THE kitchen garden AT CHISWICK HOUSE

Beyond the iconic ornate gates and red-brick walls is the beating heart of Chiswick House & Gardens. A hive of gardening activity and a thriving community space, the 17th century Kitchen Garden today serves as an outdoor classroom for local schools and groups, providing access to invaluable nature-based and creative learning and a haven for vulnerable people and family groups.

Since 2021, the Kitchen Garden community programme has helped 5000 people, often from vulnerable and marginalised groups, to learn about food cultivation and nutrition, whilst improving their mental and physical health and general wellbeing. Thanks to funding from The Linbury Trust, underrepresented people from the Hounslow community have benefited from cooking classes using garden produce, creative workshops with local artists and hands-on gardening activities.

What’s more, over 50 local gardening volunteers regularly support the Chiswick House & Gardens team in an industrious year-round programme of planting and harvesting to produce an incredible bounty of organic fruit and veg. New for 2023, Chiswick House & Gardens aims to donate at least as much produce as it sells to ‘Surplus to Supper’, a local charity that distributes nutritional fresh produce to those who need it most, via food banks, schools, care homes and shelters across the borough.

The Kitchen Garden is open to the public ThursdaySunday, 11am-4pm from 16 March.

Day tickets available, or for unlimited free entry, and to support projects like ‘Surplus to Supper’, become a Chiswick House & Gardens Member. chiswickhouseandgardens.org.uk/membership

Produce and flowers will be on sale at a new location in the Conservatory when the Kitchen Garden re-opens. Check website for opening times. 10% discount for Members.