Over the winter I’ve kept the herbal love going by working with local cosmetic creator Laura Pardoe. She is the driving force behind the Cotswold Herb Centre based where we are in Dursley Gloucestershire. On the first Saturday of each month we do a local herb walk and is such a great way to lift the spirits during the winter months. So many plants seem to thrive all year round sprouting new shoots where I’m sure they should be resting.
In December we brought all things herbal to the Dursley Christmas Light switch on. It is always fun to hear how people use herbs in their lives – cooking, gardening, drawing, pottery, home remedies. In a talk we did for Coaley WI in January I was reminded by someone in the audience of how during WWII the children went out foraging for rose hips as it was a valuable source of vitamin C.
What will this year have in store?
We are busy planning new workshops, articles to write for our various blogs, and how to grow our local herbal community. We are also very interested in our local plant history and are hoping to connect with local history buffs to start piecing together Cam and Dursley’s herbal heritage. Locally there would have been textile mills and Dursley also became a centre of engineering. We know that people would have used local plants in their every day lives and also as part of those industries. Hopefully we’ll find out more details soon.