Eco-Printing on Paper
with Andrea McKenzie
including a 7 night tour
1 - 15 October 2025
From £800 plus about £840 (10,500 MAD) payable locally
“Just perfect. The surroundings are beautiful and peaceful. The eco design is welcoming and relaxing. Rooms are very well appointed and comfortable. Staff are very welcoming, nothing is too much trouble. Food amazing- delicious and healthy. I cannot praise this place enough.” Anne Parry, January 2024
“Just a quick note to say how much we love La Maison Anglaise. It is the tranquil and beautiful oasis we’d hoped for. The staff are brilliant. What a special place you’ve created! ” Ric Sykes, January 2024
The Venue Well known for magical meaningful holidays, excellent food and exceptional staff, this award-winning set up relocated in 2020 to a stunning sustainably-run eco-lodge with a chlorine-free pool and permaculture gardens. Located on the south side of the ancient town walls of Taroudant, which enjoys the best winter climate in Morocco. Enjoy an exceptional menu of local healthy food.
“It’s just brilliant. I love it – the whole vibe in the well-designed garden, the buildings, and the sustainable aspect of it all. The staff are incredible, all caring, kind, diligent and willing to do whatever it takes to make your stay perfect. The food is truly delicious, fantastic for vegetarians and meat-eaters too, as well as offering tea/coffee at any time by helping yourself. Relaxed, with the smell of the beautifully planted garden at night, and a well-stocked library so I can read all day long by the pool. Heaven!” Jane Duncan Rogers, January 2024
Bedrooms The comfortable, beautifully appointed rooms are cleverly designed to be cool in summer and warm in winter. All have en–suite bathrooms, their own terrace and garden and can sleep two or more. A limited number are allocated for single occupancy. More details of rooms here
Heartful Holistic Holidays which offer a wide choice of authentic activities run by amazingly knowledgeable English-speaking guides. Explore the fascinating culture and landscapes, use our library, our small spa, swim or simply laze in the sun.
Optional activities include cookery, walks, visits to local families and charitable projects, wildlife, massage, shopping and several other choices. Little visited by tourists, the local souks offer an exotic traditional atmosphere.
Located within 30 minutes’ drive of the contrasting mountain landscapes of the majestic High Atlas and the extraordinary Anti-Atlas (beyond which lies the Sahara). We are also only an hour’s drive from the Atlantic coast.
Feel safe and cared for thanks to the care of loving, experienced English-speaking staff, good medical facilities, excellent WiFi, safe drinking water and being on the edge of a small, relaxed and friendly town with few tourists.
High Atlas Mountains Itinerary from Taroudant to Marrakech.
Trip over the Tiz n Test Pass (illustrated above): Drive past the orange groves of the Souss Valley to the top of this spectacular mountain pass (rising to 2011 metres), widely held to be the finest in Morocco (and Michael Palin says it was his best trip ever!) 4 hour drive. The beautiful Tin Mal mosque is worth a visit en route but is currently closed for restoration, planned to be reopened in May 2024
Stay at Ouirgane Ecolodge at 1000 m (the site and a sitting room are illustrated above): in the High Atlas Mountains where you have the option to use the pool and/or to go walking. Easy walks near the village or more serious walks with a mountain guide. The owner of the ecolodge is a very competent guide who we have known for years and/or to take an outing by minibus.
Trip to Imlil: For those wanting a camel ride, there’s a half way point stop at Asni (25 mins). Then you will pass boulder-strewn river beds with cultivated terraces including cherry, apple and walnut orchards en route to this small trailhead town. A further 25 mins drive to Imlill.
“La Maison Anglaise is really beautiful, impeccably kept and nurtured by you and your delightful Moroccan team there. All of the staff, without exception were wonderful – helpful, courteous and so very happy all the time. They looked after our every need, and nothing was too much trouble for them. The gardens are a real delight, the pool is gorgeous, and the meals were all delicious. The trips out and other activities that the staff took us on were a treat, and we all felt very safe with your careful drivers and guides.” L Turner, May 2023
“This is a lovely place to stay. Very relaxed, clean and delicious food. The gardens are amazing, with many unusual (to our UK eyes) plants and cacti. Tortoises roam freely in the garden. The staff are really friendly and go out of their way to make you feel welcome and comfortable. Communication with the lodge was excellent and booking very straightforward.” Philip B, January 2023
Photo: Andrea McKenzie
Read more about your tutor here
To Book or Express an Interest: Limited places available. Request a place at www.cecu.co.uk/book We will then send you the payment schedule (split into instalments with £100 initial deposit to secure your place).
Book early to get good flight prices, but please do NOT book flights until we give the go-ahead!
More Information For FAQs go to www.cecu.co.uk/faqs
Contact us: www.cecu.co.uk/contact or visit www.holidays-with-heart.co.uk
We will also send detailed pre-visit information after you book.
About the course:
With lush flowers and leaves from the ever-blooming, abundant gardens of La Maison Anglaise we will eco-print a variety of papers in a step-by-step process and hand fashion them into journals for capturing thoughts, feelings, inspirations, dreams, memories, doodles and sketches.
Our creative time will be infused with poetry, story, herbal lore, myth and writing prompts to inspire and nurture our creative flow. By way of paper folding, eco-printing, concocting ink/paint from flower pigments and Hapa Zome technique (flower pounding on paper) our journals will each be unique representations of ourselves and the colourfully rich poetics of place.
Solar dyeing ribbons, threads, strings and other such journal accessories in the warmth of the Moroccan sun will further personalize our creations. Adventures through the local market (souk) can provide colourful bits and baubles for journal embellishment.
Eco-printing is a natural, unhurried process of co-creating with nature so if the idea of colour immersion, playful exploration, experimentation and stopping to smell the roses is calling to you, meet me in the gardens La Maison Anglaise.
Journal: a private place to write down thoughts, feelings, adventures, explorations, dreams and wild imaginings often for the purpose of self reflection and self expression. Following the eco-printing course we will tour with our journeying-journals to other areas of Morocco.
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME In Taroudant
Each day there will be half a day of formal teaching and an option to continue with your ecoprinting or choose one of the many cultural experiences and activities on offer here.
Anything listed as “optional” means it is payable locally and not included in the price. Please see our price list for costs.
Day 1 Arrival Day – Our drivers meet you at Agadir airport late morning. Lunch, settle in, introductory talk and tour of the site. Optional Massages. Optional tour around town walls by horse-drawn taxi.
Day 2 Optional excursion to an oasis on the edge of the Anti Atlas Mountains.
Day 3 Optional cultural experience: cookery lesson; massages; experience our on-site solar powered hammam.
Day 4 Optional excursion: High Atlas Berber Villages – an insight into daily lives of villagers in the mountains with Rachid
Day 5 Exploring Taroudant. Optional cultural experiences: shopping in the souk; massages; experience our on-site solar powered hammam.
Day 6 Optional excursion: walking and wildlife in the High Atlas Mountains with Said.
Day 7 Optional cultural experiences: henna tattoos. Finish shopping. Lunch in town.
Day 8 Farewell to Ecolodge staff. Depart for the tour after breakfast.
WHAT DOES THE 7 DAY TOUR COMPRISE?
You will be reassured to know that all the people & places involved are well known to us and we know they can be trusted to deliver a great experience. Last year we had excellent reports of it.
You will be accompanied by one of our driver/guide so transport will be available when required by the group for outings from each site although the hop on hop off bus is the best option in Marrakech
Coast, City & Atlas Mountains
Day 8 – 10: 4 hour scenic drive from Taroudant over Tiz N Test Pass via the semi-restored Tinmal mosque to Ouirgane Ecolodge or similar. Stay in the High Atlas mountains for 2 nights and 2 days to relax or walk and swim or go on outings by minibus, for example to Imlil at the foot of Mountt Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa, from your base at Ouirgane Ecolodge
Day 10 – 12: 1 hour drive to the city Marrakech at a traditional riad – a courtyard house (2 bustling days)
Day 12 – 14: 2.5 hours’ drive Essaouira, a walled town with a picturesque fishing port, staying at a lovely Riad (2 nights).
Day 14 – 15 A 3 hour drive back to Agadir where you will spend your last night at beautiful Villa Du Souss, a tranquil ecolodge only 15 min from Agadir airport, for a morning flight on the last day.
COST OF THE TOUR includes:
TRANSPORT
1) from Taroudant to Ouirgane at the start of the week
2) to places of interest en route and near Essaouira & Ouirgane (but not in Marrakech where official guides are suggested for complex routes)
3) dropped at Agadir airport at the end of the week
MEALS bed, breakfast & evening meal. NB We have not included lunches but there will be the option of picnics provided by us on the first day at 60 MAD (under £5)
SOME GUIDING
Our driver/guide accompanying you (but not in Marrakech where you should use an official guide if you need one to do a long route through the souks – the hotel in Marrakech can locate a good one for you). NB Andrea will be on the tour as a participant not as a tour leader.
Summary
Cost: From £800 per person in shared twin/double room plus about £840 (10,500 MAD) paid locally
Includes:
- Transfers from/to Agadir Airport at one designated time
- Accommodation in en suite twin or double bedroom; single occupancy on request
- Chlorine-free pool
- Substantial breakfasts and vegetarian evening meals (meat or fish at extra cost)
- Lunches on the first 6 days
- Tutored workshops – about 4 hours per day (in Taroudant only, no tutoring takes place on the tour)
- During 7 night/8 day tour including accommodation, transport, guiding breakfast and meat/fish/vegetarian evening meals and transfer back to Agadir airport on the last day. Full details are given in the itinerary below.
Excludes:
- Flights (often under £100 from UK return if booked early)
- Single occupancy supplement £25 per night
- Single supplement on tour £30
- Travel insurance (required)
- £XX payable directly to Andrea for materials and online tutorials specific to this course
Payable in Morocco:
Best Wellbeing Retreat 2024: Health & Wellbeing Awards
Best Holistic Ecolodge in Morocco 2023
Tripadvisor: Number 1 in the Taroudant Region
Voted Top 10 in the World: Lonely Planet Eco Stays 2014 & VegeNews Vegetarian Holidays 2005
Responsible Tourism Trophy: Community Project Work 2009