Herbs for the Body & Soul
September 2026
Wales
Autumn Herbs for the Body & Soul
Friday 18th - Monday 21st Sept. 2026
A gentle & practical immersive experience meeting the herbs
around us and making tonics, treatments & extracts
In beautiful south Wales
With Vivienne Campbell BSc (Hons) MNIMH Herbalist
Kindly hosted by Gaby Holford
~Herbs ~ Nature Connection ~Rest ~Nourishment ~Gentleness
~~ About Our Herbal Sessions ~~
Info from our teacher Vivienne…
DAY 1: Exploring & Making Herbal Medicines Using The Seasonal Autumn Herbs Around Us
There are rich-pickings in the Autumn hedgerow with roots, fruits and seeds to collect, as well as fresh wild greens often still being available.
Here are some examples of the herbs that we might expect to find at this time of year…
Wild Fruits: Rosehips, elder berries, haws…
Nourishing Roots: Nettle, dandelion, silverweed, dock, tormentil, burdock, comfrey…
Nuts & Seeds: Hazel nuts, plantain seeds, red clover seeds…
Fresh Greens: Sorrel leaves, nettle, plantain, holly, silverweed…
Herb Walk:
Together we will take a gentle stroll along the hedgerow and explore some of the medicinal and edible herbs growing on this beautiful land in Wales. Vivienne will point out key identification features to help you to develop your confidence in picking the correct plant. We will collect some of these, learning how to harvest them sustainably. We will taste wild edible plants and will prepare herbs for drying and other traditional methods of preserving them.
Medicine-Making Session:
Using the herbs we collect we will make some medicinal remedies and treatments such as a medicinal infused vinegar, a medicinal immune-boosting cordial etc. We will also brew and taste proper medicinal herbal tea blends (these taste very different to drinks made from shop-bought herbal tea bags!). A great chance to get hands on and enjoy the sensual experience of working with wild herbs.
DAY 2: Taking a Deep Dive into working with a Seasonal Autumnal Herb
We will spend a full day meeting one specific wild herb
and making medicinal extracts for our body and soul.
We will make and try various treatments and home remedies with our featured herb.
Connect Deeply: We will be joined by yoga teacher Siân Dafydd who will guide us with a special yin restorative meditation to help us to relax and connect more deeply with our seasonal plant.
Practical extract-making with our seasonal herb: We will spend this full day making extracts from our featured herb. It can be a very special experience to take such a deep dive into the medicine and therapeutic impact of one plant. Together we will make and experience culinary, medicinal and topical extracts from our featured herb. Making extracts we can bring home and continue to use helps us to ground our connection with the herb into our body, heart & mind. Most of the extracts can be easily re-created at home using dried herbs that you buy from a supplier so you should not need to have access to fresh plants to continue to do this at home.
Distill our own Hydrosol: Distilling is a special, traditional method of extracting a herb. It can be used to make aromatic extracts e.g. rose water, but also makes great medicinal tonics from savoury medicinal herbs such as nettle, plantain etc. During our weekend we will distill a seasonal plant together.
Eat & Drink: Our deep dive herb will also be on our menu today. Enjoy the new tastes and experiences on offer today!
Which herb will it be?
What will be in season will depend on the weather leading up to September. Because the weather has become more un[redictable Vivienne will announce the featured herb nearer the time of our weekend. It is likely to be haw (the fruit from the Hawthorn tree) or silverweed (the roots and leaves of this plant). These are both in the Rose family (Vivienne’s favourite family of plants). It may also be a root e.g. nettle… Time will tell! Previous weekends have taken place in summer and have focussed on Rose and Meadowsweet.
DAY 3: Applying Herbal Medicine via our Skin
Touch with medicinal & aromatic herbs can be deeply therapeutic
and helps to ground these herbs into our body.
When we have extracts that we can apply via our skin,
we can reconnect to these therapeutic allies whenever we need to.
During our final session together we will try out and bottle our herbal oil that we made on Day 2. We will also use the oil to make a balm. We will experience making poultices, compresses and a herbal foot bath. Learn how to recreate these therapeutic treatments at home.
Topical extracts can be of great benefit to the skin and hair. However, we can also use them as ways to experience herbs that can help our mental and emotional health. There is a lovely feeling of care, tenderness and comfort that comes from treatments applied this way.
In this practical session, we will revisit some of the herbs that we’ve met over the weekend, this time focusing on ways we can extract and apply them via the skin. We will combine herbs with oils, waxes or plant butters and dried ingredients to make them into therapeutic treatments.
Chill out in our Spa Session: Relax as we try out the treatments and products we’ve made during the day, while luxuriating in an herbal footbath.
Bring Home: Samples of some of the extracts we have made over our 3 days together, as well as recipes and instructions so you can make them again.
About the Beautiful Venue~~
Info from our host Gaby…:
Fforest Barn Retreat, Black Mountains of Wales
The Land
This herbal adventure with Vivienne takes place at Fforest Barn Retreat: our renovated barns nestled in the beautiful black mountains of Wales, near Abergavenny. We sit on 19 acres of farmland where we grow all our own produce which you will eat while on retreat. There is plenty of space to roam and connect with nature and meet our Alpacas.
The Accommodation
Each of the four bedrooms in the barn have their own distinct character, and all the accommodation inside the barn will be in twin rooms except for the Owl loft which has a double bed.
Outside in the ‘Fforest glen Glamping’ area we have, two gypsy caravans a safari tent and a tree house set between two giant oak trees, for maximum grounding. There are two more outside huts available. All the outside accommodation will be singles.
Enjoy Relaxing & Restorative Treats
We have a Hot tub, steam shower and an outdoor bath to relax in your free time.
The Food
Joki our chef grew up on a little island in Croatia, Hvar in a family of herbalist and healers. From an early age, she understood the importance of healthy, organic, fresh, clean food. Food as energy and food as medicine is the motto she grew up with.
I look forward to hosting you and sharing our magical part of Wales while we learn together what growing in our natural environment and how we can benefit from the plants.
How to Book
Date & Time:
~ Arrival: We will gather together on the evening of Friday 18th Sept. 2026.
You are welcome to arrive after 4 pm that day. Dinner will be served at 7 pm.
~ Saturday & Sunday: We spend full days together, working with herbs. Includes free time giving you the opportunity to relax, go for walks, enjoy the hot tub etc.
~ Monday: Our final day working with herbs. This session will finish by 3.30 pm to help to facilitate people travelling home again. If you need to leave earlier then that’s fine too.
Price:
The total price of this Herbal Retreat is £690 per person.
This includes 3 nights’ accommodation and 3 meals a day @£330 per person.
And 3 days of herbal classes (including the teaching fees, materials [glassware packaging, certified organic materials etc.], printed recipes and instructions for how to make your own herbal extracts etc.) @£360 per person.
Deposit & Booking:
A deposit of £230 (1/3 of the total price) is payable in order to book your place.
The remaining balance can be paid in full (£460) or with 2 more installments of £230.
The full price of the retreat must be paid by Friday 4th July 2025, i.e. 1 month before the retreat begins. (If you are booking after this date, different payment dates will apply).
Cancellations:
Cancellations received before 9th May 2025 will receive a full refund (including the deposit).
Cancellations received after 6th June but before 3rd July (i.e. 1 month before the retreat) will receive a partial refund (the deposit will not be refunded [unless your place gets refilled] and an admin fee will be deducted).
No refunds will not be made after Friday 4th July 2025. This is because we will be in full preparation for the retreat with travelling arranged, materials ordered for all the participants etc. (If there is a waiting list and we are able to fill your place then you would receive a refund, minus your deposit and our admin fee).
However if after this date you find that you will not be able to attend as expected but you know someone who would enjoy it then you are welcome to send someone in your place (please contact Gaby or Vivienne to arrange this).
To book:
~ Please contact our host Gaby Holford by emailing her at gabyholford@gmail.com
~ Gaby will help you select from the available accommodation on-site e.g. twin rooms, glamping, shephard’s hut etc.
~ Gaby will also send you details for paying your deposit to confirm your booking.
Thanks for your interest!
~~ About the Teachers ~~
About Vivienne
Herbalist
Vivienne has worked as a herbalist ever since qualifing back in 2003, initially setting up her clinic in the west of Ireland. She teaches classes on herbal medicine, wild food foraging and natural cosmetic-making in Ireland, Portugal & the UK and teaches worldwide via her online courses and e-classes.
She is a popular speaker at conferences & events, and has appeared on Irish television numerous times, including doing a weekly foraging spot on a cookery programme with Richard Corrigan.
She loves teaching people how to use herbs simply, effectively and joyfully so that they can genuinely incorporate these enjoyable and supportive tools into their lives.
For more info click here to visit her website.
About Siân
Author & Yoga teacher
Siân Melangell Dafydd is an author, poet and yoga teacher originally from North Wales. She writes in Welsh and English. Her PhD examined combining the processes of yoga & creative writing.
She currently lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Bangor and The American University in Paris and previously at Bath Spa University.
She will guide us with a special yin restorative meditation during our Deep Dive Day to help us relax and deeply connect with our featured herb.