Northern College of Beauty and Holistic Therapies

Penelope Ody BSc MNIMH Penelope Ody is a Member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists and Fellow of the Herb Society. Hello – and welcome to "Herbs at Walnut", a series of one-day courses on using herbs now in its twentieth year. I have been exploring the fascinating world of herbs for more than 40 years studying initially with the School of Phytotherapy in Kent, UK, and also at the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Guangzhou, China. I practised as a consultant medical herbalist in Buckinghamshire UK, for 11 years while also writing regularly about herbs and editing The Herb Society's various journals from 1988-1994. For the past 20 years I have concentrated on writing books about herbs and lecturing at various courses and summer schools - including Herbs at Walnut which I started in 2002 at my home, Walnut Cottage, in Hampshire. In 2006 these courses were featured in Meridian TV's "Country Lives" series. For most of us, herbs are familiar and readily available plants used for flavouring foods or scenting rooms. Many of them are also potent medicines ideal for using at home as alternatives to over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs for treating a range of health problems. Our great-grandmothers would have been very familiar with home-made medicines but over the decades we have lost the everyday skill of making them. Commercially produced medicines – both orthodox and herbal – have been readily available to meet our needs. Now, thanks to changing legislation and tighter regulatory control, many of these herbal products are no longer available from chemists or health food shops, so we need to re-learn how to make these simple nostrums and to understand which are most suitable and when to use them. Courses at Walnut Cottage cover a range of herbal topics – from using herbs in cooking to making your own creams and ointments to replace those which are no longer quite so easy to find in the shops. Courses are relaxed and informal with small groups – generally no more than six – giving plenty of flexibility to explore your particular interests. I hope you find a course to meet your needs in this year's timetable. If you have suggestions for other herb courses, or would like to arrange an alternative day for a special group, then please let me know: penny@herbcourses.co.uk