Residential Permaculture Design Course in Wales
April 29th to May 11th 2025
The Permaculture Design Course (PDC) is a 72-hour internationally recognised training engaging head, heart and hands of participants to discover the principles and techniques of permaculture. We will explore the patterns of our predominant consumerist culture and compare them to the sustainable and regenerative patterns of the natural world. We will not only apply those patterns and principles to the example of ecosystems and the land but also communities and and our own embodied selves.
As such, permaculture offers us practical tools for creating change in our own lives and the wider world around us. You can expect this course to be engaging and connecting, fun and creative, thought provoking and heart opening.
The curriculum explores the whole field of sustainability and the regeneration of land and culture. Topics covered include:
Ethics & principles of Permaculture
Observation techniques for connecting to & understanding ecology, climate & landscape
Permaculture design methods and tools
Mapping & design exercises
Soil science, soil food web & natural soil improvement
Organic food production & integrated animal systems
Water management including harvesting, conservation, & management
Land regeneration
Agroforestry & forest gardening
Appropriate technologies & renewable energy systems
Building materials and energy efficient homes
People & permaculture: personal ecology & the art of collaboration
The course caters for all learning styles and includes demonstrations, practical exercises, group work, lectures and slide shows. As part of the course participants will work in groups on a design project to put their learning into practice.
More About the Certificate
Participants will receive an internationally recognised Permaculture Design Course Certificate awarded by the UK Permaculture Association.
This certificate is the standard within the permaculture movement and is required if you would like to go on and study for the Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design.
Permaculture opens doors to a new vision for our planet. Joining the Permaculture movement can lead on to developing a passion into work. It allows you to build the practices into the work you are currently doing or discover new strands of work such as land regeneration, ecological consultancy, community gardening, garden and landscape design, renewable energy and appropriate technology consultant and more.
Your Tutors
Michel Thill
Michel is currently based in Devon, UK, where he is leading a community garden project and developing new courses exploring embodied ecology. He previously lived and worked in London where he set up the community interest company Social Landscapes, exploring predominantly community-led urban regeneration. His work has always been about resilience and aliveness, exploring the question of how we, as human beings, find our rightful place within the ecosystem and the world. All his work is informed by his continuous personal mindfulness practice and somatic presence work.
He has previously worked at the Happy Farm, a food growing project in Plum Village, France, the Panya Project, a permaculture education centre in Thailand, completed is Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design with the UK Permaculture Association and studied Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning in Germany. In his thesis at University he explored the socio-ecological dimension of large scale ecosystem restoration projects.
Michel is a registered certified permaculture teacher and diploma tutor with the UK Permaculture Association and has thought in the UK, Thailand, Italy, Greece, Spain and Luxembourg.
Ed Dale-Harris
ARB Architect + Permaculture Designer since 2017, founder of SAWA in 2014, Socially Active Workshop Architecture, in Rwanda working on a reconciliation project, a house for a victim. Valuing nature based design and learning systems, re-birthing critically important indigenous and nature based wisdom in the complexity of modern day living systems given the global climate change challenges we all face. Knowing that it is possible to live happily and healthily in harmony with the planet.
Ed has developed a broad range of skills as an: architect, self builder, project manager, workshop leader, grower, natural builder working in 10 plus countries and cultures across Africa, Asia and Europe. Now specializing in ecological retrofits of homes and farm buildings, shepherds huts, tiny homes, compost loos, and community gardens from his homestead in mid Wales. In 2019, SAWA’s Agri Tech Centre, Cambodia won the AJ100 Best Collaboration of the Year Award with Squire and Partners, with the judges describing it as ‘an exceptional example of architectural practices doing charitable work in the developing world’.
A hands-on / on-site architect/ regenerative systems designer. Working with locals trades and crafts people to make cost effective robust sustainable solutions that put, working holistically, people and planetary health at the center of every decision. Critically valuing and working with respect to the users and makers of these spaces, facilitating contemporary, grassroots and vernacular architecture.
For more information see sawa-architecture.org/
The venue and directions
SAWA Architecture, 2 Tyny Y Graig Cottage, Builth Wells, Powys, LD2 3HH
The site is a Welsh stone cottage, barn with a veg garden and woody area attached, the neighbouring farmer's 250 acre farm track runs through the site.
Accommodation
The course accommodation is at the The Buzzards Nest which has a lovely mix of shared accommodation in a house with shared wc and bathroom, outside shared studio room and couple accommodation in the summer house, with adjacent compost loo and hot showers. This site is just a 10 minutes drive away from Tyn y Graig. We will ask a couple of attendees to be the designated drivers to bring the people up to site each day.
Pricing & Registration
The course fees include full tuition and certification, food on site and 12 nights’ worth of accommodation at the Buzzard’s Nest. To register your interest in the course, please fill the form below. We will then be in touch within a week to complete registration with you.
The standard rate for those earning between £20000 and £30000 pa is £885.
The abundance rate for those earning £30000 pa or more is £985.
The concession for those earning less than £20000 pa is £785.
The preferred mode of payment is via bank transfer. We will initially require a deposit of £250 which becomes non-refundable by April 15th 2025. The full fee will need to be paid a week before the start of the course. You can pay in instalments leading up to that date. If you require a different arrangement for your payment, please do be in touch.