Our Workshop Facilitators
Amy Neville
Naturally Useful
For several years Amy worked as a freelance Workshop Tutor and Artist and travelled the length and breadth of Scotland, offering workshops to schools, museums, festivals, art groups, charities, and the general public. Her art was made using pressed leaves and flowers collected from both private and botanical gardens, where she exhibited her canvases, lighting, cast glass and mobiles.
Before starting with Naturally Useful, she trained and worked as an Art Therapist and later as a Forest School leader and has worked in many different places, with the common theme of working together with people, being creative and using natural materials.
Caitlin Barnes
Lettoch Farm
Six years ago Caitlin discovered her love of weaving. Wanting to make the most of her sheep’s fleeces, she learned to weave on a peg loom and she’s not stopped weaving yet! She’s passionate about showcasing the beauty and variety of different breeds of sheep and makes and sells rugs as well as teaching workshops across Moray. Her enthusiasm for her craft means her own flock of sheep have expanded and now include Icelandic, Blue Texel, Suffolk and Texel. Join one of her workshops and you’ll enjoy a relaxing, creative afternoon and you’ll take home your own cosy seat pad woven from local fleeces.
Linda Waples
Love to Paint
Linda is a self-taught Mandala artist, who originally started creating Mandala art 8 years ago as a way to relax. It quickly grew into producing a range of handcrafted pieces that she sells at craft fairs and events.
She loves the creative process and is equally passionate about teaching and encouraging others to to explore this calming and rewarding art form. Her mantra has always been that you don't need to be 'artistic' to do this, just a willingness to try. Her workshops have been enjoyed all across the North East.
Wendi Van Hoof
With over 20 years of experience as an art and photography teacher, Wendi has dedicated her career to helping people of all ages explore their creativity and build confidence in their artistic skills. She is passionate about hands-on, practical learning and specialises in a variety of techniques, including digital art, textiles, watercolour, acrylic and oil painting, life drawing, and photography. Her own works focus mainly on her pets and animals, as well as nature.
Her workshops are designed to be relaxed, supportive, and inspiring, encouraging participants to experiment, enjoy the process, and create work that you are proud of.
Dr Andrew Smith
Dr Andrew Smith is a psychotherapist, educator, author, artist and musician with over twenty years' experience working with people affected by trauma, addiction, mental health difficulties, and relationship challenges.
He holds a Doctorate in Psychotherapy and has taught nationally and internationally on trauma, recovery, attachment, addiction, and therapeutic practice. His work integrates Gestalt psychotherapy, developmental trauma, neuroscience and contemplative practice, with a strong emphasis on helping people move beyond symptom management towards meaningful, connected and creative lives.
Andrew has worked across the NHS, independent practice, higher education and social care, supporting adults with complex trauma and supervising and training practitioners from a wide range of professional backgrounds. Alongside his clinical work, he is developing the Trauma Recovery and Connection Programme, an integrative model that brings together psychotherapy, community, creativity and purposeful living.
An accomplished portrait artist and classically trained harpist, Andrew has a longstanding interest in the role of the creative arts in health and wellbeing. He believes that creativity is not simply therapeutic, but a fundamental human capacity that supports healing, resilience, self-expression and connection. His workshops often explore how music, visual art and other creative practices can help people recover from trauma and build richer, more fulfilling lives.
Known for his engaging and down-to-earth teaching style, Andrew combines current research with clinical experience and personal insight, creating workshops that are practical, thought-provoking and immediately applicable to both professional practice and everyday life
Sophie
Forest & Dot
Sophie started Forest and Dot, also known as A Boat full of Wool, in 2017 to help people discover crafts and learn new lifelong skills.
She loves fibre arts and is passionate about keeping traditional crafts alive. Sophie runs workshops for adults and children in crochet, knitting, arm knitting, weaving, spinning, and natural dyeing. She also supports and works with small independent businesses. After working with venues across the South of England, she recently moved to the North East Coast of Scotland to pursue her dream of having a small holding.
She has combined her love of crafts and the outdoors to create Forest and Dot, which has expanded to teaching workshops, designing knitting and crochet patterns that she self-publishes, creating and selling craft kits, taking commissions for custom designs, and providing workshop parties, hen parties and tailored events.
She has also worked on community projects with local arts organisations, has taught at UK festivals including Glastonbury and Camp Bestival, and continues to work with small businesses and venues, such as the Deskford Galleries, Cullen, the Greenbrae Steading, Hopeman and the Moray Art Centre, Findhorn.
Forest and Dot has been featured in Simply Crochet Magazine, BBC Radio Berkshire, Land Love Magazine, Waterways World Magazine, Inside Crochet Magazine, Real Homes Magazine and Wedding Ideas Magazine.
Suzy Holbrook
Beachcomber Crafts
Suzy Holbrook is based in Whitehills, and started Beachcomber Crafts about 3 years ago, after making art and crafts for a long time as a hobby. She finds all her seaglass, shells, and pottery on our local beaches along the Moray Coast. She loves making special commissions and runs fun, relaxed workshops, making all sorts of things!
Cornelia Featherstone
Ecovillage Findhorn Community
More to come....
Lolly Clarke
Lolly Clark is an experienced wilderness skills instructor and natural survivalist. He spent 11 years working with Ray Mears, progressing to Head Instructor and leading courses in the UK, France and the Arctic. He has also provided specialist consultant to Bear Grylls in the Cairngorms.
Lolly later ran Bushcraft Ventures in Aboyne and Amara Bushcraft near Huntly with his wife, Nic Clark. Now based in Grange, near Keith, he offers bespoke courses and charitable workshops.
Known for his gentle nature, patience and exceptional knowledge, Lolly teaches in a calm and encouraging way that builds confidence and makes traditional woodland skills accessible to everyone.
Daniela Hathaway
Trio Alma
Trio Alma is a versatile vocal trio bringing rich harmonies, warmth, and engaging performances to a wide range of audiences. Performing an eclectic repertoire of timeless classics, folk songs, jazz standards, popular favourites, and light contemporary music, the trio creates memorable musical experiences that entertain, inspire, and bring people together. Whether performing at community events, care settings, festivals, concerts, or private functions, Trio Alma combines musical excellence with a friendly, approachable style, encouraging audiences to sing along, reminisce, and enjoy the shared experience of live music.
Dan Tyler
Airts & Pairts
Dan and Elle Tyler are the husband-and-wife team behind Airts & Pairts, both holding Scotland's STGA guiding accreditation. Between them, they bring more than fifteen years of guiding experience and a shared, genuine love of Scotland's stories, landscapes and people.
The name Airts & Pairts carries many meanings at once. An "airt" is an old Scots word for a compass point — to airt someone is to guide them, gently but surely, in the right direction. A "pairt," meanwhile, is both a corner of the land and, in Gaelic, the word for partnership and belonging. Put together, the name is a compass, a map of Scotland's hidden corners, and a nod to the partnership — between Dan and Elle, and between guide and guest — at the heart of everything they do.
Based in Dundee with strong Highland roots, Airts & Pairts has spent close to a decade welcoming guests from across the world — "from a' the airts and pairts of the world," as the old Scots saying goes. Dan and Elle don't just show guests Elgin's history; they invite them to stand right inside it, to feel the weight of a place that has been knocked down more than once and has always found its way back.
Ellie Tyler
Airts and Pairts
Dan and Elle Tyler are the husband-and-wife team behind Airts & Pairts, both holding Scotland's STGA guiding accreditation. Between them, they bring more than fifteen years of guiding experience and a shared, genuine love of Scotland's stories, landscapes and people.
The name Airts & Pairts carries many meanings at once. An "airt" is an old Scots word for a compass point — to airt someone is to guide them, gently but surely, in the right direction. A "pairt," meanwhile, is both a corner of the land and, in Gaelic, the word for partnership and belonging. Put together, the name is a compass, a map of Scotland's hidden corners, and a nod to the partnership — between Dan and Elle, and between guide and guest — at the heart of everything they do.
Based in Dundee with strong Highland roots, Airts & Pairts has spent close to a decade welcoming guests from across the world — "from a' the airts and pairts of the world," as the old Scots saying goes. Dan and Elle don't just show guests Elgin's history; they invite them to stand right inside it, to feel the weight of a place that has been knocked down more than once and has always found its way back.
Angela Macmillan
Wee Norrag
Angela Macmillan is an artist and workshop leader, selling original art and prints which aims to bring the beauty and energy of nature into peoples’ homes.
More to come....