Nature's Laboratory at The Power of Plants Festival 2024 by Tom Cull, Director of Production, Purchasing, & Operations
23 August 2024
Nature's Laboratory travels to the 3rd Power of Plants Festival
From the 12th to 14th of July Nature's Laboratory went "on tour" to the 3rd annual Power of Plants festival held at the Hawkwood Estate in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
Shankar, Lucy, James and I (pictured above left to right), journeyed down from North Yorkshire by car and by rail to spend the weekend at the premium herbal medicine festival in the UK, organised by the National Institute of Medical Herbalists. We set up our stall on the ‘Herbal High Street’, where we could showcase our BeeVital, Herbal Apothecary, Sweet Cecily's and Whitby Tea Company products and base ourselves until Sunday.
A Great Start to the Weekend
After setting up the stall we set up camp for the weekend, then made our way to Cotswold Pop-ups for some food and then on to the Pestle and Mortar Inn for some cold ones and some great acoustic music from Emaline Delapaix.
Friday morning was the official opening of the festival, and the sun broke through an overnight downpour to set the tone for the weekend, and what a great weekend it was, through to Sunday afternoon.
We shared the Herbal High Street with some fantastic other stall holders, including our neighbours Sonia and Mo at Hello Wellness and also other manufacturers, brand owners and educators. The camaraderie between us all was evident!
Our CEO James gives a talk on Propolis, The BeeArc & All Things Honeybee
There were talks, walks and sessions throughout the day in the various locations around the site. Our CEO James gave a talk on his area of expertise, Propolis (an amazing substance produced by honeybees), the research we here at Nature’s Laboratory are carrying out and our future projects including the innovative BeeArc project.
The Festival Vibe & a Great Herbal Community
The evenings were filled with great food, music and dancing, and a chance to relax and converse with fellow festival-goers and stallholders in the evening sun.
We met some amazing people, including students, herbalists and people who have a passion for herbs and natural medicine. We cemented relationships with old friends and connected with new people, sowed the seeds for future developments and cultivated the bonds we have with the herbal medicine community.
There is such a positive energy, a happy vibe, and a sense of purpose in the Herbal Medicine movement.
Friendship is a precious thing
Nature's Laboratory is a ‘Friend’ of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, which they describe as “our Friends are those who we respect, who share our values, and who believe in what we stand for and want to work with us to help achieve our vision.”
I’d like to think this weekend proved that.