Dried Flower Embroidery Hoop Workshop

An opportunity to learn and create with dried flowers by making your own nature inspired wall hanging using dried flowers, grasses and foliage, all grown at Once Upon a Time, near Par.

You will learn to create your own jute string woven base on a wooden embroidery hoop and arrange and secure dried flowers and grasses to create depth and visual flow. There will be various colours and textures available so you can choose your own curated design and go home with your own piece of botanical art that captures the beauty of preserved botanicals. 

The workshops includes all materials, plus tea/coffee and cake. 

Price £45

Marie Tolhurst Biography - Once Upon a Time Florals

Hello I’m Marie Tolhurst, the face behind Once Upon a Time florals near Par, Cornwall.

I’m originally from Cornwall but began growing flowers in 2019 in a beautiful walled garden next to the Thames at my husband’s family organic veg farm in South Oxfordshire. Inspired by my wonderful late mother-in-law Lin, who was a wonderful grower and grew beautiful flowers in the walled garden alongside her busy veg propagation work. Her flowers would always end up in vases for events and weddings at the farm, including my own wedding where she grew all the flowers with the emphasis on sweet peas which have always been a favourite of mine. 

When I started growing, I was a complete beginner and had never even been a gardener but always keen on nature and the outdoors. My career background is finance which couldn’t be further from flower growing but my methodical mind really enjoyed trawling seed catalogues and websites and planning planting beds. My husband’s Dad, Iain Tolhurst MBE a leader in the organic movement in the UK taught me to sow seeds and how to prepare beds, plant and look after the plants along with understanding the importance of soil health and biodiversity.

My first year of growing was so magical seeing all the tiny seedlings I had learned to sow and nurture turn into the most beautiful flowering plants. I then realised I had way too many fresh flowers and thought there must be a way of preserving such beauty, which led me into researching flowers for drying. 

My bouquet arranging and dried flower wreath making felt like a baptism of fire but with consistent practice it became something I’ve crafted. 

Fast forward to 2022 when my husband and I moved back home to our roots in Cornwall and to ‘Once upon a time’, a beautiful 2-acre woodland garden near Par. The garden had an old rickety poly tunnel and a couple of greenhouses but no growing plot so the first thig we did was to make our fenced plot.

Both of us share the same organic growing ethos which for us means encouraging biodiversity and nurturing soil health without the use of chemicals and artificial fertilizers. My aim for a while has been to use our own made compost which for the first time this year I have used for potting on seedlings with great success. 

I am gradually building my little flower business here at Once upon a time by selling fresh flowers and hosting pop up shops throughout the growing season and continuing with my passion for dried flowers, creating to sell online and from Once upon a time.

For me dried flowers are not only beautiful and everlasting but provide such a great way of enabling our British flower growing season to sustainably cover the whole year. 

I’m really looking forward to hosting my first dried flower workshop at the wonderful Duchy of Cornwall Nursery and look forward to seeing you there!