Ambassadors

Herbs have always been part of my life. I grew up in the countryside, where the women in my family taught me about wildflowers and traditional remedies. That early influence led me to study herbal medicine at university, and I have been working full-time as a medical herbalist and teacher for almost 20 years. I run The Crafty Herbalist Academy – home to an accredited herbal course – alongside my busy clinic and dispensary in the Chilterns, where I also host regular workshops and seasonal events. Sharing plant wisdom and helping others reconnect with nature is at the heart of what I do.

Amanda is a wild edgewalker, happiest in wild places, having conversations with trees, plants, fungi and the more-than-human world. She is professionally certified in Craniosacral Biodynamics, Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy, and Nature & Forest Therapy and is undertaking an apprenticeship in Herbalism, and coming to the end of a 2 year Diploma in Herbology with RBGE. Creating and collaborating with others on regenerative agriculture projects, including growing medicinal and culinary herbs as well as natural dye plants. Establishing community projects focused on the regeneration and conservation of wildflower meadows and the remnants of temperate rainforests in Jersey.

Hannah came to alternative medicine in her early teens when she found herself beyond the help of mainstream healthcare. She qualified as a Medical Herbalist in 1999, and has been in herbal practice ever since. More recently she’s come to specialise in offering herbal alternatives for women who can’t take HRT, and supporting cancer survivors in particular. Hannah is dedicated to reconnecting people with their traditional herbal medicines, and teaches regular herbal workshops near her home in south Shropshire. Hannah also qualified in Iridology in 2019, and in Advanced Hypnotherapy in 2021. In 2022 she published her first book, Minted, aimed at helping Herbalists and other healthcare practitioners to thrive in their practice. She has a keen interest in herbal astrology.

‘A dyed in the wool storyteller’, herbalist and writer: Amanda Edmiston, comes from a family of storytellers, plant-people, writers and artists. Back in 2008 she developed Botanica Fabula, creating the idea of ‘herbal storytelling’: researching folklore, fairy tales and ancient legends that reveal traditional herbal remedies and plant uses, layering them with science and weaving in social history to create immersive performance pieces, long term projects and workshops. This has taken her on a fabulous journey, sharing insights into the significance of plant stories in Poland, America and China, weaving words about poisons for Chelsea Physic Garden, taking Scottish herb-lore to the Ashmolean in Oxford and sharing secrets from C18th herbals in stories for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow amongst others. Her sessions also offer participants the chance to taste, smell and engage with plants and potions which feature. Amanda is the author of The Time Traveller’s Herbal and also creates online and in person courses and workshops as Botanica Fabula School of Herbal Storytelling. Splitting her time between Scotland and Northumbria, she is currently busy researching for a Time Travelling Physic garden, details of which she hopes to be able to reveal soon and chasing around after her family and their active Springer spaniel!

A leading voice in sustainable gardening, Stephanie Hafferty is an award winning organic garden and food writer, homesteader, edible garden designer and speaker. She is a feature writer for national and international magazines, and delivers inspiring talks and workshops on growing your own and homesteading skills, in the UK and worldwide. Stephanie has created and worked in kitchen gardens on large private estates, community gardens, market gardens, for restaurants and art galleries, as well as allotments and home gardens. In 2021 she project-managed and co-designed the RHS No Dig Allotment Demonstration Garden. From her selfsufficient-ish homestead in West Wales, Stephanie shares how to grow year round using climate friendly regenerative organic gardening methods – for abundant harvests and fewer weeds, working harmoniously with wildlife, and what to do with your harvests –  from seasonal meals to preserving, homemade body, home and garden care, remedies and natural dyes. Follow her gardening and homesteading life on YouTube, her blog or social media. Stephanie’s third book will be published in March 2026, by Frances Lincoln.

Kirsten Hartvig ND, MNIMH, DipPhyt trained at the School of Herbal Medicine, Tunbridge Wells, and the College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy in London. She is an acclaimed nutritionist, medical herbalist, and registered naturopath, but first and foremost a herb and food lover! She is also a keen cook, inspired by Hilda Leyel, to create meals and recipes from the starting point of what is available in the garden or fresh from the shops, rather than putting the menu first. Food is the foundation for good health and wellbeing. Kirsten is the author of 14 books on natural health, the most recent Food As Medicine, has just been published by Aeon Books. She also writes columns and articles for various newsletters and magazines, teaches on the Nature Cure diploma courses with Dr. Nic Rowley and leads monthly herb walks and workshops on natural health and herbal medicine. Kirsten also teaches at the Nordic College of Natural Medicine in Denmark, where she was a government advisor on herbal medicine and part of the Danish Health Authority’s Council for Alternative Medicine. Kirsten has taught nutrition and dietetics at the European School of Osteopathy and the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine Master’s degree course, and materia medica on the Heartwood Professional Course. Kirsten is director of the Healing Garden at Arc Hall in West Sussex.

Rox Madeira is a community herbalist, human rights activist, founding director of a grassroots herbal non-profit Movement in Thyme, co-founder of The Historical Herbalists, and on the advisory board of directors for Woman Concern DR Congo. She works within the areas of people seeking sanctuary, and community wellbeing. She has a personal focus on women’s wellbeing and ancestral herbalism; empowering and supporting women to reclaim the Wise Woman, reconnect with their innate power, with the land, and the herbs around them through circles and an online membership. She researches the history of women and medicine in Britain. She hosts a podcast – The Sage’s Cabin.

Rowan has always loved plants and has been a herbalist since she qualified 35 years ago (and probably longer!), teaching and promoting practical and intuitive herbal medicine from her eco home in Herefordshire. She nurtures a very wild garden, and grows lots of herbs for medicine and pleasure. She advocates the living tradition of herbal medicine for everyday use, honouring her teachers and living with nature, connecting with plants in many different ways. She is also a woodblock printmaker and is exploring making natural pigments from plants.

Hello! I feel very privileged to be here; this is because, though I’m a very keen plant person, I am not actually a qualified herbalist; I’m a forager and author. However, there are many areas where these disciplines merge, and the love of plants anywhere and in any way is what I love most.  

I am also a writer; my books include: The Hedgerow Handbook, The Garden Forager, Foraging with Kids, The Tree Forager and more. I’ve foraged (and helped to bring the beauty, magic and wonder of herbs to the forefront) wherever I can, including at the Hay Festival, Green Man Festival, RHS, and (my possible favourite) The Garden Museum Festival as well as schools, with ‘proper’ herbalists.

I have some very exciting news, too; this coming spring I have a new book, entitled Foraging for Healing Herbs. This book looks forwards to the future of herbs as well as gratitude for the powerful healing that has been used for generations, effectively, safely, and with wonder.

I am a chartered landscape architect and more recently a herbologist, living and working in the beautiful Isle of Man. A passion for our natural world and our relationship with her have been a central part of my life since I was a child and this now encompasses the healing power of plants. I teach about therapeutic botanicals, how to grow or gather them, how to make herbal remedies and the folklore associated with them. With over forty years experience of designing gardens, I now also offer a service designing physic gardens.

I am an organic / biodynamic herb grower who founded Poyntzfield Herb Nursery in 1976 .It is situated on the Black Isle (just north of Inverness) where traditional medicine was once part of the community and it has an extensive herbal flora. We grow over 400 species of herb plants and seeds from all over the world but specialise in unusual and rare species that grow well in northern Europe. Our customers include various botanic gardens, homeopathic pharmacies and many herbalists. In our new eco “Studio Equinox”, talks and events take place that are focused on health and how that can be enhanced and achieved by growing and using herbs. We usually spend a fair amount of time in the autumn and winter overseas researching and sharing herb seeds.  We have a series of publications and the second edition of our  book, The Passionate Growers Guide to Herb Gardening, is popular with keen gardeners and herbalists.  

We will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the herb nursery in 2026. There will be special events with practitioners that share our ethos. It is also a venue for meditation, mindfulness, traditional music and song. There will be guided tours of the herb garden from May to September; for more information see t

The Seed Sistas are published authors who combine scientific herbal plant research with magical experience to layer the understanding of plant exploration. They hold BScs in phytotherapy and health sciences and many years of teaching connection to plants through retreats, conferences and online events. Connect with them to hear more and be welcomed into a wild, creative and sometimes edgy world of magical, medicinal, sensual herbalism.

Kayleigh is a passionate student of Herbology who has been studying the subject since the beginning of 2023. Based in the South East, she has a background in Horticulture dating back to 2007. Her focus is on plant lore and superstition, how it interweaves with the botanic aspects of plants, and how the use of medicinal plants has evolved through millennia with humans. Kayleigh often delivers talks on the subject at The Royal Horticultural Society, bringing focus on this unique subject to a wide range of people. She is an expert on famous physicians and herbalists such as Dioscordies, Culpeper, and Maud Grieve. Kayleigh’s love for Herbology began as a young girl exploring the heathlands and meadows around her home. The different plants she encountered and the stories and superstitions associated with them fascinated her. Kayleigh is also a consultant in physic gardens and herb gardens, providing her valuable insights to local charities.

Rachel is an award-winning author who has worked in food, health and sustainability for more than 20 years. She teaches fermentation and seasonal nutrition courses at River Cottage in Devon, as well as Petersham Nurseries and the Plant Academy in London. She served as Course Director of the College of Naturopathic Medicine’s Natural Chef diploma course in London, was the Head of Food for British organic retailer Abel & Cole and Commissioning Editor of Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine. She’s written six books including Tonics & Teas and the River Cottage Fermentation Handbook, which won a Guild of Food Writer’s Award. Her latest book, Winter Wellness, was shortlisted in the best cookbook category for Guild’s awards ceremony. ‘It’s undoubtedly a remarkable addition to the world of cookbooks,’ according to René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of noma. Rachel has also studied sustainable food systems at University College London and was instrumental in setting up the award-winning Crystal Palace Food Market. Her latest tome is the River Cottage Bees & Honey Handbook (Bloomsbury; March 2025).

Salena is a naturopath, herbalist and nutritionist. She lives off-grid on a ten acre woodland in Wales, where she grows the majority of the herbs needed for her clients and students. She is a fully qualified teacher and has been teaching and giving talks for over twenty years. Teaching enables her to pass on wisdom about herbs to empower people to grow, forage and create their own medicine. Salena has spent her whole life in Wales and is passionate about teaching the history and culture of welsh herbal medicine through her talks and courses.

Having grown up in a fishing and farming community on the Isle of Coll in the Inner Hebrides, Colin has always been surrounded by the finest seasonal ingredients and driven by the necessity to make the most of them. Over 30 years as a professional chef has seen Colin work in a variety of different roles from charter yachts and boutique hotels to leading catering companies. Colin currently works four days a week as a development chef for a distributor in the manufacturing industry covering Europe, Middle East and Africa as well as owning and running Ground Up Cookery School. 

Ground Up Cookery School, set in Chudleigh Devon, is a family business run by Colin and his wife Natasha and it is born out of a lifelong love of food and drink, from growing, foraging, cooking or preserving seasonal bounties or fleeting seasonal flavours. At home they use a lot of foraged and seasonal ingredients. On their courses they enjoy using traditional cookery methods including pickling, infusing, fermenting, smoking, drying and curing coupled with more modern techniques and equipment to complement these classic methods. They also provide a range of consultancy services to a range of organisations encouraging chefs to rescue traditional food waste items and repurpose them, create more seasonally attuned and locally sourced menus and teach chefs how to tell a story with their menus that engage, inspire and positively influence the food choices made by their customers.