Based over ten acres on a beautiful Oxfordshire farm, Worton Kitchen Garden is an idyllic market garden that you need to put on your to-do list for 2025.
Producing reams of glorious garden grown produce, Worton Kitchen Garden is a productive and sustainable establishment that encompasses magnificent grounds, a flourishing farmshop and a picturesque restaurant. To find out more about the magic that goes into the behind the scenes at Worton, we recently caught up with Head Chef and Owner, Simon Spence. In this exclusive interview, Simon reveals the importance of garden-to-table produce, their most popular dishes and the exciting upcoming events that will be taking place at Worton this spring and summer.
Dive into the wonders of Worton Kitchen Garden!
A glorious Oxfordshire kitchen garden, what is the history behind Worton Kitchen Garden and when did it first open?
We opened as a kitchen garden over 15 years ago and have been running as an agroecological, regenerative farm and circular, sustainable restaurant for the last 3 years.
Growing and harvesting a vast selection of fruits, vegetables and blooms, which crops seem to be the most popular with your clientele?
Whatever we are picking or harvesting at that point in time! At present, our daily picked fresh salad including Miner’s Leaf, Rocket and Green in the Snow Mustard is very popular.
Here at The Oxfordshire Gardener, we adore crafting and planting beautiful kitchen garden spaces. Why do you think kitchen gardens are so important?
Our customers get to see the seasons unfold on the farm and, in many cases, are acutely aware of what is in its prime. The kitchen garden allows them to know exactly what is in season and when.
At WKG, sustainability and encouraging sustainable living is a key feature of your business. Could you share a few techniques with us that you implement to be sustainable?
Key to our whole approach is the no dig farming/gardening we practise. This allows the soil to regenerate and incorporate large amounts of carbon, to hold moisture while being free draining and to enable the growth of complex webs of mycorrhizal fungi – all of this can be practised by anyone in their garden or allotment.
Are there other local particularly sustainable/ethical businesses that you admire/frequent?
When we buy produce off-farm, we always try to buy locally from ethical suppliers such as Longhorn Beef from Hampton Gay Farm and Cotswold Lion Sheep from Will Spray.
Offering a ‘hyper-local’ menu to your customers, why do you think garden-to-table produce is important? And how do you think local, home-grown ingredients improve our meals?
Working this way allows us to harvest just the right amount of produce when it’s perfect and in its prime – good for flavour and fantastic for nutrient density.
WKG often hosts a variety of interesting and inspiring events. What’s on at Worton this spring/summer and what dates should we save in the diary?
We have several Supper Clubs coming up on the last Friday of each month – next up is ‘Spring Chickens’ at the end of March followed by ‘Weeds from the Yard’ at the end of April. We are also looking forward to a fantastic tulip workshop to be hosted by Arthur Parkinson on 11th April.
Being based on a farm there are lots of animals at the WKG. What animals do you have down at the farm?
We keep pedigree Saddleback and Middlewhite pigs, duck, geese, chickens, turkey, guinea fowl and, of course, our bees!
Your weekly menus always look scrumptious! Are there any dishes in particular that prove particularly popular with your customers?
Too many to mention but our home butchered tuscan fennel sausages served with coco beans is a regular favourite as is our Sunday roast of 18 hour roast saddleback shoulder. On the vegetable side, our aubergine dishes are rarely off the menu in season – Melanzane Alla Parmigiane and Nasu Dengaku.
What is the most rewarding part of growing homegrown ingredients and why?
It is a great joy for the team to nurture the plants from seed to plate over the course of the season. At the moment, we have thousands of seedlings which will be planted out over the coming months.
The gardens at Worton are beautiful and a pleasure to walk around. Out of all the plants that you grow, which blooms are most popular?
So many beautiful plants each season but the most crowd-pleasing must be the sea of colour that is our cutting garden during the Dahlia season.
Besides WKG, what other gardens inspire you?
Rousham Gardens is beautiful through the year combing scale and grandeur with a more homely, cottage garden aesthetic.
With thanks to Simon for his time and for Worton Kitchen Garden for providing all images.
Head over to their Instagram page, @wortonkitchengarden, and their website to keep up to date with all of their latest events.
