Halen Môn, the Anglesey Seasalt Company is launching a new Seaweed Festival to celebrate one of Wales’ often unsung natural resources.
The series of events over the late May bank holiday weekend will showcase seaweed in the kitchen and the garden, along with workshops about foraging and fermenting – and the surprising story of how Welsh seaweed research saved Japanese sushi.
Opening the festival on Saturday 23 May, Kirsti Davies will be leading seaweed foraging along the coastline next to the Halen Môn Saltcote. Kirsti runs the Gwymona project which is working to celebrate 101 different uses of seaweed to highlight its potential as a solution to many modern challenges. Gwymona is a Welsh word for ‘to gather seaweed’ for use as fertiliser. Some of the seaweed gathered will be pressed in a botanical pressing workshop for people to create a unique memento of the day.
In the afternoon, Anna Lloyd who set up BWBLIN and makes organic fermented fruit and vegetables on Anglesey will be running an introduction to fermentation workshop. She’ll teach participants to make their very own ‘sea salad’, a sauerkraut with added seaweed.
On the morning Sunday 24 May Natalie Chivers-Cross will run a workshop showcasing uses of seaweed in the garden and as a fertiliser. Using local samples to show what’s available to gardeners, Natalie will demonstrate how to make a simple fertiliser and help people to make a seaweed starter which they can take away to start the process of fermenting their own fertilisers at home.
Wrapping up the festival that afternoon, Dr Dani Robertson, author and dark skies officer at Eryri National Park, will tell the inspiring story of Dr Kathleen Drew-Baker while visitors bathe in one of Halen Môn’s Wild Môn Seaweed Baths.
Drew-Baker’s research into seaweed growing, carried out on the coast of Anglesey and around Wales, was fundamental to the successful cultivation of nori in Japan, at a time when this crucial ingredient of sushi was under threat. For the impact of her work, Dr Drew-Baker is known in Japan as the ‘Mother of Seaweed Farming’ and celebrated with a monument and an annual festival in her honour.
Jess Lea-Wilson, brand director at Halen Môn, has created the new festival. She said:
“We’re excited to be launching the new festival to shine a spotlight on one of Wales’ valuable, yet too often overlooked, natural resources. As a business which is deeply involved with the natural environment of our stunning coastline here on Anglesey, we’re looking forward to celebrating the beauty and versatility of Welsh seaweed – from the kitchen to the garden – and exploring the many potential uses it could have in helping us develop new sustainable solutions for the future.
“It’s a chance to learn about foraging and fermentation, get hands-on with some seaweed art and craft, and hear some surprising tales of Welsh seaweed changing the world,” she said.
The Halen Môn Seaweed Festival 2026 takes place at the Anglesey Saltcote on the banks of the Menai Strait just outside Brynsiencyn. Tickets are available from the Halen Môn website.
