‘Come forth into the light of things
Let nature be your teacher’
William Wordsworth
Join us for a day in the Apple House and gardens surrounding the Serge Hill Project, for our first nature-writing workshop. The workshop will be led by two writers: Nic Wilson, Guardian country diarist and author of the nature memoir, Land Beneath The Waves, and Sue Stuart-Smith, psychotherapist, co-founder of the Serge Hill Project and author of the Sunday Times bestseller, The Well Gardened Mind.
Aimed at beginners as well as developing writers, this is a creative day for anyone who has ever felt moved by the wonders of the natural world and had a desire to capture it more deeply; whether it’s wanting to learn more about flowers and trees in your local park or reflect on feelings stirred up by birdsong in the early days of Spring.
This inspiring workshop will focus on engaging with the natural world through writing exercises and techniques, including honing powers of observation, playing with words, reflective journal keeping, navigating inner landscapes, sensory explorations and scientific research.
With guidance from two exemplary writers, the day will help empower new and emerging writers to have the confidence to create and develop their own work. Everyone will finish the day with several short pieces and a range of ideas about how their ideas might be developed into longer piece of writing.
The workshop also includes a reading list, refreshments, a home cooked vegetarian lunch and chance to explore Tom Stuart-Smith’s renowned Plant Library of over 2000 varieties of perennials and bulbs.
About Nic Wilson
Nic Wilson is a writer, editor, Guardian country diarist and author of the nature memoir Land Beneath the Waves, which was chosen as one of the best nature books of 2025 by BBC Wildlife Magazine. She works for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, specialising in wildlife, wild plants and environmental issues and has nearly 30 years’ writing experience spanning academia, education, journalism and narrative non-fiction. Her qualifications include an MA in English Literature (Open University), a Diploma in Creative Non-Fiction (University of Cambridge) and a Secondary PGCE (Durham University).
Nic’s writing has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies including Under the Changing Skies: The Best of The Guardian Country Diaries 2018 to 2024, Going to Ground: An Anthology of Nature and Place, Moving Mountains, described as a ‘first-of-its-kind’ anthology of nature writing by disabled and chronically ill writers, and Women on Nature.
About Sue Stuart-Smith
Sue Stuart-Smith is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who graduated in English Literature at Cambridge before training as a doctor. She worked in the NHS for many years, becoming the lead clinician for psychotherapy in Hertfordshire and senior lecturer at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London. Until recently, she worked as a consultant clinician at DocHealth, a not-for-profit service that helps doctors suffering from stress and burnout.
Along with her husband Tom Stuart-Smith, she founded the not-for-profit initiative, The Serge Hill Project for Gardening, Creativity and Health. Her book, The Well Gardened Mind (William Collins, 2020), analyses the relationship between gardening, nature connection and mental health and has been translated into eighteen languages. It was a Sunday Times Bestseller and listed as one of the 37 best books of 2020 by The Times and gardening book of the year by The Sunday Times. Stephen Fry called it ‘the wisest book I’ve read for many years’.
Visitor Information
Parking
Parking is limited so please car-share or use public transport wherever possible. Details of how to find us are here.
If you arrive by car, as you turn into Featherbed Lane, the gravel lane off Sergehill Lane, please drive all the way to the end of the lane, and park in the field as signposted. Please do not park in residents only bays which are along Featherbed Lane.
Please note this event will be recorded.
Please note this is a no smoking and no vaping site.
Assistance dogs only allowed on site.
Accessibility
Accessible parking for those who require it is available directly outside The Apple House. There is step-free access to the building and all areas. However, there are many potential trip hazards and uneven surfaces that may be encountered whilst visiting the gardens, along with gravel paths that aren’t suitable for walking frames with wheels.