Permaculture Design Course
15-Day Residential PDC | Central Victoria | 2027
Big yields start with small, deliberate choices.
Spend two weeks immersed at an intentional community—with David Holmgren, Beck Lowe, and guest practitioners. Discover how practical permaculture design builds resilient households, local food systems, low-tech energy solutions, and connected communities.
5th March – 20th March 2027
Transform your space—and your perspective.
Permaculture is more than just a garden. It's a design system for your whole life.
And you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
Guided by David Holmgren, permaculture co-originator, (who’s spent 40+ years testing these ideas on the ground) and Beck Lowe, experienced permaculture educator, this PDC gives you a grounded, real-world model for designing resilient systems across:
Your Home & Garden: Living soil, water capture, passive energy & food production.
Your Household: Low-tech retrofitting, resource sharing & practical self-reliance.
Your Community: Local economies, social resilience & neighbourhood design.
This course goes beyond land-based design, bringing permaculture to all aspects of human living.
What to expect
15 days of real-world immersion.
A Living Classroom:
The Nook isn’t a lecture hall; it’s a working community where real people live, experiment, get things wrong, and figure out what works.
Field Trips:
Visit Melliodora, one of the world’s best-documented permaculture homesteads plus other exciting permaculture farms and gardens in the region.
Hands-On Design Project:
You’ll work in small groups to solve real permaculture design challenges.
Simple Community Living:
Share vegetarian meals, basic accommodation or camping under the stars, minimal phone reception, and plenty of unhurried conversation.
12 Permaculture Principles:
The learning will be structured around Holmgren’s 12 permaculture principles, as detailed in ‘Permaculture: principles and pathways beyond sustainability.‘
Explore some of the most exciting permaculture farms and gardens in the region.
Field Trips
This is where it all comes to life!
We have the privilege of being able to show you around the homes and gardens of some of the most exciting permaculture plots in the Central Victoria region.
Learning the ethics and principles of permaculture is great, but seeing those principles in action is where the magic of this course lies.
Tutors
Learn from our experienced team, including the co-originator of the permaculture concept.
David Holmgren
David co-originated the permaculture concept with Bill Mollison in the 1970s. He’s the author of Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability, which is the standard reference for the 12 principles taught on every PDC worldwide. He designed Melliodora, his own permaculture homestead, and has lived there for over 40 years with his partner Su Dennett.
Beck Lowe
Beck is one of the most experienced PDC educators working in Australia. She co-runs Holmgren Design’s online and residential PDCs
Guest Tutors
Joining David and Beck is a team of inspiring permaculture practitioners and tutors, including Meg and Patrick from Artist as Family. Their depth of practical and theoretical knowledge will make this a very special PDC.
There will also be opportunities to socialise with the presenters outside of session times.
No prerequisites. No secret handshakes. All you need is curiosity and a willingness to join in.
After the course
This course gives you the skills to:
Design and build systems with the bigger picture in mind, so every decision is a more informed one.
Read your own landscape differently — noticing water flow, microclimates and energy loops where you used to see static space.
Think in decades, not quick fixes — once you understand that resilient systems take years to mature, the longer game gets exciting rather than daunting.
Join a community that lasts — PDC cohorts stay in touch long after the course, swapping ideas, giving and getting support, and finding local groups they didn’t know were there.
The Venue
The Nook is the site of an intentional community near Yandoit in Central Victoria in beautiful Dja Dja Wurrung Country.
You will be surrounded by 80 acres of regrowth forest, productive gardens and hand-built structures. Out of class time, you are welcome to walk in the forest, swim in the dam, socialise with other participants or just sit quietly and enjoy the space and wildlife.
There is an established orchard, active tree nursery, and multiple outbuildings — and the time is ripe for further permaculture developments.
This course is a chance to look at this developing space through a permaculture lens to suggest designs, strategies and directions for productivity and enrichment. As a contrast to this developing space, we will also be visiting David Holmgren and Su Dennett’s home base, Melliodora, which has been growing food, and people, since the mid-1980s.
The Nook community.
Our intention is to build our own version of an alternative to the status quo and to harvest the collective skills and wisdom of the group and wider community.
The Nook has been, and continues to be, a place where people can meet and share their community concerns in an open and relaxed atmosphere without judgement; a social and economic hub for those who understand the need and value of shaking up society. We apply permaculture principles to how we live and farm, and demonstrate a more radical model of living.
Accomodation & meals
Facilities on the course will be basic, with outdoor living and composting toilets. A shower is available for those who really need it, but if people swim in the beautiful dam instead we can save valuable water.
Bring your own camping gear or van. There are a few other options available for an additional fee – please contact us for details.
The food will be lovingly prepared vegetarian meals.
Before you start
We’ll send you a free PDF of David’s Essence of Permaculture before the course begins — it’s a short read and a useful grounding.
All other titles and writings by David Holmgren are highly recommended. Please explore the Holmgren Design website, our online store, or your local library.
No prior permaculture experience needed.
Learn how to integrate permaculture into every aspect of your life.
What we'll cover
On the course, you will learn permaculture ethics, principles and design, and their application across the domains, so that you can integrate them into all aspects of your life.
Foundations
- Permaculture ethics and principles
- Design processes and practices
- Reading the Landscape
Land and ecology
- Ecology and natural cycles
- Soils
- Weather and climate
- Food growing
- Animals in permaculture
Built environment and energy
- The built environment and urban retrofitting
- Energy literacy
- Appropriate technology
People and economy
- Health and spiritual wellbeing
- Finance and economics
- Community strategies
We will take you on field trips to working permaculture farms, and homes & gardens where you will see these principles in action, including Melliodora, one of the best documented demonstration sites.
During the course you will work together in small groups to complete a design project.
Course Summary
First Nations Scholarship
If you’re Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, you’re warmly invited to apply for a scholarship.
The scholarship is co-sponsored by Gadigal Elder Uncle Charles Davison, his partner Jen Ridley who’s a Wiradjuri woman, Beck Lowe, and Holmgren Design. Uncle Charles and Jen are available throughout the course to mentor scholarship recipients — and to support us as course providers in keeping the content, protocols and communication culturally appropriate.
To request an application, email
Register your interest
Leave your details below and we’ll let you know when the details have been finalised and when registrations are open.
Prices
Holmgren Residential
Friday 5th – Saturday 20th March 2027
1 time payment
Payment plan
Accomodation:
The course fee covers camping only, so please bring your own gear.
If you don’t have camping equipment, we are exploring options to hire tents, mats, and sleeping bags etc. We are also looking into renting a nearby house for participants who prefer to stay indoors. Both of these options will incur additional fees.
To secure your spot on the course, please complete your booking and payment, and let us know if you’d be interested in equipment hire or indoor accommodation.
Cancellation Policy.
The course fee must be fully paid before the course commencement date.
If you withdraw before paying the full fee, we are happy to refund the amount you have paid, minus a $500 admin and promotion fee.
Sometimes circumstances change and you are unable to attend a course you have paid for. If that’s the case, there are a few options available:
If you notify us at least 21 days prior to the course commencement, we will refund your course fee minus a $500 admin and promotion fee OR you can apply the full amount as credit towards a future course.
If you notify us less than 21 days prior to the course commencement unfortunately we cannot provide a refund, though we are happy for you to send somebody else in your place. Just let us know.
If you notify us less than 21 days prior to the course commencement, if we have a waiting list and can fill the spot, we will refund your course fee minus a $500 admin and promotion fee.
Holmgren Design reserves the right to cancel or discontinue advertised courses due to unforeseen circumstances. If we are forced to cancel a course, you will receive a full refund.
* Payment Plans: All payments must be completed by 20th February 2027. Early bird is not available on plans.
** Early Bird finishes on the 3rd January 2027. Early bird is not available on plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
PDC stands for Permaculture Design Course. This has been the standard format for permaculture training since the 1980s. If you undertake this course you will be joining a body of many thousands of PDC graduates around the globe. The traditional PDC is 72 hours, but most PDCs are now longer – this one is approximately 80 hours of contact time. Our PDC covers various aspects of permaculture design, and participants see permaculture in action at a range of working permaculture sites. In addition to this, our PDC also focuses on exploring how permaculture principles can be applied to all areas of life – not just a block of land.
The Nook is an experimental permaculture site demonstrating hard-working, frugal community-sufficiency in action. It offers a relaxed, judgment-free space to gather, share concerns, and collaborate. As a social and economic hub for system change, Nook applies permaculture to everyday life and farming to model a radical, resilient alternative.
This PDC draws from a wide pool of permaculture talent to bring you a range of tutors who are specialists in various aspects of permaculture. David Holmgren, the co-originator of the permaculture concept, is a major part of this PDC. He will be at the course for about half the time, teaching, co-teaching, leading field-trips to Melliodora or commenting on design work.
We get asked both questions regularly… and the answer to both is that we make the course as affordable as we can.
We recognise that the fee is a lot of money for some. We understand that many people will struggle to afford to do this PDC. However for organic home-made food, accommodation, yoga, site visits and tuition, as well as a small class size of 26 students, we think our fee is very fair.
Some past participants initially thought that the course was expensive but on reflection recognise the true value of the course.
Please consider applying for a scholarship as ways to reduce your costs.
We only accept credit card payments made via Stripe which also includes a small booking fee. Your booking is only complete once the funds have arrived in our account.
We do not offer concession prices but we do offer part scholarships on a needs basis via an application process. Please email [email protected] to let us know that you would like to apply for a scholarship and we will send you further details on the application process.
We always encourage potential students to explore PDC options in their local area first, however as this is a residential course we do get students from interstate. PDCs in your local area can be particularly useful as the fieldtrips and much of the practical tutor knowledge will be specific to the bioregion – but the principles and understandings of permaculture are applicable anywhere. If there is no PDC in your area, you specifically want to undertake a residential PDC, the idea of combining an intentional community and permaculture appeals to you, or you are specifically interested in the wider application of permaculture, then this might be the PDC for you.
Please consider the environmental impact associated with flying.
The PDC is a mostly theoretical course, but participants will have the chance to get their hands dirty with productive projects within the community.
Students will do a permaculture design in a small group – this is a very practical activity, but not the hands-dirty type!
Even if you live locally we encourage all participants to stay on site as meals and evening sessions are an integral part of this immersive course. There are no discounts for staying off site. The daily timetable begins at 8:30am and the evening sessions often continue until 9pm.
Camping at Nook is lovely. You will need to BYO tent and all equipment.
Feel free to bring your own van or camper trailer – there is plenty of room.
There are a few other options available onsite for an additional fee (these include an onsite caravan and basic room) – please contact us for details.
We encourage and help to facilitate car-pooling and train travel.
The nearest railway station is Castlemaine.
Click here for Public Transport Victoria’s Journey Planner.
For those requiring a transfer to Nook, we can meet you at Castlemaine Railway Station on Friday at a designated time (TBC).
If you are driving to the venue, please let us know in the form (which we will send you after you have registered), to indicate your willingness to offer a lift to others if you have room.
Nook provides ethically sourced vegetarian meals. Gluten free and vegan diets can be catered for but you must advise us in advance.
On field trips ethically sourced meat may be included in the meals.
Yes, but you will need to BYO Esky or plastic tub with a lid. Please also note that there are no participant cooking facilities.
Mobile coverage at Nook is limited. When you arrive, we will let you know where to go on the community to be in range.
Unfortunately no. There is a day off in the middle of the course, on Saturday March 13. You are most welcome to stay at The Nook during your day and night off, but your family will not be able to visit you there.
Cancellation Policy.
If you withdraw before paying the full fee, we are happy to refund the amount you have paid, minus a $500 admin and promotion fee.
Sometimes circumstances change and you are unable to attend a course you have paid for.
If that’s the case, there are a few options available:
If you notify us at least 21 days prior to the course commencement, we will refund your course fee minus a $500 admin and promotion fee OR you can apply the full amount as credit towards a future course.
If you notify us less than 21 days prior to the course commencement unfortunately we cannot provide a refund, though we are happy for you to send somebody else in your place. Just let us know.
If you notify us less than 21 days prior to the course commencement, if we have a waiting list and can fill the spot, we will refund your course fee minus a $500 admin and promotion fee.
Holmgren Design reserves the right to cancel or discontinue advertised courses due to unforeseen circumstances. If we are forced to cancel a course, you will receive a full refund.