Jekka's Herb Days
New for 2025, we are delighted to launch Jekka’s Herb Days.
We have combined our popular open days with Jekka’s HerbFest to make special herb themed events thoughout the year.
Jekka's June Herb Day theme is Pollinating Herbs and it is being held on Friday 6th June & Saturday 7th June 2025. Each day will run from 9 am - 4 pm with talks, Jekka’s Herbetum tours, stalls and food available.
Tickets are priced at £25 per ticket for an adult and £10 for children 14-17 (free for children 13 and under). Tickets will be available through the link below.
Importance of pollinating herbs
A major part of our natural ecosystem on this herb farm is the biodiversity of pollinators. We promote these pollinators as they help make healthy, tasty and strong herbs.
However, recent data shows pollinator numbers to be in decline, which is cause for global concern. If we want to combat the “Hidden Hunger”, we must therefore prevent widespread pollinator decline in both abundance and diversity.
We therefore encourage you to plant herbs and other plants to support pollinators. You need to plant not only plants with nectar and pollen rich flowers but also those that pollinator larvae feed off, like Dill and Fennel.
Jekka's Herb Day Speakers & Demonstrators
Jekka McVicar, VMH
Jekka has been awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour in Horticulture by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), 62 RHS Gold medals for her Herb exhibits, is Vice President of the RHS and has written 9 books, including her new book, 100 Herbs to Grow and Jekka’s Complete Herb Book, which has sold over 1 million copies world-wide. She is well known for her herb expertise and designing herb gardens for hospitals, restaurants and private homes.

Richard Rickitt
Richard Rickitt is co-editor of BeeCraft, the UK's best-selling beekeeping magazine. Richard first learned beekeeping over 40 years ago and as well as his own bees, keeps hives for a number of clients. He is beekeeper at Westonbirt, the National Arboretum, and gives talks and teaches courses on beekeeping, pollination and gardening for bees. He frequently speaks on the subject here, abroad, and on radio and TV, making him one of the UK's best-known beekeepers. He has written hundreds of articles on the subject and is author of the multi-award-winning book Beekeeping for Gardeners (Bloomsbury) which he will be able to sign on the day.

Jean Vernon
Jean is an award-winning writer with a passion for wildlife, pollinators and especially bumblebees and solitary bees. Jean is on a mission to demystify, unravel and explain the intricate balance of nature in your garden and to introduce you to the familiar and unfamiliar bees and pollinators that exist in the garden habitat. Jean will be taking her popular garden-bee tours around the Herbetum during Jekka's Herb Days, focussing on bumblebees, solitary bees and the herb flowers that they feed on. She will be signing copies of her books – The Secret Lives of Garden Bees and Attracting Garden Pollinators.

Paul Hervey-Brookes
Paul Hervey-Brookes is a well-respected designer who has built a strong reputation for landscapes and gardens that classically rely on planting to create spaces and rich, multi-layered habitats. His plant-focused philosophy is rooted in his early training at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh and subsequent garden experiences.
Paul has worked on a diverse range of public landscapes and private gardens both in the United Kingdom and Internationally with projects in Thailand, Russia, New Zealand, The United Sates and Israel.
Schedule of tours & talks
Time | Event | Details |
09:30 - 10:15 | Herbetum tours run in parallel |
Richard Rickitt - Honey Bee Tour Join Richard on a honey bee tour of Jekka's Herbetum. During the tour you will learn about the incredible lifecycle of the honey bee, how they pollinate our flowers and crops, and what is necessary to successfully keep happy, healthy bees. Find out which flowering herbs Honey bees just love and which distinct flavours of the various herbs you might be able to detect in the honey made from their nectar. Most people think they know a thing or two about honey bees when they arrive, but during this tour you will realise how little you really know about bees as well as the fascinating craft of beekeeping. Jean Vernon - Bumblebee SafariCome and join Jean in the amazing Herbetum at Jekka’s Herb Farm for a Bumblebee Safari. She will introduce you to some of the charming bumblebees and fascinating solitary bees that bring our gardens alive and pollinate our plants. She will share some of the secrets about our garden bees and their incredible and fascinating lives. Jean will gently catch a few bumblebees so that you can see them close-up and learn more about the different species, some identification skills and their individual needs. Jean will also show you some of the herbal power plants that support our wonderful pollinators as she explores the Herbetum and the plants that grow there. |
11:00 - 11:45 | Herb talk |
Jekka McVicar - My top 6 pollinating herbs to grow Jekka will share her passion about growing herbs and she has chosen her 6 favourite and most useful pollinating herbs. She will explain how to grow them, whether in a garden or in a container as well as which part of the herb to use. |
13:00- 13:45 | Herbetum tours run in parallel |
Richard Rickitt - Honey Bee Tour Join Richard on a honey bee tour of Jekka's Herbetum. Jean Vernon - Bumblebee SafariCome and join Jean for a Bumblebee Safari. |
14:30 - 15:15 | Herb talk |
Paul Hervey-Brookes - Designing for bees and pollinators Paul is an award-winning garden designer and plantsman with extensive work in both public and private gardens. He will discuss his plant-focused approach to landscape design and how to design gardens for bees and pollinators. |
Please note, you do not need to book a place at these talks or tours
Stalls at Jekka's Herb Days
Amy West
Amy is a Bath-based basketmaker, working with willow and hazel grown locally. Natural, bark-on willow is a very special material as there is such an array of colour and texture to choose from among the hundreds of varieties available, adding extra scope for creativity in the design process.
Weaving very much with the gardener, cook, forager and lover of natural materials in mind, Amy's baskets are a useful and beautiful addition to any home.
Bees Wax Alchemy
Bees Wax Alchemy use beeswax from their own hives and from commercial and hobby bee keepers across the South West. Their honey is from their own hives, all of which are in remote areas, either on moorland or old meadows that are used for light grazing by sheep, and as such are full of wild herbs and flowers.
Bees Wax Alchemy ethos is sustainability, supporting the environment and the belief that if you look after the invertebrates the rest of the food chain will look after itself.
Seilich
Seilich is a unique and award winning natural skincare company. Their products are natural in the truest sense of the word; their ingredients having grown-up freely in a pure and wild place. They are based on powerful Scottish botanicals, handpicked from our wildflower meadow in the Lothians of Scotland. As well as being the source of ingredients, the meadows provide sanctuary for a variety of pollinating insects such as bees, butterflies and beetles.
Charity
South Gloucestershire British Beekeepers Association
As well as the bee walks by Jean Vernon and Richard Rickitt, we are delighted to be joined by the local branch of the British Beekeepers Association. They are a charity whose aims are “to further and promote the craft of beekeeping and advance the education of the public in the importance of bees in the environment”.
Want to learn more about what goes on in a hive, or find out how to get into beekeeping? SGBKA members will be on hand to explain this and much more. There will be a range of local honey, direct from the beekeepers, to taste and buy. Come and look at the observation hive, see the bees in action, can you spot the Queen?
Food
Chiki Monkey & Jekka's Cafe
Chiki Monkey Bristol-based caterer taking inspiration from the Middle Eastern cuisine to offer a creative and mouth watering plant-based menu. All about authentic recipes and bold flavours. You’ll find mouthwatering wraps, healthy grain bowls and loaded fries, and we mean fully loaded!
Jekka's cafe will also be open selling selection of homemade cakes, tea, coffee and herbal infusions.

How to find us
Jekka's is located north of Bristol in the South Gloucestershire countryside, north of the M4/M5 interchange off the A38, near to the old Severn Bridge.
Directions to the farm in South Gloucestershire can be found through the link below.