A launch pad for new fiction and non-fiction books, the 2025 Hay Festival shares insights around current global issues, with a programme featuring more than 600 artists, policy makers, pioneers and innovators – celebrating and inspiring different views, perspectives and points of view. The festival takes place in Hay-on-Wye in Wales, from the 22nd of May until the 1st of June.
From the vast programme of events, we have collated a few of the gardening focused sessions as well as related, wildlife, nature, environment and food sessions, featuring many familiar experts from our industry.
Joy of Gardening
- Gardens of the Future: Five garden designers, whom as a panel will bring their unique vision to mitigating the effects of climate change, encouraging biodiversity and boosting well-being, featuring Tayshan Hayden-Smith, Harry Holding, Eelco Hooftman, Anna Liu and Ann-Marie Powell.
- Gardening Wild and Rough: Two gardeners reveal how connecting with their gardens helped them find solace and taught them how to live more sustainably. Poppy Okotcha and Kathy Slack discuss their own gardens, and share tips for sowing and growing your own plants, flowers and vegetables.
- Of Thorn and Briar: Hedgelayer Paul Lamb sets out an enthralling journey, celebrating the benefits of hedgerows in the countryside and a way of living that has all but disappeared in recent decades. From the end of summer until the birds nest in the spring, Lamb lives in his wagon and travels the south-west corner of England, maintaining the ancient boundaries of the British countryside. He gives an insight into his life on the road, explains why traditional management techniques of our hedgerows are essential, and why he chooses to preserve our heritage for future generations.
- For the Love of Plants: Garden designer, RHS ambassador and TV presenter Adam Frost pays tribute to the plants that have shaped his life and the music that inspired his new garden’s design, and explores what gardening means to him. Frost shares his horticultural knowledge, and explains how the creation of a garden at his new house to help him with his mental health.
Wildlife
- For the love of birds. Writers, Jon Gower (Birdland) and Adam Nicolson (Bird School) share their love of birds and our relationship with them. Birds face climate threat and decline in biodiversity, and their call has in many ways fallen silent. Gower and Nicolson reveal all about the inhabitants of our skies and what can be done to restore their soundtrack.
- Spring. A burst of springtime joy from the author of War Horse and Private Peaceful, Michael Morpurgo observes the changing season all around him, as new shoots emerge and seeds are sown, lambs are born and blossom flowers overhead.
- Stoats, Weasels, Martens and Polecats. These bright-eyed assassins of the British countryside, part of the mustelid family, lead extraordinary lives: some in total seclusion, some in large, related groups. The zoologist Dr Jenny MacPherson and the science communicator, Lucy Rogers discuss these fascinating small mammals.
- Meetings With Remarkable Animals. Martin Clunes celebrates the fascinating, moving and sometimes astonishing ways animals have enriched our lives, in this event with actor Martin Clunes. Inspired by his own adoption of a former guide dog, Clunes’ book Meetings With Remarkable Animals tells the stories of animals that help humans.
- Gerald Durrell: Myself & Other Animals. Lee Durrell, wife of the late naturalist Gerald Durrell, speaks to author and screenwriter Tiffany Murray about a new book on her husband, telling the unvarnished story of his life.
- Late Light: The Secret Wonders of a Disappearing World. Writer Michael Malay tells the story of making a home for himself in England as an Indonesian Australian, and finding strange parallels between his life and the lives of the animals he examines. In his new book Late Light, through four ‘unloved’ animals – eels, moths, crickets and mussels – Malay looks at the economic, political and cultural events that have shaped the modern landscape of Britain.
Food : Matters of Taste
- Forage Fine Foods. Foraging and wild herb expert Liz Knight will demonstrate how to bottle the essence of summer. Using plants foraged locally, Knights shows how to turn edible wild herbs and flowers into bitters to flavour drinks. Knight is a foraging course teacher and author based near Hay-on-Wye.
- Home Made, Recipes from the Countryside. Kate Humble with Alison Lea-Wilson, Jess Lea-Wilson and Toria Whitfield discuss a new collection of simple, sustainable recipes from the kitchen table.
- The Irish Bakery Demo, Talk and Tasting. Kitty Corrigan, Cherie Denham and Andrew Montgomery. When the cook Cherie Denham and photographer Andrew Montgomery conceived the idea of The Irish Bakery, they set out to portray traditional Irish cooking in the context of the island’s history and culture. Denham’s recipes are accompanied by Montgomery’s images of landscape, people and food, with profiles of artisan producers by Kitty Corrigan.
- Lemons Galore. Chef, illustrator and writer Letitia Clark and food writer and broadcaster Diana Henry celebrate the versatility of colourful and aromatic ingredients in this tasting event full of enchanting flavours. Clark demonstrates some of her dishes while discussing them with Henry.
Nature & Environment
- The natural world is celebrated in conversations with Robert Macfarlane in a session entitled Is a River Alive?; Levison Wood talks about the influence forests had on planet and civilisation in the Great Tree Story; James Rebanks discusses connection with landscape in The Place of Tides. Writers, Patrick Barkham, Nicola Chester, Paul Evans and Martha Kearney gather to share ‘Under the Changing Skies‘, collating contributions to The Guardian’s Country Diary.
- Bringing environmental science, sustainable policies and creative responses to the climate crisis into focus is Hay Festival Green, themed ‘Mobilising for the Future’ for 2025. Climate scientists join artists in exploring the latest research in conversations. Mike Berners-Lee (A Climate of Truth) and Senior Urban Fellow at the LSE Cities Adam Greenfield joins CEO of progressive think-tank the New Economics Foundation Danny Sriskandarajah to discuss compound crises.
- Green economics is interrogated in sessions with green industrialist Dale Vince on the role of business in environmentalism and investment banker Ken Costa explores The Great Wealth Transfer. The importance of nature to well-being comes to the fore as writer Jay Griffiths shares How Animals Heal Us; ecological medicine specialist Dr Jenny Goodman, nature connections researcher and writer Durre Shahwar and Oxford Professor of Biodiversity Kathy Willis discuss nature for health; science communicator Sophie Pavelle shares lessons from symbiotic relationships; environmental justice researcher Jocelyn Longdon talks Natural Connection.
Walks
- Ancient Paths Walk. Phoebe Smith, Welsh author and guide with Inntravel leads a walk along parts of the ancient ways around Hay-on-Wye, from the well-known Offa’s Dyke to lesser known cart tracks and paths. Whilst exploring, Smith will discuss how nature and place can be powerful forces for healing, understanding and discovering selfhood.
- The Borders Walk. Broadcaster and author Kate Humble leads a walk exploring the border between England and Wales, around Hay-on-Wye. Humble – who styles herself ‘happier outdoors than in’ – will talk about her love of the countryside, and why going for a daily walk is as essential as that first cup of tea, to make her feel good for the rest of the day.
- Wayfaring Walk: National Parks and the Climate Emergency. Rhys Guevara and Liz Hutchins, guides from the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park lead a walk through the surrounds of Hay-on-Wye, discussing the impact of the climate emergency on national parks. The walks go into the town’s local environment while offering the opportunity to learn more about the Park’s work and its treasured landscape.
