Spitalfields City Farm

Spitalfields City Farm is the nearest city farm to the square mile. Despite this, the farm is located in one of the most deprived and densely populated wards of Tower Hamlets (DOE 1996), although Spitalfields remains a vibrant and colourful multi-cultural area with strong community links.

After finding out about Kitchen Social and the possible benefits of the programme for the community, the Farm signed up to become one of our hubs. They ran their first Kitchen Social in the Autumn half term of 2017 for children between 4-12 year olds as a trial and found it a success.

“It provides kid’s with the opportunity to get together, get to know each other, cook, eat, garden and farm. This type of provision is great and well needed in such as deprived area.” – Stephen Haywood

The children were able to come to the Farm with their parents and enjoy some of the activities such as cookery, gardening, farm tours and vegetable collection/picking. The young people attending really enjoyed the activities and learned about healthy food and how to make it. The programme also encouraged them and their families to get outside more, visit the farm, and engage in other gardening and animal based activities.

They cooked pasta with pesto that the children made from fresh basil they picked from the garden. They also enjoyed homemade marinara sauce, homemade garlic bread as well as a variety of fruits and vegetables fresh from their garden. Best of all, after lunch, they young people even washed up after themselves!