Browse a range of Workshops & Courses

Renée Canter

The Girl who Gardens.

Renée and Lorraine team up to combine their skills and different mediums e.g. incorporating Botanicals and Willow to offer varied workshops throughout the year.

Renée is also part of the Hedges & Hurdles Corporate Team working with us to offer experiences to our corporate clients.

Working as a Gardener and Designer since 2010, Renée is known locally as The Girl Who Gardens! She’s based in Redhill and has a creative but practical eye for making spaces work for busy people. Renée helps people enjoy their outside space and believes there’s nothing better than having fun in your garden with those you love.

See more examples of her work and sign up for hints, tips and special offers at www.thegirlwhogardens.co.uk

Harmony In Nature

Harmony in Nature specialises in nature immersion ‘Forest Bathing’ events, bringing ways to connect with the peace and restorative powers of wandering in woodland for overall wellbeing.

Forest bathing was developed in the 1980s with multiple medical schools in Japan, linking to traditional practices, in response to high levels of chronic stress and illness in main urban centres. The practice has evolved to combine gentle walking with sensory activities, conscious breathing, mindfulness and meditation, in a woodland or park.

We work closely with guides Katie & Joanna who offer nature immersion to our private groups.

You will learn how nature influences us to feel better, and take away ideas to use for yourself, especially in times of stress. A long list of potential wellbeing benefits comes about by resetting our bodies and minds, which boosts functioning throughout our systems. The benefits are backed by four decades of Japanese research, and more recently from countries across the globe, including UK studies. Harmony in Nature has participated in four of these.

www.harmonyinnature.uk

Lizzy maskey

Lizzy Maskey, has vast knowledge of bushcraft and the outdoors. Ever since she was a child fascinated with fire and foraging, bushcraft has been her way of life. Since gaining her IOL Bushcraft Competency certificate, and becoming a full-time instructor in 2014 Lizzy has traversed the globe honing her skills and testing herself in the wilderness, from paddling across Scotland in a packraft to leading expeditions in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Thailand and Peru, Lizzy has gathered a wealth of experience. She’s cycled 9000km from London to Kazakhstan unsupported and done tracking assessments in South Africa and the UK.

Lizzy spends the majority of her time sharing her passion for the outdoors. By teaching skills including using knives to create things from ‘bits of wood’, collecting foraged food to create wonderful meals and lighting warming fires to do it all beside. When not teaching Lizzy is always looking to learn and develop her knowledge and can be found exploring hedgerows, woodland tracks and muddy puddles across the UK and around the world.

pippinandgile.co.uk

Surrey Wildlife Trust

We have strong ties with SWT providing both commercial services such as Hedgelaying across Surrey as well as providing professional Hedgelaying Training Courses to members of their staff and volunteers when required. We also recommend SWT to our customers, those trainees wishing to continue practising skills they have learnt in our seasonal training courses and suggest they sign up to SWT as volunteers to help with the Hedgelaying work being undertaken throughout Surrey.

Volunteer with SWT

National Hedgelaying Society

We have for many years been an accredited contractor member of the NHLS. We are active members participating in local charity events and national competitions, offering training and promoting the benefits of hedgelaying. There are more than 30 hedgelaying styles around the country, Paul lays in both South of England and Midland Style and are also accredited members of the South of England Hedgelaying Society.

The National Hedgelaying Society is the only charity dedicated to maintaining the traditional skills of hedgelaying and encouraging the sympathetic management of hedgerows for wildlife and landscape.

The Patron of the Society is HRH King Charles.

https://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/

Susie Eats The Seasons

Susie is a beautiful vintage caravan, converted into a bijou kitchen and deli on wheels. Together, Susie and her owner Kate travel to markets and cater private events around Surrey and the South East, serving fresh, seasonal, British food.

Susie Eats The Seasons is a preferred supplier for our business and provides seasonal tailor-made catering options for our private group workshops and training courses.

https://www.susieeatstheseasons.com/

Luke Whatley-Bigg

Cinematography Possibilities

Many of the films we have on our website have been created by Luke, helping us promote our workshop and training course experiences to others. We have been working with Luke since 2019. His most recent commission was to film a Wattle Hurdle Online Training Tutorial for the business, the first of its kind, filmed at Norbury Park, Fetcham, Surrey.

Luke is a young entrepreneur, freelance filmmaker. Luke has had footage on BBC countryfile and has also won and been a finalist in several film festivals. He has had many of his photos in magazines and been a finalist in ‘Food Photographer of the Year’ and recently two of his photographs where exhibited through the ‘Landscape Photographer of the Year competition. Luke is passionate about producing cinematic films and creating photographic images.

See examples of Luke’s work by visiting his website here.

Luke is also one of our private group/corporate team tutors:

Onewheel Experience

Learn how to ride a Onewheel. An exciting new electric boardsport from the USA. Not too dissimilar to the hoverboards from Back to the Future, the Onewheel will allow you to experience the feeling of snowboarding on any terrain. Learn the basics of how to balance and manoeuvre on the board in your session.

Ruth Wheeler Wellness

Ruth and Lorraine share an outdoor studio, Birtley Woodland Art Space situated on the Birtley Estate in Bramley, Guildford. This is a prime location for our business and we enjoy combining our skills and different mediums to create experiences for group workshops including corporates.

Ruth has a BA Hons Degree in Fine Art and Philosophy, is an experienced Artist and Sculptor, creating sculptures and teaching to a variety of community groups in Surrey for 25 years. She runs Art and Yoga classes, Creative Wood Carving and Pyrography Workshops and Retreats.

Together Lorraine and Ruth also run seasonal Art & Craft Fairs in and around their studio.

For more information click here.

Surrey Hills Enterprises

We are active members of Surrey Hills Enterprises and proud recipients of The Trade Mark Surrey Hills. This is an accreditation awarded by Surrey Hills Enterprises and is a Mark of outstanding local provenance, quality and sustainability. The Award promotes the best of what Surrey has to offer. It celebrates those businesses and organisations of high quality that reflect and support the distinct and special nature of the Surrey Hills and who share the values of supporting the local environment.

The organisation is very supportive of small organisations like ours and creates many opportunities for other members, organisations of all sizes to meet, share their knowledge and experience, promote their products and services and collaborate with one another. We have participated in many events and continue to develop multiple exciting collaborations since joining. One of our favourite events is of course the Surrey Hills Wood Fair, held in Cranleigh during September each year.

https://www.surreyhills.org/enterprises/

Surrey County Council

We have a very good working relationship with Surrey County Council (SCC) and their staff who are very supportive of our business aims and objectives. We have held a license for many years to coppice Sweet Chestnut and Hazel from Norbury Park Fetcham, Surrey and also to run our courses on-site. We are also active members of the Norbury Park Community Forum.

Business Hot House

SCC has provided support and directed us to contributory funding programs to help towards our business growth and development. In 2022 we secured 40% funding via the European Regional Development Fund Business Hot House Programme allowing us to commission the development and design of our new website which we hope you find intuitive and interesting.

SAOS (Surrey Artists Open Studios)

Lorraine is a registered artist member for SAOS and subsequently has been able to promote Open Studio events and workshops at her shared outdoor studio in Bramley, Guildford in collaboration with Ruth Wheeler and SAOS. The Summer Open Studios at Birtley Woodland Art Place take place in June and around the studio and lakeside each year and include a selection of local artists displaying their work. This event is also part of the Guildford Open Studio trail.