About this Event
This is a group experience to be booked for a couple or a party of up to 10 people and is perfect for an alternative hen-do, mother blessing, birthday celebration, a pre-wedding or pre-birth private event for a couple, or an alternative bridal or baby shower. The activities can be specially designed and tailored to your group, and the flowers, all gathered on site, will naturally vary depending on the time of year of the workshop. Please get in touch to arrange your desired date.
As an idea, we can learn blossom songs, symbolic meanings and traditions and gather in some of the abundant blossom, hedgerow and garden flowers to decorate your honoured sister, partner, daughter or friend. We can make and flavour blossom drinks and foods, or we can learn how to process and dry petals for flower confetti, or use fresh in drinks or cake decorations. We can also distill some flowers into floral waters or hydrosols.
Couples can make a flower or leaf crown each. For bride or mother-blessings we'll make one crown to be worn by the bride or mother to be! The programme of activities will be discussed with you to tailor it to you and your group's needs.
Here's a sneak preview of some of the traditions and symbolic meanings.
Those who lived before us on these Isles brought home bundles of hawthorn to decorate their homes in May, and celebrated the story of the May Queen (crowned with hawthorn), and Jack-in-the green (the young Oak King, aka the Green Man). Our nearby village of Wellow has a still thriving community maypole celebration. Climate change, milder winters and earlier springs are pushing hawthorn blossom into late April now, but the subsquent fruit-tree blossom comes bravely out in April and May, facing risk of late frosts, strong winds and vulnerability of the fruit harvest later in the year.
Celebrating these blossoms is a way of honouring and revering them and keeping our fingers crossed that they will withstand our increasingly unpredictable seasons, and achieve their destiny of pollination and fertility in the form of fruit production.
Flower petal throwing symbolises good luck, fertility and joyfulness for couples during their wedding day and flower crowns have associations in diverse places and times such as ancient Greece, Slavic countries, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and 1960s hippie culture.
The subtle floral flavour of flowers comes through in honey harvested from May onwards, and in drinks flavoured with flowers. Edible flowers make beautiful cake decorations too. As the season moves from spring to summer and even early Autumn, the flower tones change from whites and pinks and soft yellows to vibrant blues, oranges, and then deep reds. By the Autumn equinox we can make crowns with half dried, half fresh flowers.
This workshop is designed by Celebrant Joy Justice of Rooted Ceremonies and retired florist Debbie Yates. It is a private workshop, but is also available as a public workshop on May 22nd 2026.
Drinks and flower-infused snacks will be provided.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Hockerton Housing Project, Gables Drive, Southwell, United Kingdom
GBP 44.04 to GBP 109.05
