Lewes: Saturday 4 February 10am-3pm at Lewes Town Hall. Free for children, 50p for adults. All day workshops include: making paper plant pots, willow weaving, bug trays, children’s craft and art workshop – and lots more. www.lewes.gov.uk/business/9729.asp

Lewes talks include:

• 10.30 – Brighton Permaculture Trust
• 11am – James Greyson, making a Biochar cooker for soil improver while brewing a cup of tea
• 11.45 – Millennium Seed Bank, Kew at Wakehurst Place – practical talk about seeds
• 12.30 – Peter May, Sussex Apples and Good Fruit Tree Health – bring photos of diseased branches to get accurate advice

Hove: Sunday 5 February 10am – 4.30pm at Hove Town Hall, Norton Road BN3 4AH. Free for children, £2 for adults. Come and enjoy more than 50 stalls, lots of talks, demonstrations and children’s activities as well as the community seed-swap.  Bring seeds to swap (in labelled envelopes, please) or make a 50p donation per packet. www.seedysunday.org 

Hove talks include:

• 11am – Crop varieties – why do gardens matter?  Bob Sherman, Chief Horticultural Officer, Garden Organic
• 11.40 – Seeds of Activism – campaigning for the seeds, agricultural biodiversity and food sovereignty of the world’s majority food providers.  Patrick Mulvany, Chair, UK Food Group
• 12.15 – How to dry seeds from your garden and keep them alive. Vanessa Sutcliffe, Training Specialist, Millennium Seed Bank

While not exactly gourmet gardening, making your own bread touches on many of the things we love about our outdoor spaces – smell, touch, hard work, wonderful results and something you can share with friends and family!

Last Saturday a group of Garden House friends visited the bakery at Brighton’s Real Pâtisserie for a bread-making workshop.  Click on Pictures (top navigation bar) and take a look at all the photos of the day! 

We donned our blue hairnets and aprons and under the patient and very informed guidance of head baker Tom enjoyed a unique baking experience, learning about the ingredients and the traditional skills that go into creating wonderful fresh breads for our own family kitchens.

Real Pâtisserie is an independent bakery specialising in traditional French bread and cakes, and renowned for their extensive range of artisan breads – making sourdoughs in the time-honoured way, hand moulding every loaf and creating a range of speciality breads picked from the traditionally popular loaves of France, Spain and Italy.

We made four different bread types - focaccia, traditional French cob, multi-cereal loaf and sour dough – with the opportunity to take some ‘starter’ sour dough home with us.

Hard work, but really satisfying – and in the freezing middle of January, actually rather more fun than gardening!