Stillroom Secrets – Aromatic Waters
Sunday 7th June 2026
09:30 - 16:30
From Tudor to late Georgian periods the stillroom was where all manner of herbs, fruits and sweetmeats were prepared. Distilling simple aromatic waters provided stock items for use in medicines, cosmetics and culinary preserves. These might be taken or applied. Syrups and aromatic waters together gave tasty juleps. Waters appear in other recipes too.
Compound waters of many herbs might treat the head and nervous conditions. There were also digestives and epidemic waters against infectious disease. We will be looking at the herbal ingredients, base liquors, stills and comparing methods used. Recipes from ladies in the stillrooms and the Pharmacopoeia will be featured. As we come to identify herbs of importance, still in use in this form, we will be making a range of original recipes. Herbs will include roses, orange flower, bay, peppermint, cinnamon, cardamom, pimento, rosemary, lemon balm, angelica, elecampane and hyssop.
Sunday 7th June 2026
9:30am – 4:30pm
The Dower House, Daglingworth. Cirencester. Glos. GL7 7AQ
