Christina Stapley

I have studied and worked with herbs for some 35 years and am therefore able to approach teaching the wide subject of growing and using them with considerable practical knowledge. I have great enthusiasm for their cultivation and uses and seek to communicate this lively interest to my students through a spontaneous response to their specific questions within the planned structure of any workshop.

Students can expect to gain thorough guidance on choice of suitable herbs for their chosen projects; garden design ideas, and information on organic cultivation of herb beds or gardens. Having grown 200-300 herbs over 20 years I am able to give visual presentations of the herb gardens I have designed and maintained myself. I can therefore show successes and problems in order to illustrate both helpful companion planting and the less successful approaches in gardening and plant maintenance.

I also display and discuss many samples of items made using herbs. Some recipes will be made during the workshops giving students practical experience. These sample items range from home remedies and cookery preserves through fragrances and cosmetics to craft projects. With these I can illustrate the amazing potential of many herbs to raise the quality of daily life. A role they have filled with constant adaptation over many centuries.

My own work is inspired by a love both of herbs and history. This has led to detailed research of historical recipes, enabling me to rescue many useful and appealing recipes from the past. I bring these into common knowledge again in the hope that they may survive into the future. Herbs have transformed my life and numerous students have also experienced this.

Much of my historical knowledge has been gained through personal study, the practical knowledge being extended by having tutored historical herb workshops for almost 20 years at a number of Museums and historical sites. In 2004 I graduated from the University of Wales with a B.Sc in Phytotherapy. This involved four years of intensive study in herbal medicine leading to a modern, science-based degree. I am a practising medical herbalist and member of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy. Through this work I am able to evaluate the effectiveness of herbs in medicine and understand and convey both their value and dangers when used with insufficient knowledge.

I have written three books on growing and using herbs, Herbwise Naturally, Herbcraft Naturally and Herb Sufficient – all published by Heartsease Books. I have also edited and interpreted a 17th century book of household recipes – The Receipt Book of Lady Anne Blencowe, also published by Heartsease Books, and written a story book for small children about the animals and birds in the garden as herbal characters. I have also written articles on herbs for a wide range of magazines in this country, Canada and America.