing. She is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Aberystwyth University and has just written a book about peatlands. Please note that the price includes a 4% +VAT booking fee, capped at a maximum of £5 +VAT.   Inclusions What's Included 🥤 Drink - Tea and Coffee   What you'll need 🧤 Warm Clothing ☂️ Waterproofs 📋 Other

Learn all about making the most wonderful compost with Sue. Composting is a key element of organic growing. Transforming waste products from kitchen and garden into microbially active compost to enrich the soil is an immensely satisfying process. We will begin the day with an indoor session on the theory behind the process of successful compost making and different approaches including traditional bins and how to make a compost windrow. After lunch - bring your own - we will move into the garden to make a compost windrow and tour the garden to see composting in action – bins at different stages of the process, including leaf-mould bins and compost and leaf-mould in use in the garden, and potting compost mixes. Sue has been making compost all her life and now regularly shares her skills with gardeners all over the place. Please note that the cost includes the booking fee.    Inclusions What's Included 🥤 Drink - Tea, coffee   What you'll need 🧤 Warm Clothing ☂️ Waterproofs 🍴 Food - Packed lunch 📋 Other - Secateurs or loppers

In this workshop Alys Fowler will take a deep look at the world of polyculture growing, as practiced so well in nature, where plants don’t grow in rows, but in intermingled, diverse communities. This approach can give a beautifully productive edible garden, which is resilient and often requires fewer resources to maintain. We will explore: • how to support the soil food web • how to reduce pests and diseases • choosing which veg to grow for your specific conditions • choosing veg which thrive in a slower growing situation • the benefits for wildlife • coping with ‘messy’ • self-seeders and perennials • the benefits of saving your own seed • ...and much more... Please note that the price includes a 4% +VAT booking fee,

Liz has been leading foraging forays at Nant-y-bedd for many years, encouraging us all to learn about the wild food all around us in the garden in the forest. Sue has been gardening here for more than 45 years, becoming increasingly wilder in her garden design and food for the table. We combine the experience of both, who are equally enthusiastic about their passions, for an inspiring day of tasting and appreciating the magic of letting nature play a leading role in the garden. We explore: • how weeds can become integral to a beautiful garden • what weeds can tell us about our soils • which ornamental plants are worth growing, not just because they are pretty, but also delicious to eat • common garden weeds that we all have in our gardens which taste wonderful • ways of managing those weeds in a garden setting which some might regard as ‘invasive’ • ...and much more... Please note that the price includes a 4% +VAT booking fee, capped at a maximum of £5+VAT

We will re discover through our lenses the magic of the garden at Nant-y-Bend. The shapes, the light, the shade, the contrasting tones and patterns, the lines and illuminate geometric shapes, the long shadow light of tall trees, down to detail of curling ferns, and spring buds bursting. The story of the garden. Captured and reimagined. We will come to understand how to tell a story about what inspires us in the light, dark and texture of the spring. We will look at:·      The art and craft of visual storytelling·      Developing a concept and style, using form, light and tone. ·      Adapting style and content to suit different audiences·      How to bring a sense of place into an image·      Emphasising the ecological dimensions of an image ·      Drawing the viewer into an appreciation of heritage   Please note the price includes a 4% +VAT booking fee (capped at a maximum of £5+VAT)   Inclusions What's Included 🥤 Drink - Teas and Coffees   What you'll need 🧤 Warm Clothing - Part of the day outside ☂️ Waterproofs 🍴 Food - Packed lunch

In this Workshop we will be thinking of gardening as a process of repairing the separation from nature that we tell ourselves. Seeing gardens as spaces to share abundance with ‘wild’ shifts gardening from the traditional set of ‘to do’ lists and control to careful interventions that aim to grow alongside local ecologies. Jo and Sue will dig into what this way of working looks like as an everyday practice and a mindset.  We will discuss  Cultivating an ecologically centred approach and mindset. A basic understanding of ecological placemaking. Encouraging regenerative properties within the garden.  Building habitats, wild porosity, corridors and mosaics.  Gardening as a way of enhancing biodiversity and nature connection.    Please note the price includes a 4% +VAT booking fee (capped at a maximum of £5+VAT)   Inclusions What's Included 🥤 Drink - Teas and Coffees   What you'll need 🧤 Warm Clothing - Part of the day outside ☂️ Waterproofs 🍴 Food - Packed lunch

A look at composing, managing, and caring for meadows, long grass areas and cultivating wildflowers within garden settings. Gardened meadows are distinctly different from grassland meadows managed for hay, although they can be just as diverse. Some gardens with richer soils and tree cover can still recreate a “meadow” planting with careful choices of plants and good management systems. During this workshop we will discuss:·      Different ground preparation techniques and meadow making. ·      Meadow plants, weeds and seeds. ·      The ecological value of native grasslands.·      Working with ‘wild’ aesthetics to cultivate a beautiful meadowscape. ·      Managing meadows as an evolving habitat and plant community.   Please note the price includes a 4% +VAT booking fee (capped at a maximum of £5+VAT)   Inclusions What's Included 🥤 Drink - Teas and Coffees   What you'll need 🧤 Warm Clothing - Part of the day outside ☂️ Waterproofs 🍴 Food - Packed lunch