Join us for Flavours of Autumn at RHS Garden Bridgewater, where we will celebrate growing your own produce and transforming it into delectable dishes that you can make at home.
Celebrate the rich bounty of autumn at RHS Garden Bridgewater with an inspiring programme of garden tours, engaging talks and live cooking demonstrations. Discover seasonal flavours and expert insights from renowned chefs and growers, including Simone Bratt-Low, Jack Wallington and The Life Larder, among others. Explore the Kitchen Garden, where the produce is grown, and the Wellbeing Garden, where the cookery demos will take place.
Event Programme
Saturday 12th September
11:00am – Cooking Demonstration with Devina Ramanah-Beck (Wellbeing Garden)
Join RHS Bridgewater volunteer for a Mauritian-inspired dish.
A mum of three with Mauritian roots and a Yorkshire upbringing, Devina loves bringing people together through food and growing. Devina volunteers in the Community Grow Garden at RHS Bridgewater, working with local community groups and enjoys growing vegetables at home. Her cooking combines simple British favourites with authentic Mauritian dishes, inspired by her travels and love of food markets. Devina’s cooking celebrates fresh, seasonal ingredients, family traditions and the joy of sharing delicious food.
11:00am – Mushroom Cultivation Demonstration with MyCo Manchester (New Shoots Garden)
Join Myco Manchester for a practical introduction to mushroom cultivation, exploring a range of techniques for growing edible fungi at home. They'll cover low-cost and beginner-friendly techniques to more advanced cultivation methods, as well as the basics of what different species need to thrive.
11:00am – Talk by Mike Hudson from Manchester Urban Diggers (Marquee)
Join Mike Hudson from Manchester Urban Diggers for a talk on MUD’s history and vision of a fairer food system.
11:00am - Garden Tour with Simone Bratt (Kitchen Garden)
Join RHS Horticulturalist Simone for a tour of our Kitchen Garden.
12:00pm – Cooking Demonstration with Root to Flower (Wellbeing Garden)
The idea behind Root to Flower's cooking is ‘good food, that happens to be vegan’, demonstrating how beautifully varied and vibrant a plant-based table of food can be.
12:00pm – Talk on Perennial Edibles with Jack Wallington (Marquee)
A talk exploring how to plan edible plant communities that produce more food for much less effort. Turn your garden into a beautiful and productive space with easy food plants grown in exciting new ways.
13:00pm – Cooking Demonstration with Simone Bratt (Wellbeing Garden)
Join RHS Horticulturalist Simone Bratt for a cooking demonstration that draws on the produce grown in our garden.
Simone is the Team Leader for the Inner Walled Garden, which includes the Kitchen and Paradise gardens. She has been growing fruit and veg for over 20 years. She designs and manages the productive part of the kitchen garden every year, using organic practices and is also a very keen cook, using produce that she grows at home.
13:00 pm - Seed Planting with RHS Volunteers (New Shoots Garden)
Join our experienced volunteers and help sow seeds for the season ahead in this child-friendly session.
13:30pm – Foraging Tour Taster with Discover the Wild (Start from Marquee, then Woodland)
This immersive and educational foraging walk will deepen your connection with nature while introducing you to the fascinating world of wild food and plants.
14:00 pm – Cooking Demonstration with Maz (The Vegetarian Society) (Wellbeing Garden)
Maz has a passion for fantastic flavours! She teaches on a wide range of courses at COOK! with the Vegetarian Society including Thai and Vietnamese Cookery and Vegan Street Food.
14:00 pm – Performance by Bionic and the Wires (Marquee)
We’re delighted to welcome Bionic and the Wires, who use bionic technology to enable mushrooms and plants to create unique music and visual art.
14:30pm – Foraging Tour Taster with Discover the Wild (Start from Marquee, then Woodland)
This immersive and educational foraging walk will deepen your connection with nature while introducing you to the fascinating world of wild food and plants.
15:00 pm – Performance by Brown Wimpenny (Marquee)
Brown Wimpenny, an 11-piece folk ensemble from south Manchester, weave traditional music from the British Isles and beyond into a vibrant web of jigs, reels, drones and choral harmonies
15:00 pm – Cooking Demonstration with Hussain Chaudry (Wellbeing Garden)
Join local chef Hussain for a demo on making vegetable pakoras and tamarind chipotle date chutney.
Sunday 13th September
11am – Cooking Demonstration with The Life Larder (Wellbeing Garden)
Join Nutritional Therapist & Chef Sam Ratanji from The Life Larder to explore the connection between healthy soil and a healthy gut. Discover how you can support your wellbeing from the ground up, before a live demo of a seasonal pickle from the garden that will show you how to bring microbiome-friendly foods into daily life.
11am – Mushroom Cultivation Demonstration with MyCo Manchester (New Shoots Garden)
Join Myco Manchester for a practical introduction to mushroom cultivation, exploring a range of techniques for growing edible fungi at home. They'll cover low-cost and beginner-friendly techniques to more advanced cultivation methods, as well as the basics of what different species need to thrive.
11am – Growing a Garden Drop-in Advice with Lisa Hudson (Propogation)
Have a rare peek into our propagation area for some expert advice with our very own horticulturist Lisa Hudson.
12 noon – Cooking Demonstration with Open Kitchen Mcr (Wellbeing Garden)
Open Kitchen Mcr craft incredible food using ingredients from local, ethical, independent producers - alongside beautiful food stopped from going to waste, with all profits going towards broadening access to healthier & more sustainable food for communities across Greater Manchester.
1.30pm – Foraging Tour Taster with Discover the Wild (Start from Marquee, then Woodland)
This immersive and educational foraging walk will deepen your connection with nature while introducing you to the fascinating world of wild food and plants.
1pm – Cooking Demonstration with Holl’s Pickles (Wellbeing Garden)
Discover the principles of fermentation with Holly Pickles and learn simple techniques for making the most of seasonal produce. This practical workshop will demonstrate how surplus vegetables can be transformed into flavourful homemade preserves.
1pm – Seed Planting with RHS Volunteers (New Shoots Garden)
Join our experienced volunteers and help sow seeds for the season ahead in this child-friendly session.
2.30pm – Foraging Tour Taster with Discover the Wild (Start from Marquee, then Woodland)
This immersive and educational foraging walk will deepen your connection with nature while introducing you to the fascinating world of wild food and plants.
2pm – Cooking Demonstration Amber's Allotment (Wellbeing Garden)
In this family-friendly cooking demonstration, Gintare will share a simple, delicious recipe using seasonal vegetables, showing how growing, preparing and enjoying home-grown food can become a fun and rewarding activity for all ages.
3pm – Cooking Demonstration with Charly (Wellbeing Garden)
Join RHS Horticulturist Charly to create a delicious one (plant) pot dish featuring plants and herbs that can be grown together in a single container.
