Samhain

Saturday 1 November 2025

From garden to gut, light to dark…

Join us to celebrate the Celtic festival of Samhain, as we get cosy with the small things that nourish us through the darker months of the year. 

Explore the art of fermentation, enjoy a community feast and discover all that connects us to each other and our wider ecology. 

• Listen to dreamy eco folk songs by Iona Lane
• Share a delicious autumnal feast with Iraqi Thistle
• Honour the yew tree in a family crafting session with Holly White
• Hear seasonal stories for little ones and all ages shared by Kate Walker
• Taste an edible offering from Kirsty Hendry that plays with the custom of guising
• Concoct garden potions with Louise King, grower at East Neuk Market Garden
• Taste locally fermented drinks and refreshments, including Buddy Kombucha
• Explore the gardens and woodland at dusk (bring a torch!)

Our event is a nod to the ancient festival of Samhain, one of four festivals we host annually to create connections to the cycles of nature and to celebrate the turning of the Celtic wheel. Samhain marks the Celtic New Year, the end of summer, and the end of the harvest season.

Schedule

3-6pm – Welcome desk, Reception

3-5pm – Crafting session with Holly White, The Pine Room

3:30-4pm – Garden potion workshop (bokashi fermentation) with Louise King, Upholstery Room

4-4:30pm – Storytelling for little ones with Kate Walker, Lower Lawn

4:30-5pm – Garden potion workshop (DIY soil amendments) with Louise King, Upholstery Room

5-5:30pm – Procession to the yew hedge with Holly White, Lower Lawn

5:30-6:30pm – Songs under the trees with Iona Lane, The Woodland

6:30-7:30pm – Dinner with Iraqi Thistle, The Pine Room, Upholstery Room, Pottery

7:30-8pm – Closing story circle under the beech tree with Kate Walker, Lower Lawn

8pm – Close of Samhain

Practical Information

There will be indoor and outdoor activities, so wrap up warm and wear good garden footwear.  Feel free to bring a blanket for our outdoor storytelling and performance. The event includes vegan and vegetarian food and refreshments – please let us know of any food allergies. The event runs 3-8pm, with different activities scheduled throughout. You are welcome to join in and drop out at any time. Children of all ages are welcomed at every activity.

Access

The rooms, grounds and most parts of the garden in use during the event are wheelchair accessible. You can tell us about your access requirements when booking your ticket. We will ensure there is seating available throughout the venue and grounds.

Tickets

Our tickets are priced on a sliding scale: please choose the ticket price you can afford to pay.

About the contributors

Highlands-based songwriter Iona Lane weaves ecology, conservation, islands and folklore into poetic songs and contemplative melodies. In her new album, Swilkie, written during three residencies on the Isle of Eigg, Isle of Mull and Sanday in Orkney, sense of place and landscape are at the core of these songs. From basking sharks to lighthouses, lichen to vanishing islands, curlews to tree planting. 

Holly White is an artist living and working in Glasgow. Solo exhibitions include Well Projects, Margate; Cordova, Barcelona; Almanac, Turin; and Jupiter Woods, London. Holly works with schools and community groups and has produced work with young people at Rumpus Room, Glasgow; Collective, Edinburgh; Hospitalfield House, Arbroath and Serpentine Galleries, London.

Kirsty Hendry is an artist and facilitator based in Glasgow who develops projects exploring bodily knowledges and science fictions. Kirsty and their commensal collaborators work across writing, artist moving image, and other practices of metabolising information.

Iraqi Thistle is a small catering service founded by Zayneb – of both Iraqi and Scottish descent. Based in Perth, this home business is fused with Scottish ingredients and a love for Iraqi and Middle Eastern flavours. With a background in nutrition, expect nourishing, unique, and wholesome cooked meals that bring people together.  

Louise King is a grower at East Neuk Market Garden, co-coordinator of the Gaia Foundation’s Seed Sovereignty Programme in Scotland and a soil health geek! She’s previously worked in market gardens across Scotland and as a seed librarian at Glasgow Seed Library.

Kate Walker uses her skills as a storyteller and teacher to interpret people’s lives, past events and the natural world. Her stories come from near and far, but she especially likes to tell tales with a Scottish flavour and stories with a big message, a wee twist or a clever ending. Kate is chair of Fife storytelling group ‘Lang Spoon Tales’.