Right to Grow: Walking Tour of Community Food Gardens in Stepney-Shadwell (Part of London Open Gardens - Behind the Scenes tours)
- Date: June 07, 2026 - 11am till 1pm
- Location: Stepney City Farm, Stepney Way, London, E1 3DG
- Organiser: Right to Grow Tower Hamlets
- Tickets: email [email protected] for tickets (contact name: Carmen Ho (will share instructions to sign up via the London Open Gardens platform))
Join the Right to Grow Tower Hamlets campaign as we celebrate the borough’s vibrant network of community food projects.
We will explore five community food gardens in Stepney and Shadwell. Covering 2-3 miles on foot, we’ll celebrate the rich harvests, diverse cultures, and shared stories that make Tower Hamlets unique. Gardens will include Stepney City Farm, St Paul’s Shadwell, Pearl and Mizanur’s Memorial Garden and Swedenborg Orchard.
The tour will highlight not only what is grown, but who grows it — and how you can get involved through volunteering, workshops, and online support. Projects include:
- Gardens in housing estates
- Gardens by GP surgeries and railroads
- Community orchards
- Guerrilla gardening initiatives
- Faith-based growing projects
We’ll explore how gardens foster wellbeing, build urban food resilience, and reconnect people with nature. Along the way, we’ll share practical tips on finding urban growing spaces, spotting fruit trees, and starting community projects through grassroots action.
More than plants — it’s about people. The Right to Grow is about nourishing bodies and relationships, and strengthening connections between gardeners, neighbours, and communities through food, culture, and heritage.
About your guide, Carmen Ho:
Carmen is a multidisciplinary storyteller, game maker, ethnographic researcher, and therapeutic horticulturist. Since 2010, she has been creating interactive experiences that spark social and cognitive change—through festivals, workshops and social experiments, and work with nonprofits and community gardens.
She is now setting up a CIC to train food growers to adapt Asian crops to the UK climate; organising for the Right to Grow movement; hosting ‘Seed-Dating’ gatherings around ethnobotany and food justice; developing NHS courses in Gardening for Wellbeing; and serving as a WWOOF UK trustee – a charity providing opportunities on organic farms across the UK – with a focus on strategic partnerships and research development.
The What3Words location for the meeting point is: activism.move.sage
Event summary
- Date: June 07, 2026 - 11am till 1pm
- Location: Stepney City Farm, Stepney Way, London, E1 3DG
- Organiser: Right to Grow Tower Hamlets
- Contact name: Carmen Ho
- Contact email: [email protected]
- Ticket price: £5.00 GBP
- Ticket purchase contact: Carmen Ho (will share instructions to sign up via the London Open Gardens platform)
- Tickets purchase email: [email protected]