Celebrating the art of the outdoors, The Dock Garden Festival is a 3-week series of events as part of Chelsea Fringe, bringing cooks, farmers, lumberjacks and carpenters to Portobello Dock hosted by the Tom Dixon Shop and Dock Kitchen. 

Held beside the Grand Union Canal, pop-up shops selling exclusive handmade goods, a floating forest installation on the water, a terrace market garden, bee-keeping and a ‘Meet the Maker’ day on Saturday 26th May.  Dock Kitchen offer a speciality Wild Spring menu, the Anglo-Irish bakery, Tart, serve up fresh seasonal lunches and Kitchenette cocktail bar add spring-themed cocktails to their Friday and Saturday drinks menu.

Beesnees by All Good Stüff is a small 'village' installation of 6-9 solitary bee homes on a post installed on 6 sites around London as part of the festival.  We will look to attract solitary bees throughout the duration of the show helping to promote the conversation about bees.

Dock Kitchen put together a menu of fabulous wild things. Sea succulents, elder and borage flowers, wild garlic, nettles and more find their way into dishes from Lebanon to Scotland recommended by their trusted network of foragers and farmers.

Fine Cell Work, the charity which teaches prisoners how to stitch, return to The Dock, launching their new Jubilee Collection of cushions alongside selected pieces featuring typical British vegetables. Volunteers are on hand to talk through initiatives and designs.

Jonathan Garratt makes wood fired pots using local clay from the edge of Cranborne Chase in Dorset. An incorrigible gardener, he plays with new designs for garden pots in terracotta and distinctive slipware forms for the table.

Kitchen Confidential led by Tom Moggach, author of The Urban Kitchen Gardener, with culinary inspiration from chef Stevie Parle. Tom will show how to grow and cook with fantastic, unusual, yet easy-to-grow ingredients such as Japanese shiso, Thai basil, mustards, mouse melons and off-beat salads. We will share tastings and recipes, including expert tips from Stevie.

Living Medicine aims to reskill us all in using food and herbs for our everyday healthcare and herbs and spices for medicinal purposes. They hold a demonstration in Kitchenette 2nd June at 4pm.

London Honey Company run by ‘The Urban Bee Keeper’ Steven Benbow, brings local honeys to The Dock showcasing and selling a variety of honeys and holding a tasting at our Meet The Makers Day. The London Honey Company produces honey for Harrods, Harvey Nichols and The Savoy, tending to beehives at the Tate and National Portrait Gallery. As well as producing honey, Steven also provides training in beekeeping and manages beehives in central London and across the UK.

Nic Webb, a London based artist-maker, makes one-off hand crafted spoons from foraged green timbers, using traditional spoon-whittling tools and techniques.  Each spoon is completely individual and given form from the intrinsic grains and textures of the found timber.

Floating Forest by NIPPaysage is a series of 1,000 floating slices of tree trunks, creating a semi-submerged forest across the still waters of the Grand Union Canal. This landscape architecture installation is sponsored by the Montreal Tourist Board, and references the storied history of the Québec forest and the century-old trade links between Québec and the United Kingdom.

Ponkk introduces outdoor fireplaces beautifully handmade by the German designer Marcus Exner.  Each fireplace is made from reclaimed steel, iron & wood and other salvaged materials.

Patterson’s Spade Mill present an installation of beautifully crafted spades from the last working water-driven spade mill in the Ireland.  A limited edition of 50 spades will be exclusively available to order through Tom Dixon Shop.

Sort of Coal handcrafted in Japan & Korea using ancient skills, white charcoal is used to maximize purification of water.  Sort of Coal will be teaming up with Tart to produce black snacks made with edible Kuro powder.

Tart, the Anglo-Irish Bakery, deliver a daily counter-full of fresh salads, sweet and savoury tarts, soda breads, scones. Lunches to be enjoyed in-house or taken away Monday – Saturday.

Thomas Smith’s Trugs inspired by an ancient 'trog' dating back to Anglo Saxons - Thomas Smith created the first Sussex Trug in the 1820s.  Thomas Smith’s Trugs are still handmade in Sussex today using traditional techniques which will be demonstrated at the Dock Garden Festival.

Urban Allotments believes that everyone and anyone can grow their own in whatever space they have available without compromising their indoor or outdoor living space.  Bringing a up a pop-up market each Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the festival, Rachael from Urban Allotments can advise on edible plants to suit any plot, from window sill to terrace garden.

The Dock Garden Festival
19 May – 10 June

Portobello Dock
Wharf Building, 344 Ladbroke Grove
London
W10 5BU