About the Course
This immersion week offers a practical introduction to permaculture through lived experience at Coed Hills, a long-established eco-community and centre for low-impact living.
Rather than separating theory from practice, the course brings them together through daily life. You will learn by doing, observing and reflecting, working with land, food systems and community as part of a shared experience.
It is designed for people who want to explore permaculture in a grounded, realistic way, whether you are new to the approach or looking to deepen your understanding.
What You’ll Experience
Across the week, learning is woven into daily life.
You will spend time working with soil, plants and seasonal rhythms, exploring approaches such as food growing, forest gardening and edible landscapes. Alongside this, you’ll begin to understand how to observe patterns, work with natural systems and apply simple design thinking to your own life or project.
You will explore:
- how to observe and respond to natural patterns
- food growing, forest gardening and seasonal awareness
- practical, hands-on work in gardens, woodland and land-based systems
- simple design tools you can apply to your own life or project
- Group co-coaching and reflection to deepen learning and integration
Much of the learning happens through doing. Time in the gardens, woodland and shared spaces is balanced with conversation, reflection and group work, helping you make sense of what you’re experiencing and how it relates to your own context.
Food is a central part of the week. Growing, preparing and sharing meals becomes part of the learning, connecting practical skills with a wider understanding of nourishment and food culture.
There is also space to slow down and notice what’s happening, both around you and within you. Simple somatic and reflective practices are offered as a gentle way to support awareness, resilience and integration.
You’ll also take part in interactive design sessions, using real situations and ideas to begin shaping your own next steps.
What You’ll Leave With
By the end of the week, you’ll have a clearer sense of direction, along with practical tools you can begin using straight away. You’ll build confidence in growing food, working with natural systems and making changes in your own life.
Whether you’re exploring this for the first time or already living some of these ideas, the week offers space to step back, take stock and move forward with greater clarity. You’ll also leave with a stronger sense of connection to the land, to others and to what feels possible next.
Who Is This For?
This immersion is perfect if you:
- have a project, idea or lifestyle shift you want to explore
- want to learn more about growing food or develop your existing practice
- care about health, wellbeing and living more sustainably
- are curious about permaculture and how it applies in real life
- are considering a full PDC and want to begin working towards that – continue your journey
The Cost
We offer three tiers of pricing, based on an honesty policy. This approach helps make the course accessible to people in different financial situations, while also ensuring we can cover costs and run the course again in future.
- £350 – Low income / unwaged
A limited number of places are available at this rate for those who would otherwise be unable to take part. - £475– Standard rate
This reflects the true cost of running the course. - £700 – Supporter Rate
Choosing this rate helps subsidise lower-income places and supports the long-term sustainability of the course.
We ask participants to choose the tier that best reflects their circumstances, trusting that this shared responsibility supports both individual access and the wider learning community.
Payment plans can also be arranged, please get in touch if this would support your participation.
The Accomodation
Onsite free camping with access to compost toilets, solar showers, washing up facilities, tea and coffee making.
As an optional alternative to camping at affordable additional cost, individual accommodation spaces are dotted throughout the gardens. These can be booked for private comfort and quiet rest, or shared by groups.
More details about the accommodation
Book your place >
Learn more about Permaculture >
More aboout the Coed Hills >
Accessibility & inclusion
We aim to make this course as inclusive and accessible as possible. One of our accommodation options, the railway carriage, is wheelchair accessible. The main teaching space in the barn is also wheelchair accessible, and there is an accessible toilet located there.
If you have access needs or questions not covered here, we warmly encourage you to get in touch before booking. We are happy to discuss what is possible and how we can best support your participation.
The course team includes:
- Steve Charter – (Pc Diploma, 2001)
- Stevie Watts – Stevie leads the Ediculture programme,
- Mathu Bloom – has lived at Coed Hills for almost eight years, in a tiny house she designed and built herself, and works closely with Stevie to maintain the gardens.
- Marianne Lindfield – Marianne has a strong background in community engagement and led the design and development of The Pod Project in Northern Ireland, a local permaculture and wellbeing hub.
More information in About Us
If you’d like to explore the thinking behind our approach to learning, community and care, you might enjoy our reflection Why a Wild Life?
Continue the Journey
If you’d like to go further, our Seasonal Growing Weekends focus on the practical skills of growing through the year.
These weekends can be taken on their own or added to the learning hours completed during the Immersion Week to to gain your Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC), certified by the Permaculture Association (Britain). You will also have the option to complete modules with other teachers to complete your PDC, as part of the new modular PDC system overseen by the Permaculture Association (Britain).
Please do feel free to book a discovery call and talk to us further if this is of interest.