Lydia is a Clinical Aromatherapist (MIFPA) & Facialist offering Aromatherapy Massage, Holistic Facials & Intra-oral Buccal Massage from the heart of Devon.
Welcome to Botanic & Remedy! Lydia is a Clinical Aromatherapist (MIFPA) who is passionate about sharing her love of aromatherapy through her bespoke treatments, using organic plant based oils and natural remedies. Her aromatherapy massage blends the alchemy of essential oils and holistic massage with her focus on the whole person to improve health and wellbeing of the body and mind as one. She enjoys creating specific blends for your needs whether supporting a clinical condition or to simply allow for relaxation, balance or rejuvenation. Her approach offers clients a safe, holistic space to feel nurtured, which enhances the uplifting and healing nature of the essential oils. Lydia believes in treating the root of the issue and enjoys helping clients to manage their lifestyles using aromatherapy after treatments to continue to feel the benefits. Clinical aromatherapy can be beneficial to treat stress, anxiety, insomnia, depression, autoimmune diseases, joint pain, muscular aches and tension, skin, respiratory and digestive conditions and hormonal imbalances. Lydia was awarded her diploma in Aromatherapy & Essential Oil Science by Neal’s Yard Remedies School of Natural Health in Covent Garden. She is a member of the International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists (IFPA), which ensures the highest standards of professional practice.
18/01/2026
Easing into 2026 with the second class of the year this morning.
If you’d like to join me for any upcoming classes, please get in touch as spaces are limited.
A nourishing mix of pranayama breath work, deep stretching, asana and restorative poses to shift stagnant energy, rebalance and revitalise the body and mind.
Thank you to all my lovey village yogis for showing up and taking the time to breathe deeply, move mindfully and sharing your practice.
Namaste 🤍
20/10/2025
Classes coming to Kennford from November!
Spaces are going fast, please message me if you’d like to come along 🙏🌗
10/10/2025
✨Some of my current faves to use in my ‘Ritual’ treatments and facials.
🫶Personally, I’m a hands on kinda gal when it comes to facial massage BUT cooling gua sha and cryo balls do feel rather lovely and can help to release tension and lymphatic congestion in the face, body & mind.
✨I’ve recently added the beautiful jade body gua sha into my treatments. It feels so good on the backs of the legs and helps to stimulate lymphatic flow - a great way to help flush and detox tight muscles, whilst gently firing up your immune system ahead of the winter months
🍂 To help you ease into the cooler days, I’m currently offering £10 off the Restorative Ritual (60 mins body massage & 30 mins facial) & Radiance Ritual (60 mins facial & 30 mins back, neck & shoulder massage).
👋If you look into the tiny cryo balls you might see me say Hi! ☺️
24/09/2025
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Introducing…✨‘The Rituals’✨
2 rejuvenating and restorative 90 minute treatments that combine therapeutic aromatherapy massage and holistic facials. Created to release tension, revive your skin’s natural radiance and restore balance in your body and mind.
To embrace the change in seasons and help you ease into autumn, I’m giving you £10 off your first ritual treatment when you book in for October and November.
In both rituals you will experience uplifting aromatic essential oils, warming towels and natural products including the beautiful Devon made .skincare to help soothe your senses and nourish your skin.
90 minutes gives you that extra precious time to let your breath deepen and allows for your mind and body to relax, let go of tension, helping you to feel rebalanced and grounded.
Which one would you pick?
The Radiance Ritual or The Restorative Ritual?
Let me know which one you’d like to book and look forward to some restorative time out 😌
11/09/2025
Earlier this year I trained as a yoga teacher after feeling the call to dive deeper into a world I felt I had only really scratched the surface of.
Rewind to January 2024 where the seed was planted at a wonderful yoga retreat in Nashik, India with one of my wonderful teachers Helen . I partly cringed and laughed off her generous comment “Oh, you’ll be back here to do your teacher training one day!”…but her words landed somewhere in me and subconsciously started to grow.
Yoga has taught me to accept myself wherever I am and to let go of and release some of the ties that life has bound. Yoga is for everyone and is not a religion, more a philosophy that can support our physical, emotional, spiritual and energetic being.
Looking back, I didn’t think that I would necessarily ever teach because of many of my own insecurities and self doubts.
However, after many wobbles (that I have slowly learned to embrace ☺️) I qualified as a teacher this summer and taught my first village class last night.
It was pure joy to teach 7 lovely souls to breathe deeply and move mindfully, as the sun went down with the cool, end of summer breeze on our skin.
With a very full heart, I’m feeling grateful and thankful to all my yoga teachers over the years (I think my first class was over 20 years ago!!) and to my yogi friends and my family for their support and belief in me, especially when I couldn’t see it. It means a lot. The yoga community is a rather special one and it’s lovely to have been welcomed in with open arms 💛
It’s still sinking in that I can now add this beautiful string to my bow and hopefully share more classes and 1:1s with my lovely clients and whoever wants to try yoga!
It’s truly saved me from the inside out, helped to realign my body and mind and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who feels a bit stuck, overwhelmed, stressed or tired.
Huge thanks to my teacher Lisa Roberts & Co for the full fat training that I’m sure I will still be digesting for many years to come! 💛✨
27/03/2025
🌸 There’s still time to order a Mother’s Day gift voucher, available to buy online. Choose from a range of treatments including relaxing aromatherapy massage and rejuvenating holistic facials. Link in the comments! 🌸
13/01/2025
New year, new balms!!
I hope you’re easing into 2025 and keeping cosy!
I had my first day back in the therapy room last week and it was a joy to treat lovely clients and fill the air with aromatic essential oils again 🥰
One of my fave treatments to give is The Aromatherapy Facial and the other day, I got to use my brand new homemade cleansing balms! Their aromas were dreamy and the balms made my client’s face GLOW✨
The Lavender & Lemon cleansing balm has a blend of natural butters, waxes and oils that help to cleanse and comfort the skin with their antibacterial and hydrating properties. It smells so soft and fresh and prepares the skin for the following exfoliation and massage.
The Rose, Geranium & Chamomile Polishing Balm feels amazing on the skin. I have blended oils and waxes to condition the skin with the addition of natural kaolin clay and chamomile flowers that gently buff and polish away dry skin. This reveals even more of a GLOW✨☺️ with skin feeling super soft and smooth.
The next stage is applying either a clay based mask to calm and decongest or if the skin is on the drier side, a soothing treatment to nourish and restore hydration. All balms and masks are removed with warm, comforting towels and Bulgarian rose water for a little bit of lux!
Then it’s onto the massage (my favourite part!) using a natural base oil and essential oils to suit the skin which helps the mind to unwind as tension is released on the face, neck, shoulders and head 😌
Need I say more….
Definitely one to try if your skin is needing some TLC and to soothe away those January blues.
04/12/2024
🍋🟩 Bergamot! Citrus bergamia ~ one of my absolute favourite essential oils comes from this juicy fruit! 🍋🟩
It looks like a cross between a big lemon and lime, has more of a bittersweet citrus and floral aroma and tastes just as sour 😝
You may be familiar with the aroma from sipping an Earl Grey tea where the dried fruit rind is infused with tea leaves. Bergamot has been used as a zingy, citrusy top note in perfumery since the 1700’s and today, around 80% of the world’s bergamot comes from Calabria in Italy.
Bergamot essential oil is a favourite for uplifting the senses - like drawing the curtains and letting the sunshine in! ☀️ So it’s perfect for adding into diffusers and oil burners throughout the winter months to lift your mood and invite light into the darker days 🕯️✨
In aromatherapy treatments, Bergamot is used therapeutically to support depression, anxiety, autoimmune conditions, post-viral fatigue, stress related digestive pain and loss of appetite, congested skin and can help to heal wounds. Bergamot is a sedative and calmative essential oil which works to soothe and cool the nervous system when there is a sense of overwhelm and heat in the body and mind.
You can’t go too far wrong with Bergamot in an aroma blend as its sparkling top notes works with almost any other oil. I’m currently loving Bergamot, Frankincense, Lavender & Vetiver in my diffuser 💕
I was over the moon to find a fresh Bergamot in one of my favourite farm shops and have been adding a slice to some sparkling water and Kombucha.
My fave Bergamot essential oil has always been / (you can buy from in Devon 🌿)
Let me know if you’ve ever tried Bergamot? I’m curious to know if it’s anyone else’s fave?!!
P.S…please don’t add essential oils to your food or drinks as they are super concentrated and harmful to ingest but do feel free to eat the actual fruit - if you can find one 😋
17/09/2024
✨I am delighted to be joining the wonderful on her Autumn Wellness Day Retreat on Sunday 20th October in the stunning surroundings of East Devon. Annah is offering a full day of yoga, meditation, seasonal food and time out in nature in the beautiful setting of Hunger Hill, for what is sure to be a wholesome and nourishing day!✨
🍂I will be offering the choice of a 30 minute Aromatherapy Massage or Rejuvenating Facial Massage on the day (as an optional extra for £30). Adding in a restorative treatment will help to ease your mind, release tension, and restore your energy - to complement a day of mindful practices✨
🍁Bookings are now open, so if you are interested, head over to Annah’s booking page on her website at www.annahherbert.com > click on the retreat to book your place and please email Annah or myself to request a holistic treatment.✨
19/07/2024
Summertime lunch breaks in Topsham 💕artisan
27/02/2024
It was such a pleasure to host an Aromatherapy workshop at the stunning as part of a wellbeing day.
I took the group on a sensory journey, talked all things aromatherapy and essential oils, we made therapeutic aroma rollerballs, took a pause to do an aroma meditation and everyone felt very mellow by the end. The room smelled pretty amazing afterwards too!
Such a beautiful atmosphere 😌🌿✨
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I’m Lydia, a Clinical Aromatherapist (MIFPA), Massage Therapist and Holistic Facialist.
I offer Aromatherapy Massage and many more restorative treatments at Neal’s Yard Remedies in Exeter, Devon. I am passionate about sharing my love of Aromatherapy with the aim of helping people to feel more relaxed and to feel well in body and mind.
What is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy is the ‘art and science’ of blending natural aromatic plant extracts known as essential oils. The oils have many therapeutic properties which can help to improve physical and emotional wellbeing in a natural and holistic way.
This practice has been used for thousands of years and has become one of the most popular complementary therapies to treat and prevent disease, focusing on the ‘whole person’ - in mind, body and spirit.
Aromatherapy Massage
Aromatherapy massage combines the use of healing essential oils with massage to help relieve stress, muscular tension and to restore our body’s natural balance. When this is achieved, the body and mind can work more effectively together, which promotes increased energy levels, a resilient immune system, improved health and a positive state of mind.
In the therapy rooms, I offer a safe and private space to feel calm and nurtured which further enhances the uplifting and healing nature of the essential oils. An in-depth and confidential consultation will be taken to understand your health history, any concerns you may have and so I can select the most beneficial essential oils to be used in your massage. You will then be invited to relax onto the massage couch, drift away and enjoy. Further advice may be given to you on how to manage your lifestyle and help you continue to feel the benefits after your treatments.
How it Works
Tiny molecules are absorbed by the skin, inhaled through the nose and into the lungs and enter the bloodstream and nervous system where they take therapeutic effect. Once inhaled into our nose, the tiny droplets drift up to a place called the olfactory bulb, part of the limbic system which can detect smells. This is where our clever brains have learnt to associate certain smells with signals and emotion. For example perhaps as a child your favourite granny wore a ‘Rose’ perfume and now smelling Roses makes you feel comforted and reassured? Scent associations can also work in the opposite way as a form of self protection against things that aren’t good for us or that may pose as a threat.
Many essential oils are ‘nervines’ and ‘calmatives’ which mean they actually change our body’s chemistry and allow us to feel better when we breathe them in, so there doesn’t even have to be an association with each scent for it to take effect.
I like to call this the ‘alchemy of aromatherapy’ as it has the power to transform how we feel, which is why I believe it to be the ultimate feel good therapy!
How Can it Help Me?
Clinical aromatherapy can be beneficial to treat stress, anxiety, insomnia, depression, autoimmune diseases, joint pain, muscular aches and tension and many other conditions including; skin, digestive, respiratory, vascular conditions and hormonal imbalances.
I enjoy creating specific blends for your needs whether supporting a clinical condition or to simply encourage relaxation.
Essential oils can be inhaled, diffused, added to baths, creams, ointments and applied to the skin in an Aromatherapy Massage and can be used to support mild to treating chronic conditions. Bespoke home remedies are available on request.
I am a member of the International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists (IFPA), which ensures the highest standards of safety and professional practice.
