The Serge Hill Project for Gardening, Creativity, and Health, is a not-for-profit initiative based on the understanding that working with nature can radically transform people’s health and wellbeing. The aim is to foster community inclusion through gardening and other forms of creativity.
‘Bird School is a feast for mind and soul, a treasure trove of insights into the enigmatic and enchanting world of the birds we share our lives with but barely notice. I have learnt so much. Every page is a thrill. Bird School has opened my eyes.’ Isabella Tree, author of Wilding
Step into the hide for the evening in The Apple House, with bestselling and award-winning nature writer Adam Nicolson and bestselling author and esteemed horticulturist Sarah Raven for a glorious encounter with the wild to mark the publication of Adam’s brilliant new book: Bird School.
Over the last two or three years Adam and Sarah have embarked on getting to know the birds they have found around them at Perch Hill, their home in Sussex, engaging with a layer of life they had previously almost taken for granted.
Close to Perch Hill, there is a forgotten field overrun by bracken and thicketed by brambles. It is the haunt of deer and many birds – nightingales, the occasional cuckoo, ravens, robins, owls and in summer the sweet-singing warblers that come north from Africa to breed in English woods.
Adam Nicolson wanted to look and listen, to return to ‘bird school’ and see what it might teach him. He built a small shed amongst the trees with nesting boxes and bird feeders. Cocooned inside, season after season, he got to know the birds: where they nest, how they sing, how they mate and fight, what preys on them, what they are like as living things.
At the same time Sarah embarked on a long and careful study of how to make the garden more bird-rich, providing food, shelter and diversity for the birds, while coming to understand just how much a garden benefits from its birds.
The natural world is under siege. This event will illustrate that knowing and understanding more about the birds that surround you, is one way of doing something about it.
Hosted in The Apple House eco-barn, in an old orchard, guests can explore Tom Stuart-Smith’s Plant Library of over 2000 herbaceous perennials and bulbs ahead of the talk and enjoy a drink while they do so.
The event will be followed by a book signing with books provided by our local independent bookshop, Books On The Hill, St Albans.
‘Gardening is unique amongst the creative therapies in drawing on the power of nature’s growth and in the extent to which it brings together the emotional, physical, social, vocational and spiritual aspects of life.
Some of the benefits of gardening derive from the focus on caring for plants, others from the direct influence of green nature on our nervous systems. The safe green space of a garden is calming which reduces stress and helps promote human connection.’
— Sue Stuart-Smith
Support Us
At a time when the therapeutic benefits of horticulture are so clear and cuts to social care are so common, this project will provide a space to heal. We envisage the development of the community garden as a whole team effort, with designers and volunteers coming together to create a space that will help people experience the mental and physical health and wellbeing benefits of gardens and gardening.
Explore The Plant Library
Members of The Plant Library have access to a database of more than 1500 different varieties of mainly herbaceous plants. This is a unique and extensive educational and well-being resource for anyone interested in plants and planting design.