Aaron McKay + Thom Eagle

20 September 2026
11:30am – 4pm
Sunken Garden, Margate CT9 5EJ

A pop-up growing and pickling workshop with live demos and opportunities to get involved hands-on, co-led by OSE Community Chef Thom Eagle and Gardener Aaron McKay with older members of Despacito Art School. Supported by OSE Co-Directors Polly and Fiona.

Pickles were made with produce grown in the OSE planters at Ethel-Athel Alleway Garden (tomatoes, rhubarb, strawberries, chillis) and tasters were offered throughout the pop-up. Through conversations with visitors, Despacito Art School shared insights into their work as part of OSE’s wider project Home is where the garden is, including their micro-growing project at Ethel Athel Alleyway Garden and related regular school holiday sessions as part of Despacito Art School.

With Aaron, Despacito showed members of the public how to plant mint, spider plant and African daisy cuttings, with the aim of spreading their micro-growing approach throughout the wider community in Margate. Here, Aaron also answered gardening questions related to local soil, pests and micro-climates.

At the Eco Fair we also shared our OSE community cookbook Growing Wild (in ENG, SVK, CZH) to share hyper-local foraging, growing and cooking tips developed with Despacito, their families and local neighbours. 

This pop-up was kindly hosted by Sunken Garden as part of their annual Eco Fair.

Aaron McKay is a gardener and Forest School teacher based in Ramsgate, Kent, with a specialism in child-led and outdoor learning. Aaron oversees OSE’s allotment planters at Ethel-Athel Alleway Garden. He has previously worked with grassroots, neurodivergent play charity See Me Play at The Garden Gate Project, and with Open School East’s Despacito Art School as part of the programme cycle Home is where the garden is.

Thom Eagle is an award-winning author and cook. His first book First, Catch: Study of a Spring Meal was awarded Best Debut Food Book by Fortnum & Mason in 2019, nominated for an Andre Simon, and named one of the best food books of the year by The Times and The BBC Food Programme. He is currently based in Kent where he writes, grows vegetables, and teaches classes on pickling, fermenting, curing and foraging. 

The Sunken Garden is a community coastal green space in Westbrook, Margate. Volunteers meet monthly to look after the Sunken Garden and host the autumn Sunken Garden Eco Fair.

This Civic Programme event is part of OSE’s two-year thematic cycle Home is where the garden is – find more events: openschooleast.org/home-is-civic