Permaculture Design Course
72-hour Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course – a life-changing journey into regenerative living.
Course Overview
Over six immersive weekends, you’ll explore powerful, practical tools for transforming your home, your community, and the wider world.
This course goes far beyond gardening. You’ll learn the core principles of ecological design and how to apply them in diverse contexts – from home gardens and community spaces to sustainable building, ethical enterprises, and even broadscale landscapes.
Alongside hands-on design skills, you’ll develop your communication and collaboration abilities, preparing you to become a confident practitioner of one of the world’s most vital regenerative disciplines.
Permaculture is a holistic, long-term approach to the challenges of our time. The PDC is an investment in your future – one that will continue to grow and give back for years to come.
This course offers a comprehensive, hands-on introduction to permaculture principles, empowering participants to create resilient, productive systems in harmony with nature.
Whether you're new to permaculture or looking to deepen your knowledge, our practical approach and deep ecological insight will guide you through the fundamentals of land, water, food, and community design — helping you apply these tools to your own life, projects, and landscapes.
“It really has been an inspiring course, with some wonderful people, and amazing tutors.”
— 2026 PDC participant
A little about the course content
We start by looking at the origins of and the need for Permaculture, outlining definitions and finding out what the participants want from the course. We’ll look at the ethics behind Permaculture Design and the important design principles that together make a powerful and accessible toolkit for all kinds of projects, but especially food growing ones.
We’ll be looking at and discussing numerous real-life examples of Permaculture in practice and delving in detail into water in the landscape, trees in the landscape, soil and soil life, gardening with a Permaculture twist, urban Permaculture, and community organising and groups working together.
Over the course of the 6 weekends participants will complete two design practices and come away from the course feeling confident that they can take their new training away and carry on the good work.
This course is certified by the Permaculture Association. Those completing a minimum of 75% the course will receive a Permaculture Design Certificate.
What you will learn
Permaculture Ethics — understanding Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share as the compass for all design decisions.
Design Principles — learning the classic principles (Mollison, Holmgren) and how to apply them.
Group Work & Facilitation — collaborative design, communication skills.
Personal & Cultural Regeneration — wellbeing, decision‑making, and designing your own life path.
Soil Ecology & Regeneration — soil food webs, composting, mulches, fertility strategies, and reading the land.
Water in the Landscape — harvesting, storing, slowing, and reusing water; swales, ponds, keyline concepts, and drought‑resilient design.
Trees, Woodlands & Agroforestry — tree functions, succession, shelterbelts, orchards, coppice, and integrating trees into productive systems.
Climate & Microclimate — understanding patterns, zones, sectors, and how to design for local conditions.
Renewable Energy & Appropriate Technology — small‑scale systems and practical tools for resilient households.
Ecological Building & Retrofits — natural materials, passive solar design, energy efficiency, and low‑impact living.
Waste as a Resource — circular systems, composting toilets, greywater, and closing nutrient loops.
Design Frameworks — OBREDIM, SADIM, SWOC, and other structured approaches to guide real projects.
Mapping & Site Assessment — base maps, overlays, surveying, observation skills, and reading patterns in the landscape.
Community Resilience — local food systems, mutual aid, and designing for thriving communities.
Patterns of Human Settlement — villages, neighbourhoods, and regenerative planning.
Final Design Project & Presentation — developing a full permaculture design from concept to plan.
Upcoming Courses:
In partnership with: Permaculture Tywi
Dates: The course will be taught over 6 weekends
26th & 27th June
25th & 26th July
22nd & 23rd August
12th & 13th September
24th & 25th October
28th & 29th November
Time: 9.30am to 4.30pm each day, with around 6 hours of teaching, and breaks for lunch, tea and coffee.
Pricing: £250 - £550
Location: Gwynfe Growers, Gwynfe, Llangadog, SA19 9RL