Cookies, Privacy and Returns Policy

Cookies, Privacy and Returns policy

Privacy and Cookies Policy

This Privacy and Cookies Policy gives an overview of how Gathering Nature (the “School”) collects, stores, manages and protects your personal data through your use of our website (the “Website”). 

The School respects your privacy and takes its responsibilities in terms of the correct management of personal data for its users (in whatever capacity) very seriously.  We keep this Policy under regular review and it is important that you read this Policy together with any other privacy or fair processing policy that we may provide on occasion so that you are fully aware of how and why we are collecting and using your data. By using the Website, you consent to our collection and use of your personal data.

The School is a ‘controller’ (as defined in the Data Protection Act 2018 and all applicable laws which replace or amend it, including the General Data Protection Regulation) and is responsible for your personal data.

Our purpose is to provide education around botanicals and we actively aim to minimise the information collected about you.  In normal browsing, this is likely limited to cookies and for those purchasing a course from us, the minimal personal data required for the running of your course account. 

In terms of collection, the vast majority of information we hold about you will be directly input by you.  By submitting such information you are responsible for the validity, accuracy and confirming the legitimacy of our use of such volunteered information. It is also important that you keep us informed of any changes to your personal data. We may also during registration and your use of the Website obtain information from any social media account you link voluntarily such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn depending on your settings or the privacy policies of these social media and messaging services. To change your settings on these services, please refer to their privacy notices, which will tell you how to do this. 

The Website offers links to third party websites. By clicking on those links, you may allow third parties to collect or share data. The School does not control these third party websites and is therefore not responsible for their privacy statements. It is recommended that if you leave the Website and follow a link to another, you read the privacy policy of every website visited; this includes public and limited forums and social media accounts. Please refer to our Terms and Conditions in relation to our limitation of liability in relation to third party websites, available at https://gatheringnature.com/terms-and-conditions/

If you have any concerns please in the first instance contact us by email on the details below:-

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory author for data protection issues.  We would however appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please do contact us in the first instance.

Sensitive categories of data collected may include race, religion and ethnicity which is captured to enable us to monitor diversity across the community and award programmes. This information is captured at the point of application. We will always ask for your consent to collect this information and you may refuse to provide the information. You may also withdraw your consent for us to process this information at any stage though we may already have disposed of the information. Please note however that your withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. Withdrawal of consent (or a refusal to provide certain required personal information) may result in some products or services being unavailable to you.

When you visit the Website, we use cookies to automatically collect information about how you use the Website. These Cookies are small text files that the Website uses to store information, for example, user preferences. We use cookies on the Website to; help make the Website easier to use; help people share our content via social media; help us understand how the Website is being used so that we can identify areas that are working well and areas that need improvement.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser however, please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of the Website. 

We use the information you give us to; send you publications, newsletters and updates that you have subscribed to; provide you with the services and the information about our activities and events that you have requested; administer any user accounts we set up for you; aggregate data for marketing and strategic and reporting purposes; implement any requests from users identifying any unwanted information and contact preference requests and data integrity updates. The School will not use your personal data for any other purpose. Please note however that we may disclose your personal data to employees who require such information in order to carry out and deliver to you the services you require. The School may also process your personal data without your knowledge or consent where required by law.

The School has put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidently lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

The School will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint. You have the right at any time to request; access to, correction or erasure of your personal data (where there is no good reason for us to continue to process this); or no further processing, restrictions on processing or the transfer of your personal data. There is no fee to access your personal data however, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is unfounded, repetitive or excessive or in those circumstances, we may refuse to comply with your request. We try to respond to all legitimate requests within a reasonable time.

Our goal is to ensure your experience on the Website and personal data is kept safely and with integrity and clarity for you, the user, in how to ask us to modify, delete or maintain your data with us that enables us to manage and administer your experience with us in line with your permission. 

Returns policy

We have a no returns policy. Please see Terms and Conditions for more information.