The scented water left over when plants are steam-distilled. The steam carries the plant's aromatic compounds, and when it condenses, a thin layer of essential oil floats on top of the water. That water, gently fragrant, is the hydrosol. Rose water and lavender water are the famous examples.

What do you make at the Essentia Botanica workshop?

Depending on the season: ecological body scrubs, fragrant flower bags, bath salts and herb baskets, blended by hand with local olive oil and sea salt. Everyone leaves with a small bag of what they made.

Which herbs are used in the workshop?

Mediterranean herbs that grow around Zadar and in the villa's own garden: lavender, rosemary, sage and others, handled fresh so you can touch and smell them before they go into the still.

How do I join the workshop?

Ask the hosts at Villa Mandolina. The workshop is a customised experience, so dates and content are arranged in person, by email or by phone.

Essentia Botanica

How lavender becomes oil

In the garden of Villa Mandolina stands a hammered copper still, and around it we run Essentia Botanica, a small workshop about a very old craft: coaxing scent out of the herbs this coast grows better than almost anywhere. This is what happens when you join us.

The workshop room with a hammered copper still, long white table and shelves of jars — the copper still, ready to work

An old craft, done the old way

Steam distillation has not changed much in a thousand years, which is part of its charm. Plant material goes into the still. Steam rises through it and carries away the aromatic compounds the plant has spent all summer making. The scented steam travels through the still's swan neck into a condenser, cools back into liquid, and separates: a thin, precious film of essential oil floating on top, and beneath it the fragrant water known as a hydrosol.

Most people have met a hydrosol without knowing the word. Rose water is one. Lavender water is another. At the workshop you watch the whole journey happen in copper, from a basket of cut herbs to those first slow drops, and it is quietly mesmerising every time.

Guests around the workshop table blending bath salts and scrubs — hands in, that is the point

Touch, smell, make

This is not a lecture. The herbs on the table are the ones this region is famous for, lavender and rosemary and sage among them, and you are meant to crush them between your fingers and get to know each one before it earns its place in the still.

Then you make things. With genuine ecological olive oil and locally extracted sea salt as your base, you blend your own aromatic products by hand. What exactly depends on the season: ecological body scrubs, fragrant flower bags for your wardrobe, bath salts, little herb baskets. Nobody leaves empty handed, because the bag of goodies you take home is the one you made yourself.

It is a completely customised experience, friendly and unhurried, with Mediterranean refreshments along the way. Children tend to love the smelling part, adults tend to love the quiet, and everyone loves the moment the first oil appears.

Good to know

Where: in the garden at Villa Mandolina, Zadar. You do not have to travel anywhere.
What you keep: the products you blend, packed to take home.
What varies: the herbs and the products follow the seasons, so no two workshops are quite alike.
How to book: ask us at the villa, or write ahead and we will plan it around your stay.