Welcome to Holt Wood Herbs

Natural ingredients for living well from our medicinal forest garden

Medicinal Forest Garden Trust

The Medicinal Forest Garden Trust aims to promote sustainable harvesting of medicinal trees and shrubs.

Witch Hazel Distilled Water

Herbal cosmetics and body care products from Holt Wood. Virginian Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) grown at Holt Wood in Devon is available now as a distilled water.

Permaculture at Holt Wood

Holt Wood is part of the permaculture LAND network. Find out more about forest gardening and designing for sustainabiliry.

Medicinal Forest Garden Courses

Find out more about our medicinal forest garden, and learn how to make herbal cosmetics and other preparations for health. For an overview of courses available in 2020, and to see more details or book online, you can go here.

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We transformed a conifer plantation in Devon into a vibrant forest garden and are cultivating and harvesting medicinal trees and shrubs sustainably.

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This is young Snow Gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora subspecies niphophila) and we have planted it on a stony bank in a sunny spot. One of the slower growing eucalypts, hardy and small tree size eventually. Ideal medicinal tree for a manageable size, one of the trees in our forthcoming book The Medicinal Forest Garden Handbook by Anne Stobart. The book will be published in March 2020 by Permanent Publications. #permaculture #medicinalforest #herbs #seriousgardening

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These are the seeds and seed cases of Virginian Witch Hazel (Hamamelis Virginiana) - shiny black seed are ejected forcefully from the seed capsules which have been maturing on the branches for some 12 months. The only way to be sure of catching the seed is to put the capsules in a paper bag before they explode (the technical term is ‘dehisce’)! Whether these seeds are viable is yet to be determined by sowing in the greenhouse - a bit of cold weather may help. In 3 or 4 years time we could be harvesting the leafy twigs for Distilled Witch Hazel. #medicinalforestgarden

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It’s official - autumn has arrived according to our witch hazel bushes. We get some glorious leaf colour from Hamamelis Virginia aka the North American witch hazel. At the same time bushes are flowering, small spidery yellow flowers in autumn - it is the Chinese witch hazel that flowers in early spring, the one mostly found in garden centres. Our witch hazel leafy twigs were harvested back in late spring for distilling. Our distilled witch hazel is a sustainable crop, allowing the bushes to keep growing. In contrast in the USA whole witch hazel trees are usually pulled out from under oak trees and chipped pith and all, so it is becoming harder to find them there. #sustainable #herbalmedicine #distillation #antinflammatory #permaculture

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Lovely new benches for our shade house, so we can propagate more medicinal trees and shrubs! Anne has written a short blog with more detail at www.holtwoodherbs.com/blog/

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Our pond at Holt Wood is full of lilies, bogbean, gipsywort and more but the water level has been getting lower and lower. Part of the problem is dry weather but there is also some leakage into the surrounding soil. This is despite a puddled clay lining. So we are trying an extra lining of ..... shit, horse manure to be precise. It has been fun applying the poo, a bit like playschool! The idea is that the manure dries and forms an organic skin to create a lining. We shall see if this works over the next few months.

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Tilia cordata is the Small-leaved lime, and we have been revisiting this tree at Sandford Millennium Green in anticipation of flowering. At last, worth waiting for, the flowering begins. These flowers are supposedly more numerous and held more erect than other Limeflower species. The scent is divine. Our limes at Holt Wood have been pollarded this year so no flowers to harvest there, maybe next year

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We are away for a few days in Scotland seeking out photos for a forthcoming book on medicinal trees and shrubs. There is such wonderful flora around western Scottish watersides - Scots pine, birch, bilberry, and more. It is just like a natural medicinal forest garden! #highlands #herbal #treemedicine

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On our Designing a Medicinal Forest Garden course at Holt Wood yesterday, we had some excellent walkabouts seeng and discussing medicinal trees and other plants. Plus we also made wheelbarrow biochar, a brilliant way to use up dry woody material to make soil conditioner. After dowsing with water the charred remains can be dowsed with compost tea or comfrey liquid to ‘inoculate’ it with nutrients and microbes. We run the course again on Friday 14 June, details at www.holtwoodherbs.com/events. #permaculture #forestgarden #herbalmedicine #devonlive

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Fascinating afternoon talking about herbal medicine with USA students from Grinnell College, Iowa, and a chance for them to meet real herbal practitioners in Devon on their UK tour. They have been studying world medicine and have also visited Japan earlier this year. Our discussion ranged across many aspects from history to gender to regulation and what actually happens in a herbal consultation. #globalgrinnell #betonica #herbal medicine #Devon

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About Our Products

Every purchase from Holt Wood Herbs helps to fund the Medicinal Forest Garden Trust. We make a range of herbal bodycare preparations, click here for a list of products from Holt Wood Herbs.