Steve Bradley is a freelance garden writer and broadcaster who studied horticulture at Writtle, Cannington and Pershore Colleges, achieving the RHS Master of Horticulture Diploma. He has worked for BBC and independent television stations as a presenter and was researcher / presenter on three official Chelsea Flower Show videos.

As an author, he has over 30 titles to his name, including Propagation Basics, winner of the Garden Writers’ Guild Award for Best Practical Book of 2002. In October 2002, he joined Peter Seabrook as gardening correspondent for the Sun newspaper. As a magazine contributor he is behind the ‘Masterclass’ series in Gardens Monthly, and writes specialist articles for the RHS journal and BBC Gardeners World Magazine.

More info about Steve Bradley is available at:
On the BBC website

Val Bradley is married to broadcaster and author Steve Bradley and has been both editor and researcher for much of his work. Following her horticultural training she worked in garden centres and nurseries including RHS Wisley. She has taught at horticultural college covering topics such as propagation; pruning; plant nomenclature; house plants; basic garden design ; fruit and vegetable gardening. She has also written or co-written 10 books on various aspects of gardening including The Complete Guide to Houseplants (Collins and Brown) and Step by Step Town Gardens (Lorenz Books). She has written numerous magazine articles and was the resident expert on Gardens Monthly website forum fro tow years. For the last seven years she has joined Steve and Peter Seabrook as gardening correspondents for The Sun newspaper (the largest – selling English language newspaper in the world with a readership every week of about 10.5 million.)

Maggie Haynes and Beka Theed run Tuppenny Barn , a Soil Association certified organic, one hectare smallholding based in Southbourne, West Sussex. The company has a strong green & ethical ethos and works with nature wherever possible. Compost is made from green refuse, collected rainwater is used for the plant irrigation, companion planting methods are utilised for pest & disease control, natural habitats are made for the wildlife and additional hedgerows are planted to encourage more birds and animals. Recyling & re-using are an integral part of their work practise that includes using bio-degradable products for any form of packaging or plant containers for the farmers markets. Within the smallholding there is a small orchard, over 20 growing beds, a flower cutting garden, solar polytunnel, wildlife pond, a rainwater harvesting system for all the plants, 2 beehives & a productive compost area. Vegetables, herbs, top fruit, soft fruit & cut flowers and their own preserves are sold either by the Tuppenny Barn Bag scheme, local farmers markets or from their Thursday sales on site. Tuppenny also organises school and local community group visits so people can see plants & produce being grown in harmony with nature.

More info about Tuppenny Barn is available at:
www.tuppennybarn.com
Tel: 07977 536684

2.30pm on Saturday : Steve Bradley AND Simon Harman from 'Lilies Water Gardens' about
Water Gardening

Lilies Water Gardens has been in business for over 20 years and stock a large selection of plants suitable for different water environments and surrounding areas. They cater for ponds, lakes, streams, bog gardens, water meadows, rockeries, herbaceous borders and woodland areas.

More info about Lilies Water Gardens is available at:
www.lilieswatergardens.co.uk

2.30pm on Sunday : Steve Bradley AND Ray Bates from 'Rotherview Nurseries' about
Alpine Plants

Rotherview Nursery was established in 1988 in Sussex specialising in alpines. The range was expanded to include perennials and shade plants. Handmade hypertufa troughs are manufactured on the nursery and are displayed at horticultural shows in the year. In 1998 the Coghurst Camellias site was acquired and the Camellia collection taken over from Logan Edgar and Jean Farnfield.  Since then they have been working hard on increasing the varieties available and the collection of autumn-flowering Sasanquas. They also offer a wide range of Ferns and a variety of other shrubs, bedding, clematis, climbers and aquatics.

More info about Rotherview Nursery is available at:
www.rotherview.com

'Qi Gong' for Gardeners - 12.30pm and 2.30pm daily

Kim Lovelace has been teaching Qigong for over fifteen years, running regular group classes in Chichester and individual sessions from The Medicine Garden in Emsworth.   He also teaches Shiatsu and Qigong at branches of The Shiatsu College throughout the UK .   Visit the Medicine Garden stand in the Wellbeing Marquee to speak with him.

Gardeners bend and stretch and sometimes strain…..much work in the garden is repetitive and carried out from extremely contorted body positions The term Qigong covers a vast range of oriental exercises, all of which have the common thread of intention and mindfulness.   Movements are designed to “stretch, straighten and strengthen”, yet keep the mind clearly focussed on the task. Ten minutes of qigong will prepare ones body for the rigours of a day's gardening and ten minutes at the end of the day will release tense and knotted muscles, helping your whole body sigh with satisfaction at the results of your labours.

Steve became interested in herbal medicine after travelling widely in South America and Africa. He realised that there was a need to find a sustainable approach to using nature's resources before the exploitation of the natural world caused the irreversible decline of eco-systems. Witnessing the cure of his wife's severe bout of dysentery using plant remedies he realised it would be possible to have a positive impact on people's lives and challenge the assumption that nature can only benefit us through the exploitation of resources rather than by respecting the gifts of the environment.

Steve then studied herbal medicine for four years, graduating in 1994 with a Diploma in Herbal Medicine and joining the National Institute of Medical Herbalists. He now runs a clinic called the Medicine Garden in Emsworth, Hants and has a passionate interest in using native plants and rediscovering their folk medicine applications, providing cures for many modern-day ailments.

Today our relationship with the garden and countryside is very different to that of our grandparents. In the past the garden was primarily an indispensable resource for the provision of foods, medicines, fuels and raw materials. We now value this same space as an opportunity to appreciate the sights, sounds and smells of the natural world rather than as a provider of the essentials of life. The rose is a good example of this transition: still considered to be one of the most common and beautiful garden plants today it was originally cultivated for its medicinal properties and has only latterly been grown for its aesthetic qualities.

On the herb walks in the grounds of Stansted Park one can re-discover this lost vision of our forebears; a vision that places human beings within nature rather than as a disconnected observer outside it. Steve will give an insight into this ancient way of viewing the world, exploring why we have given particular names to plants, what their stories are and why they have been chosen to be used as medicines. Advice on herbs appropriate for the garden, kitchen and medicine cabinet will also be given as part of the talk.