The Plant Academy

Ellie Richards-Johnson

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  • Why I decided to travel Europe in a converted Sprinter camper van…

    by Ellie Richards-Johnson

    In a short space of time I went from believing my vegan cafe would one day rule the world to feeling like I needed to leave my cafe and go see the world. So why did I decide to leave my hometown to travel Europe in a converted Sprinter camper van? 

    June 15, 2018
    Comment 1
    Travel

  • What makes a minimalist?

    by Ellie Richards-Johnson

    I gave up my business, sold most of my possessions, went from having a whole room as my wardrobe to two shelves of clothing. But does this make me a minimalist?

    June 10, 2018
    Comment 1
    Minimalism

  • Gluten Free Maple & Almond Butter Granola

    by Ellie Richards-Johnson

    I love granola for breakfast, especially with some vegan yogurt or as a topping on my smoothie bowl. When I visited Edinburgh recently, a cute cafe there even used it as a topping on their porridge which was an amazing revelation to me. The only problem is most shop bought granola has cow's milk, gluten or white sugar in, and I eat none of...

    June 6, 2018
    Comments 0
    Recipes

  • Get lost with me…

    by Ellie Richards-Johnson

    I’ve been struggling to find the words recently, to tell you what I and The Plant Academy are doing. Because honestly, I don’t know. I have hit this point of feeling lost, like I’m in a huge maze and there’s so many options and I’ve just sat my bum down in the centre with no idea which direction to choose. The Plant Academy has...

    May 25, 2018
    Comments 4
    Cafe News, Self Discovery

About The Plant Academy

Hi, I’m Ellie Richards-Johnson, I started The Plant Academy in April 2017 in my small home town in North West England to help show how positive and delicious living a plant based lifestyle is.

I operated The Plant Academy in a small market as a little vegan cafe for a year before I turned my attention to the online world. Here, I hope to show how wonderful living a simple plant based lifestyle can be.

Along with my husband and dog, I’ve sold everything and moved in to a campervan where we are living minimally and eating our way around Europe.

Here you’ll be able to follow our adventures, find great plant based recipes, learn more about minimalism and alternative living, and help discover your true self through our attempts at figuring this out for ourselves.

Love & good vibes, Ellie x

Recipes

Gluten Free Maple & Almond Butter Granola

Published by Ellie Richards-Johnson

I love granola for breakfast, especially with some vegan yogurt or as a topping on my smoothie bowl. When I visited Edinburgh recently, a cute cafe there even used...

June 6, 2018
Comments 0
Recipes

From The Cafe: How to make our vegan kale, pesto & mozzarella toastie

Published by Ellie Richards-Johnson

This toastie is so simple yet so satisfying, and it's been a great success at The Plant Academy vegan cafe. We thought we'd share with you how to make...

March 4, 2018
Comments 0
Recipes

Vegan Travel

Travel

Why I decided to travel Europe in a converted Sprinter camper van…

In a short space of time I went from believing my vegan cafe would one day rule the world to feeling like I needed to leave my cafe and...

June 15, 2018
Comment 1
Travel

Liverpool’s Top 5 Vegan Eats

We’re only a stone throw away from Liverpool, and in fact, Andy and I actually like just outside Liverpool and drive to Southport to get to The Plant Academy...

March 1, 2018
Comments 0

Self Discovery

Get lost with me…

by Ellie Richards-Johnson

I’ve been struggling to find the words recently, to tell you what I and The Plant Academy are doing. Because honestly, I don’t know. I have hit this point of feeling lost, like I’m in a huge maze and there’s so many options and I’ve just sat my bum down in the centre with no idea which direction to choose. The Plant Academy has always been an honest and authentic business. I’ve shared more with you all than the average business owner shares with their customers and followers, I’ve felt called to do so, and I believe it’s been something that’s been appreciated by you all. So here I am, sharing my ‘what now’ update.

May 25, 2018
Comments 4
Cafe News, Self Discovery

The Plant Academy’s Future…

by Ellie Richards-Johnson

It's definitely important in life to look back on the good and the bad, but equally important to live in the present and not the past. With this in mind, I'm focusing on The Plant Academy in the now. I'm making plans for this month on what we can do and trying to figure out what I want The Plant Academy to be in the long run...

April 23, 2018
Comments 3
Self Discovery

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A bit of an explanation of how I got to write this post. I’m 26 in a few days, and I’m feeling very introspective with where I’m at in life. I had another bad month of PMDD, my fatigue was bad and I suffered more than normal from low mood and personality changes. I’ve also been talking a lot on our long drives north to Sweden about what’s next and how I’m feeling now I’ve had tiny window of space from Southport. So here it is, I feel like once again I am writing a ‘bye for not but not forever’ post. I was quite sure that I wanted to continue The Plant Academy. Pop ups, ebooks, events, markets, blog, YouTube. I really truly love The Plant Academy. But this love I have for it is starting to hurt me, or maybe it’s been hurting for months and months and I’m only just realising. I created something so special, unique and amazing with The Plant Academy, and I’ll forever feel blessed for the experience and opportunities I gave myself through my wonderful little vegan cafe. But it is a cafe no more. It is not doing pop ups. I am not posting the YouTube videos I filmed. All that is left of The Plant Academy is sweet memories... and me. I am and have been The Plant Acadmey since it first became an idea a couple of years ago. But what I have to share of me now is no longer The Plant Academy, I don’t know what it is. My enjoyment of traveling, my fears for my future, my struggles, my optimism. But I feel like I am tarnishing somehow everything I built and I wish to keep these memories sacred, without dwelling in them, but learning from them and creating something better for myself and others in the future. It is now time for me to take a step away from The Plant Academy and truely mourn the loss of it in my life, accept its time has gone, and be open to what lies ahead for me. I cannot do that whilst posting here or anywhere else to do with The Plant Acadmey. So I once again say goodbye for now, but not forever. The Plant Academy will always be my love, and I know it will be waiting for me when the time is right for us to be together again. If you want to follow my travels I post all my camper antics on @vantoanywhere 🚐 I love you all, see you soon ✨
Maybe I should just rename this page 'golden hour on Ellie's travels...' 🌅🚐 what do you guys think? 😅 This was taken just outside our van, we parked at the bottom of a back road by a beautiful sandy beach, with no one else around. It's getting a little chilly now we are getting close to the arctic circle, particularly in the evenings. But that doesn't stop us seeking these beautiful evenings views 😍
I just can't get over the sunsets in this country 🌅😍🇸🇪✨
The sun setting over the beautiful villiage of Röttle in Sweden. Right by the most beautiful lake is this gorgeous collection of houses.
We are always drawn to the coast. Is it something about being born by the sea that makes us crave being close to the water? We love beaches and paddling in the glistening waves. This week we are driving up the east coast of Sweden towards Luleå, a coastal town in the north of Sweden where we can see the midnight sun ☀️ Essentially the sunset will move directly to sunrise without any real period of darkness. How amazing is that! So happy to be in the country of constant sun and @oatly ice cream 🍦☀️ (p.s I drove past the @oatly factory today and I screamed with excitement. No exaggeration. You know I love me some oat milk!)
We've officially driven 1000 miles from home and despite the many hours of podcasts We've been listening to, I can't say I'm feeling any wiser yet 🤷‍♀️ we are currently at the German/Danish border filling up on cheap diesel and pondering why adulting is so hard for us. Self discovery is a big theme of our trip, we really could have done anything to try and 'find ourselves', travel just seemed like the right choice for us right now. A lot of you who know my BFF Liz from @renewedyouyoga joked that I would soon end up following her out to India, and when I said I wouldn't follow her I was being honest, I just knew I needed what she was looking for, too. I don't think I need to go to India to work on myself, but I've been wrong before (but don't tell Liz that!) I'm not sure either me or Liz can put in to words directly what 'it' is we are yearning to find but our conversations lead me to believe whatever 'it' is, it's ultimately the same thing. Because what I call self discovery you could call many different things. To me it's about learning what I value, who I value and why, as well as how I want to invest my energy during this short time we have on earth. I want to learn to be more positive and open, to love myself and my body, and to be present and appreciate the wonderful world around me and many other self discoveryish things. I haven't a clue what I'm doing, I'm just asking the universe to show me the way. I have a wonderful husband with me for the journey and friends who make distance feel insignificant, sharing their love from different countries and continents. Self discovery for me isn't lonely, but it is my own journey to discover on a personal level ✨ And P.S. don't expect any adulting to happen from me any time soon. 25 is the new 15 anyway ✌️😎 (📸: Bruges, Belgium)
We had a sit down and regroup last night as this crazy high pollen count has been making me feel 🤧😷🤢 Living in a van when you're allergic to the outdoors was beginning to feel like my stupidest idea to date. We booked a hotel for the night, washed all our clothes and sheets and had our first proper showers of the trip (including 🐶) in an effort to have a pollen free night. We spent all night making the most of the wifi to do some research and decided to reroute and use those wheels of ours to travel to pollen free lands. We are going to spend the next week driving thousands of kilometres to north Sweden, where we had always intended to travel to, just not quite so soon. The grass pollen levels are so much lower there, and the heat more bearable. We will enjoy the scenic beauty of the north until the pollen levels are less extreme and then slowly make our way back south, heading to Spain in autumn via The Netherlands and Belgium again for a better explore than we've been able to this week. We are excited again rather than frustrated. I've said this before but I've spent a lot of my life trying to pretend I don't have certain illnesses such as my PMDD and hay fever because society has you believe you should persist and carry on no matter what, but now I am changing my thought patterns to believe that I should work with my ailments and limitations and not against them. To admit my hay fever is causing me distress and suffering might seem small to some, but I have to accept that being around grass pollen makes me feel very ill, and there's no point staying here out of stubbornness and suffering when I could work with the situation and find a way forward. Fingers crossed all goes to plan this time 🤞 See you soon Sweden 🇸🇪🚐🗺
My meals whilst traveling in my campervan are really not so different than when I lived in a flat or at my parents house. I generally stick to whole grains and veggies with some kind of delicious sauce made up of whatever I have in. I like to buy cheaper veg, usually whatever is in season, as it's not only friendlier to my tight budget but also tends to be more nutritious and tasty when it's in season. This was a one pot wonder and super easy but also very healthy - ideal for keeping my PMDD under control and also keeping my immune system in tip top condition whilst traveling. I'm missing some decent gluten free pasta, though. I'm a total brown rice pasta snob and I'm struggling to adjust to the corn pasta in the supermarkets in France and Belgium 🤦‍♀️😅 I know... I'm a spoilt first world millennial who's biggest problem is finding decent gluten free pasta, I'll go seek some perspective now 🙈

A thoughtful quote...

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us...”

Helen Keller

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Ellie Richards-Johnson

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