This course starts on Saturday 18 October 2025 (scroll down for the full dates) and ends on the 20th of November 2027.
Design green spaces that are regenerative, productive and beautiful. Start Date: Saturday, 18 October 2025 Format: Hybrid online with live Zoom sessions
The course will be on Zoom. Detailed instructions will be sent on registration.
This practical and inspiring online course equips you with the skills and confidence to design your ecological garden. You’ll learn how to create spaces that are productive, resilient, and in tune with nature—whether you’re working with a balcony, front yard, backyard, allotment, or larger landscape.
This course blends both self-paced and live learning—known as bichronous learning. You’ll study each theory module independently at your own pace and then join live Zoom sessions each month to deepen your understanding through Q&As, design tutorials, guest talks, and practical exercises.
Self-paced modules (asynchronous): Unlock new content once you complete the previous module.
Live monthly Zoom sessions (synchronous): Interactive group sessions to support your design process and answer your questions.
Start Date: Saturday, 18 October 2025
End Date: Saturday, 20 November 2027
Online Self-Paced Study Time: 80–120 hours of online learning
Project Work Time: 80–120 hours on your personal garden design
Live Zoom Sessions:
This course is for anyone who wants to design an ecological garden to a professional standard—whether you’re a beginner or have some experience.
You’ll benefit if you:
Want to grow food, herbs and pollinator habitats
Dream of a low-maintenance, beautiful space to relax, play or host others
Aim to create a garden that functions as an interconnected, healthy and resilient ecosystem
Aim to create a garden space that facilitates community, education, mental well-being and emotional regulation
Are transitioning to ecological landscaping or permaculture design
You’ll gain a practical understanding of designing functional, nourishing, and ecologically sound green spaces. Unlike conventional gardening courses, we focus not only on planting plans, wildlife gardening and hardscaping features but, more importantly, on how your garden can function as a whole system that benefits wildlife, people and the planet, mitigating climate change and closing the loop on waste, pollution and unnecessary work.
You’ll learn to:
Define a clear brief to guide your design work
Assess and read your site like an ecosystem
Work with climate, soil, water, and energy flows
Develop multifunctional spaces based on your values and goals
Apply permaculture design principles to create harmony between people and nature
Use a step-by-step design process that you can replicate anywhere
Outline an implementation plan that is cost and resource-efficient
The course is led by Teresa Pereira
Live sessions run from 11:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 16:00 on Saturdays unless noted.
2025
Session 1: 18 October to 13:00 and 14:00 to 16:00
Session 2: 15 November
2026
Sessions 3–12: Monthly from January to November 17 Jan | 21 Feb | 2 March |18 April | 16 May | 13 Jun | 18 July | 15 Aug | 19 Sep | 17 Oct | 14 Nov
2027
Sessions 13–24: Monthly from January to November
Course Fee: £1260 Early Bird Fee: £960 (deposit paid before 30 June 2025) Deposit to Secure Your Place: £260 Payment Plans:
We offer a transparent and supportive pricing policy, with payment plans and some flexibility available for those on low incomes. If cost is a barrier, we encourage you to contact us to discuss options.
Reserve a place on this course
Access to an outdoor space you’d like to work with
A stable internet connection for Zoom sessions
Basic digital literacy for using course materials
We occasionally host optional practical workshops
The course will be led by Teresa Pereira with support from guest teachers. Teresa is a leading associate teacher with the School, specialising in Ecological Garden Design.
What will we study?
The aim is to help you to make the transition to a practical and peaceful future, in the way that you want it to. You can read more about the course topics here.
What will it cost and how can I pay?
The fee for the complete course is £1260. To secure your place, we ask for a deposit of £260 when you book. The fees are reduced for early bookings to £960.
You can read more about our pricing policy and what you can expect from us. We offer several ways to make this affordable for people on low incomes, and if the fee is difficult for you to find, you are encouraged to negotiate with us.
Pay the deposit via our secure Stripe checkout to secure your place.
Reserve a place on this course
Venue for the course
Dates
We start on Saturday 18 October 2025 and continue to complete 24 sessions in all.
Session 2: Saturday 15 November 2025
Session 3: Saturday 17 January 2026
Session 4: Saturday 21 February 2026
Session 5: Saturday 14 March 2026
Session 6: Saturday 18 April 2026
Session 7: Sunday 17 May 2026
Session 8: Saturday 13 June 2026
Session 9: Saturday 18 July 2026
Session 10: Saturday 15 August 2026
Session 11: [Saturday 19 September 2026
Session 12: Saturday 17 October 2026
Session 13: Saturday 14 November 2026]
Session 14: Saturday 16 January 2027
Session 15: Saturday 27 February 2027
Session 16: Saturday 27 March 2027
Session 17: Saturday 24 April 2027
Session 18: Saturday 08 May 2027
Session 19: Saturday 12 June 2027
Session 20: Saturday 17 July 2027
Session 21: Saturday 14 August 2027
Session 22: Saturday 18 September 2027
Session 23: Saturday 16 October 2027
Session 24: Saturday 20 November 2027
Additional information
For further enquiries, contact Teresa e-mail us
Reserve a place on this course
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