The Folklore of Tea: Magic, Predictions and Poison
The folklore of tea is woven through the history of this fascinating plant. Well-known for its use in fortune-telling, through reading tea leaves, it also has a range of magickal uses and appears in m...
9 Apr 202222min
The Legends and Folklore of Beer: Remedies, Witches & Saints
Beer is a popular drink in many parts of the world. In the US, it's the most popular alcoholic beverage. Throughout the centuries, beer becomes the drink of choice in eras and places where drinking wa...
2 Apr 202220min
The Lily and the Lady: Plants of Purity and Protection
There are few flowers quite as recognisable as the lily. Yet despite its beauty, the lily is a toxic plant. In some ways, this goes to show the contradictory nature of the flower, used in both bridal ...
26 Mar 202218min
Lavender Folklore: The Tales Behind The Calming Plant
From cleaning wounds to repelling plague, lavender has had a myriad of uses throughout the centuries. It’s come to represent devotion, purity, luck, cleanliness, compassion, constancy, faith, humility...
19 Mar 202217min
From Medicine to Murder: How the Apothecary Garden Found Its Dark Side
The Alnwick Poison Garden is the modern descendant of the medieval apothecary garden. Find out how these healing gardens found their dark side—and explore some poisonous plant folklore—in this week'...
12 Mar 202218min
The Victorian Language of Flowers: Hiding Secret Messages in Plain Sight
If a bouquet of flowers arrives at our door, we’re more interested in who sent them. The Victorians were more concerned with what it meant. The Victorian language of flowers, also known as floriogra...
5 Mar 202215min
The Not So Holy Ghost: England's Haunted Churches
Churches in England are often portrayed as quaint, picturesque centres of their community. But given they're also often one of the oldest buildings in a town or village, it's hardly surprising that we...
26 Feb 202219min
For Whom the Bell Tolls: Folklore of Churches and Churchyards
Churches used to be a centre for the community. They were open to all classes of society, and through their association with births, marriages, and deaths, often had links to each stage in an individu...
19 Feb 202218min
