Welcome to Heartsease

Christina Stapley has been growing, studying and using herbs for 40 years. She has a degree in Phytotherapy and as a member of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy practised as a medical herbalist for many years.

She has grown more than 300 herbs for over 35 years and her former third of an acre herb garden in Hampshire was featured on television on a number of occasions. In 2004 she qualified with a B.Sc in Phytotherapy and has practised as a medical herbalist in Hampshire and Wiltshire since. In 2010 Christina tutored a postgraduate course, Stillroom to Dispensary for NIMH in Reading. This involved making numerous historical recipes and discussing their suitability for use in modern Herbal Practice.

A speaker for the RHS and other registers she gives many talks on varying aspects of herb use, historical and modern; has written three books on growing and using herbs, Herbwise Naturally , Herbcraft Naturally and Herb Sufficient . She has also edited a book of cookery and medicinal recipes from 1694 for the Blencowe family, The Receipt Book of Lady Anne Blencowe . Her children’s book The Lemonade Tree for ages 2-6 years is about the animals and birds in the herb garden.

Her herbal practice has encouraged a growing enthusiasm for work in preventive medicine through herbs, diet and lifestyle. This has led to writing both Interactive and Essentials courses on Ageing Successfully, see information on this site. Recently retired from Practice, Christina remains a member of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy and currently teaches the History of Herbal Medicine, Pharmacognosy and Materia Medica for the School of Herbal Medicine. In her spare time she is writing a book on Medicinal Trees.