Our story

What is BOTANY and other stories?

BOTANY and other stories is an initiative whose purpose is to support various ways of learning about nature and its beauty.

It provides a platform which encourages the public to observe, understand and learn about the current state of the natural world through scientific and artistic tools with a particular focus on botanical illustration.

It is inspired by scientist Rachel Carson's words: “Man is a part of nature and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.”

Where and when was it created?

In Hay-on-Wye. Though founders Pierre Moulinier and Françoise Verger are French, they are full-time residents in the town. BOTANY and other stories was launched in 2018 when they published a free magazine called The Cabbage Leaf, using their experience as former journalists.

Why choose that name? Just because it sounds botanical?

In French, une feuille de chou – a cabbage leaf (in Welsh, y ddeilen fresych) – is not just an invigorating vegetable. It is also the name which, in the 18th century, was  given to ‘gossipy’ newspapers. With a pinch of humour, it is now very popular in the green world – from gardening newsletters to eco-warrior pamphlets.

The Cabbage Leaf is like the local weather: seasonal, unpredictable, changeable. Mainly in English with a touch of Welsh and a bit of French. It has no photographs, only botanical illustrations. It also makes the B of  Botany match the B of books: how could it be otherwise in the first world book town?

Its contributors are from different walks of life, from Hay-on-Wye or from far beyond and from unlimited age groups.

Do you run any clubs for children?

The very first thing we did with children was to create the 2018 botanical calendar. Five local shops kindly offered to sell it and the money was given to Hay-on-Wye Primary School. Later, issue 03 of The Cabbage Leaf was written and illustrated by Clyro Primary School pupils after a visit to the Botanic Garden of Wales. And during the Covid lockdown, via local magazine Wye Local, BOTANY and other stories invited children to draw “something of our natural world which they could spot out of their windows.”

That was the starting point of the Budding Botanical Illustrators Club.

Knowing that botanical illustration is the scientific study of plants, what advice would you give to a beginner?

The same as the advice that Françoise was given when she took her Diploma of Botanical Illustration with the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA): “Observation and the three Ps – Patience, Practice and Perseverance.”

Who has been involved in the project?

We work step by step. In 2019 BOTANY and other stories triggered the Travelling Botanical Box project. A bunch of artists, artisans and scientists were commissioned to turn each of many boxes that BOTANY and other stories had collected over the years, into a piece related to Nature.

Each of these boxes, in its own way, depicts the beauty of our world and tries to demonstrate why it needs to be preserved. At all costs. And right now.

Where can these boxes be seen?

Some of them were on display in the shopfront BOTANY and other stories rented for a year in the heart of Hay. Then they travelled to the Butter Market for a weekend pop-up exhibition. They have now found a home at Henallt House, Oxford Road, Hay-on-Wye.

What is Henallt House?

It is a listed ten-room building which we acquired not long ago for BOTANY and other stories. Its Welsh name means ‘The Old Wooded Hillside’.

The idea is to set up a space dedicated to Nature in relation to all the key sectors of our lives and presented as a contemporary Cabinet of Curiosities with a focus on botanical illustration. It will also have a specialised library. And, hopefully, a studio offering residencies to young scientists, botanical illustrators or apprentices involved in the natural world.

Henallt House is designed for the general public and is has hosted several pop-up exhibition weekends, opening its door for the fourth time on 11th July 2024, before building work starts to convert the house into a permanent public space.

Everybody is welcome.