Friday 6th Workshops - Tommorow!

Friday 6th Workshops - Tommorow!

11.30 : Qi Gong - Rob Alsop

2.30 : Homoepathy; The Self and Nature the interrelationship of everything – Helen Campbell
(similar workshops also on 10th and 26th, 2.30)

Animal, vegetable, mineral and elemental sources. A discussion around energies in homeopathic remedies and treatment of like with like.

2.30 : Starting to Write (for Adults) – Jane Alexander (workshops also on 13th, 24th, 2.30)

Put pen to paper in these writing workshops, each with a different theme: place, work and people. You'll learn techniques that can help you find your starting place and enrich your creative writing. With Jane Alexander.

For this session you participants will use sound and rhythm, walking and observation to create a collaborative piece of writing about our surroundings.

4.30 : Invisible Structures discussion - Claudia Moseley and Ed Shustr

A presentation and discussion about the past, present and future of Invisible Structures - the organisation who have put on this event. Including ideas and thoughts on treehouse design, building and living, and on the creation of outdoor spaces for learning and artistic creation.

The Secret Grove GRAND OPENING TODAY: Come One and All

Ay 13.30 today the secret grove of the garden will become a site for open and continuous visitation and creation for the next month. Please come along to share in our opening and sample the kind of things that will be inhabitiating this dingly dell.

Today you can come and join our quest for the Imagination in a 45 minute interactive performance, followed by these 3 workshops:

2.30: Rhythm in Colour – Jane Cormack

Learn to paint sound and music in colour, interpret movement into pattern, colour, or image and explore colour, word and the music of words. We cross-fertilise these different creative expressions to explore new ways of approaching creativity incorporating breath and relaxation as well as journaling.

2.30: The Breadth and Depth of Homeopathy at home, at work and at play – Helen Campbell

2.30: Soundscape Tour - Katie Boothby

the Golden Bee !

The Golden Bee and other puppet will soon be joining us in the gardens....Kindly lent to us and made by Emma Brierley

(thanks Emma ! )

Artistry and Installations...

making
creating
imagining
sculptures and other art installations at the yurt and gardens behind the glasshouses in the Botanics, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and all week if anyone would like to join us !?!

Any help welcome! Come create a beautiful inquisitive space with us!

WE NEED HELP! and carpets, materials, wood, boards, or anything you are able to donate/lend to us is very much appreciated! thank you !

Ever wondered how to put a yurt together?

Tomorrow morning from 10am we will be erecting the other yurt on site. If anyone is interested in finding out how to do this and helping with it then please come down. We will be between the Fletcher Building by the East Gate of the Botanics and the Wet Tropics Glasshouse.

A myriad of workshops, and many to come

There are only 4 days now until the Secret Grove opens up to public exploration. There are already many workshops and sessions for you to come along to which you can see the details of on the workshops page of the Blog (click here), or you can check the timetable at www.invisiblestructures.org.

There are still lots of spaces so please get in contact if you would like to do something, especially in the very near future.

Come and Explore the Secret Grove of the Garden...

Welcome to the Blog for The Secret Grove of the Garden Project at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh this summer.

On this site you should find all the information on the project; what it is, what events are going on and when, what sort of characters you might expect to meet here, clues to the secrets that lie within, and how to come and get involved yourself.

The Secret Grove of the Garden is a temporary hidden outdoor learning environment that has sprung up amongst the exotic shrubery behind the glasshouses by the Fletcher Building in Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens and is inhabiting the two yurts and surronding space there with a diversity and free interactive and exciting activity sessions. There will be day-time workshops and performances exploring Edinburgh’s local environment through craft, storytelling, music and presentations on the secrets of nature. We are hoping to offer different workshops that engage the participants with new experiences and arouse curiosity and creative response to the local natural environment of Edinburgh.

The project will run from Friday 6 to Sunday 29 August (not Mondays) with the interactive performances at 10.30am, 12.30pm and 3.30pm and the workshops and activity sessions at 11.30, 2.30 and 4.30, with a variety of intriquing and evolving art installations throughout.

Follow this blog for information on all the different workshops and performances that will be on, and also check the programme schedule at www.invisiblestructures.org.


From its inception the Secret Grove of the Garden project has been developed by local people meeting to discuss ideas, visions and thoughts on how they see they perceive and relate to the city, and how we could create an experience here that would be relevant and of interest to the people of Edinburgh.

It is run completely by volunteers without any funding, and is all totally free to come to or to get involved with. Free tickets will be available on the door and from the Fringe box office, with donations very welcome.

So, please come down to perform, share a skill, try out a workshop, demonstrate your craft, meet with others, discover the wonders of the natural world, learn something new, make some art, tell a story or just hang out.

Finally, if you would like to add an entry on your experience at the Secret Grove, or help in developing the characters, stories and images that will make up the spirit of the place please email them to us and we will include them on this blog.

Whisper the word and do keep coming - it will evolve and change throughout August through the partipants and their responses that bring it alive.