The healing properties of plants and time travel – meet the online storytellers

At Boundless, we always want to offer ways to broaden our members’ minds, from trying out different things on adventurous excursions, or tuning into talks that could teach you a new skill or inspire a creative hobby.

From herbalism to time travel, to curling up with another spooky story as we ease into the new year, the roster of online events is shaping up to be jam-packed with thought-provoking talks.

Ahead of the events, get to know the storytellers that’ll enchant you at the start of 2026, from herbalist Meghan Rhodes to astronomer Colin Stuart.

These upcoming online events and more throughout the year come as a part of a Boundless membership.

Not yet a member? If you're working in or retired from the public sector or civil service, Boundless has two great membership options to choose from: Boundless and Boundless Plus. 

As well as getting access to exclusive events, Boundless members enjoy unlimited free or discounted entry to many of the UK’s top attractions, plus year-round deals on restaurants, holidays, shopping and much more.

Unlock the healing power of herbs in your kitchen with Meghan Rhodes

Meghan Rhodes worked in corporate tech for a decade before she found her true calling as a herbalist. A yearning for something else, both careerwise and in seeking a solution for her own health challenges, she began using her annual leave to travel to Ireland in order to attend workshops on herbal medicine.

“I went to the first workshop and it was like Champagne going off inside me,” Meghan says of that first trip. “And I was like this, this is what I need to do. This is what I'm retraining as.”

Continuing, Meghan recalls how a walk with her partner during her training solidified herbalism as her life’s work, able to pick out different plants and their properties. “Everything lit up and suddenly the world I lived in and nature– It was like I was in context. It was like I had a place in all of this, so it was worth paying attention to.”

After five years, she qualified as a clinical herbalist and started out as a practitioner. It became apparent quickly, though, that people wanted more from her than just her remedies for their ailments.

“People [who were] coming to my workshops kept coming back and they kept saying ‘can we have more? We want to learn more, we want to go deeper.’ And I was really, really enjoying the teaching. And you know, I think I kind of always knew that clinical practice was not my ultimate calling. Obviously, I'm happy to help people, but I'm much more motivated by teaching people how to help themselves.”

Three years into working as a herbalist full time, Meghan founded the Heritage School of Herbal Medicine, running her Awaken Herbal Wisdom course, which has drawn individuals in from all corners of the world.

This is what Meghan hopes to offer Boundless members during her workshop, an ‘Introductory journey into the world of herbalism’.

“We're going to unlock the herbs that are in your kitchen that are on your windowsill and pots, that are in your garden, and the way of learning the medicinal power of each of those plants without having to have a tonne of reference books.”

So bring along a herbal teabag, some mint leaves, or other herbs living in your spice rack, and Meghan will bring wacky analogies and lots of fun alongside incredible insight into the healing properties of herbs.

Grab a cuppa and sit down with Meghan Rhodes on 24 February, 7-8pm for an ‘Introductory journey into the world of herbalism’.

Get a sneak peak at Boundless' other upcoming storytellers

Unearth England's lost villages with Luke Waterson

Luke Waterson is no stranger to weaving a compelling story, both fictional and embedded in fact and the grounds he has traversed. His CV is an extensive itinerary of his career trajectory, too.

Not just a man with a pen and dreams of one day being published (an achievement that has been unlocked more than once!), Luke has worked an array of jobs, from building sites to bookshops. Words have always been his calling, though, and have similarly taken him on a variety of journeys – this time around the world rather than job sites.

Gallivanting across the Americas, Scandinavia, and beyond, this time Luke’s exclusive Boundless online event will bring him back to home soil in the UK, unearthing some of its lost villages.

Go on a “haunting adventure across the UK, from the windswept clearances of the Scottish Highlands to the abandoned streets of North Yorkshire and the drowned and sand swallowed settlements of East Anglia”, and the stories that go with their vanishment.

Get ready to be engrossed. Speaking on his talk, Luke told us, "The very nature of them being ‘lost villages’ means that there isn’t always much to see at the sites today – but all the ex-settlements in this talk still have a great deal to explore, from hauntingly preserved streets of abandoned homes and churches to lonesome dune walks where you may be serenaded by ghostly peels of bells! Discovering the UK through its abandoned villages also begs another unsettling question: what places we know and love today may become [abandoned and lost] to a future generation?"

Luke Waterson’s ‘The lost villages of England’ will take place on 17th March, 7-8pm.

What do Tim Peake and time travel have in common? Colin Stuart!

You may think that an astronaut and the realities of space have no relevance in the theorising of time travel, but you’d be wrong. But Colin Stuart’s link to both is all the confirmation we need.

Colin Stuart researches, writes, and speaks about astronomy – and has earned multiple awards for it. One of his proudest achievements was helping Tim Peake to write his book on what it takes to be an astronaut: The Astronaut Selection Test Book. And while time travel might seem like the stuff of science fiction novels, Colin believes it has its place in the larger conversation about the universe we live in and the realms of time.

“Time often feels like a gentle river, carrying us steadily and predictably into the future. But for more than a century, physicists have known that this comforting picture simply isn’t true. Evidence from modern science reveals that time is far stranger, more flexible, and more mysterious than we ever experience in daily life.”

Taking place on 24th March, 7-8pm, join Colin Stuart for his ‘Ultimate guide to time travel’ talk and explore topics like where does yesterday truly go? And where does tomorrow come from?

Do more with Boundless

If you're working in or retired from the public sector or civil service, Boundless has two great membership options to choose from: Boundless and Boundless Plus.

With Boundless, you get unlimited access or discounted entry to many of the UK’s top attractions including Kew Gardens and Wakehurst and WWT centres across the UK, as well as year-round deals on restaurants, holidays, shopping and much more. With Boundless Plus, you can enjoy additional benefits, including unlimited access to Historic Royal Palaces sites, National Trust for Scotland places, access to the Ramblers' extensive group walks and routes, and peace of mind with roadside assistance and local recovery by Britannia Rescue.