You were never meant to simply read about herbs.
You were meant to know them.
To notice their first spring leaves. To gather them in summer abundance. To harvest their seeds and roots as the seasons turn. To transform them into medicine with your own hands.
Join me in West Wales for a year-long journey into the plants, folklore, and healing traditions of Cymru (Wales).
Throughout the year, we meet each season, learning directly from the land as it changes around us. As the seasons unfold, so too does your understanding of the plants, their medicines, and your place within the landscape.
This is herbalism learned through experience, observation, and connection.
One season at a time.
You feel drawn to herbs but don't know where to begin
You've read books but want practical experience
You want to make your own medicine rather than buy everything in bottles
You long to spend more time outdoors and reconnect with nature
You feel a pull towards Welsh traditions, folklore and culture
You want to learn alongside like-minded people who share your love of plants
You don't need any previous herbal knowledge.
Just curiosity, enthusiasm, and a willingness to get your hands dirty.
Herbal wisdom was once passed from generation to generation, woven into everyday life. Across much of Europe, that lineage was disrupted by the witch burning times, but in Wales something of that thread remained, carried through families, communities, folklore, language, and a close relationship with the land.
Wild Welsh Herbalism® is an opportunity to reconnect with that living tradition.
Many herbal courses draw from multiple traditions without being rooted in a particular place. This course is different. It is rooted here in Wales, in the plants that grow here and the stories, folklore, and healing traditions that surround them.
Throughout the year, we follow the seasons, taking the time to truly know the plants rather than rushing through hundreds of herbs. You'll meet them in the garden, woodland, hedgerows, and medicine jars, learning directly from the land itself.
The plants are our teachers. The seasons are our timetable. The land is our classroom.
Throughout the year you'll learn how to:
Make herbal tinctures, salts and glycerites
Create infused oils, herbal poultices, compresses and healing balms
Blend herbal teas and nourishing infusions
Prepare oxymels, vinegars and elixirs
Learn about herbal foot soaks, enemas and body brushing
Hand roll your own pills and make your own capsules
Dry and preserve herbs
Forage safely and ethically
Grow medicinal plants
Harvest herbs at the right time
Create remedies for yourself and your family
Every teaching block includes practical medicine making so you leave with skills you can immediately use at home.
Over thirteen teaching days across thirteen months, we follow the cycle of the Welsh year.
As the seasons change, so do the plants, the medicines we make, and the lessons they offer.
Welsh folklore
The story of Llyn y Fan Fach
The Physicians of Myddfai
Welsh plant names and their meanings
Traditional Welsh approaches to healing
The course takes place at Ysbryd y Coed, my woodland home and classroom in West Wales.
Together we explore:
The medicinal herb garden
The woodland
The polytunnel
Wild growing spaces
The woodland classroom
This is an outdoor learning experience. We'll be working with real plants in real weather. Sunshine, drizzle, mud and all.
Learning doesn't stop when you go home. Between seasonal gatherings you'll receive:
Supporting videos
Learning resources
Access to the student community
Ongoing inspiration to deepen your connection with the plants
This allows you to continue working with the herbs between teaching weekends and build confidence throughout the year.
The course follows a full cycle of the seasons, with 13 teaching days spread across five seasonal gatherings.
Teaching takes place from 10:00am to 4:00pm each day.
This is a non-residential course, so accommodation is not included. If you are travelling from further afield, you will need to arrange your own accommodation between teaching days.
This course is for you if:
✓ You want to learn herbal medicine in a practical way
✓ You enjoy being outdoors
✓ You want to reconnect with nature
✓ You feel drawn to Welsh culture and traditions
✓ You learn best through doing rather than simply reading
✓ You want to build confidence working with plants
This course is probably not for you if:
✗ You dislike being outdoors
✗ You dislike compost toilets
✗ You prefer purely academic study
✗ You want a fast-track qualification
✗ You dislike mud, being outside in all weather and getting your hands dirty
Suddenly seeing medicine everywhere you walk
Collecting more jars than you ever thought possible
Talking to plants like old friends
Planning holidays around plant flowering times
Getting ridiculously excited about "weeds"
Feeling more connected to yourself, your community and the land
What happens when you stop just learning about herbs… and begin living this work.
These are not practitioners. These are people who began exactly where you are now.
Hi, I’m Salena Walker.
I teach people how to confidently work with plants in a way that is both practical and deeply rooted in tradition.
I am a herbalist, naturopath, nutritionist and teacher with over forty years of experience working with medicinal plants, and more than twenty years teaching others how to recognise and use them safely.
I was raised in the South Wales valleys, where the landscape, language and traditions of Wales shaped how I understand plants and healing.
I grew up watching my parents, grandparents and great grandparents grow food and medicine in small back gardens, using what they had around them.
My deeper study of herbal medicine began after being diagnosed with Pernicious Anaemia. That experience led me to study naturopathy, nutrition and herbalism in depth and eventually to become a practitioner and teacher.
Today my work focuses on Wild Welsh Herbalism®.
I explore the relationship between plants, place, folklore and healing traditions in Wales, and help others rediscover this knowledge in a way that can be used in everyday life.
This course is rooted in that work.
I do not teach this as theory. I teach it as a living practice.
You might be wondering…
You’ll receive a welcome email from me, letting you know the details about the course and how to log into the online element of the course dashboard which will be available after our first in person session, in May 2027. Please check your spam folder in case it goes in there!
Please note: Your payment secures your place on the course. If you choose a payment plan, payments will begin immediately after enrolment, even if the course has not yet started.
This course is available online and is open for enrolment the end of April. You can join the waiting list for the online course here: https://salenawalker.podia.com/waiting
In addition to the in person sessions, I will also be posting videos and e-books online. So if you miss the session you can catch up online and continue your herbal journey.
This course is for both beginners and professionals. It is suitable for anyone who wishes to deepen their herbal knowledge through the lens of Welsh tradition, native plants, and practical experience.
No. Qualified herbalists spend many years training, complete rigorous assessments, and undertake supervised clinical practice before qualifying to work with clients professionally.
This course is designed as a foundation in herbal medicine, with a strong focus on connecting with plants, understanding their traditional uses, and learning how to make simple herbal remedies for yourself, your family, and your community.
For those who wish to continue their studies, from 2027 there will be a progression route through the Wild Welsh Herbalism programme. Students who complete both Year One and Year Two will be eligible to apply for the Practitioner Diploma in Wild Welsh Herbalism, a professional training programme for those who wish to train as practising herbalists.
Yes. A delicious and nutritious plant-based lunch is included each teaching day. There will also be plenty of herbal teas and a homemade afternoon treat, such as an energy ball, or slice of cake.
Full payment reserves your place on a course. Prior to the course starting, if you have to cancel your place due to exceptional circumstances you will be issued a credit that can be used for any course or products within the next 24 months. Once the course has started no refunds will be given. If your life situation changes and you are unable to attend the course days, the course can be completed online.
Built a relationship with thirty-nine medicinal plants
Learned how to identify, grow, harvest and preserve herbs safely
Created your own herbal apothecary of tinctures, oils, balms, vinegars and many other remedies
Understood the foundations of herbal medicine through a Welsh lens
Developed the confidence to use herbs for yourself and your family and your community
Reconnected with the seasonal rhythms of the land
This is your moment to begin.