Permaculture and gardening

A rare chance to learn in-person with Aranya on mainland Europe. This is an introduction to permaculture course with an emphasis on its applications in the garden. Residential, full board with a maximum of six participants.

Château de Sacy is an 18th-century walled manor house on the edge of a peaceful village north of Paris, with a hectare of lawns, an organic kitchen garden run on permaculture principles, orchard, courtyard, dovecote and woodland walk.

Nothing much has changed in over a hundred years. The idea is to keep it that way; ‘growth’ is not part of the plan but becoming more sustainable is. The kitchen garden and fruit trees provide delicious fare and the interiors reflect this too, being largely original but comfortable and functional with workable kitchens and enough hot water. Some have good phone signal, others not so good. Improvements are made in a traditional style using home grown timber where possible and carefully selected salvage. And if a fridge still works efficiently but is a little rusty on the outside edges, so be it. Repairing and recycling have always been favoured over discarding and replacing.