Garden Gathering
Sunday 23 August 2026
Culpeper Community Garden, London (map)
We spent a Sunday August afternoon relaxing, eating, playing games, painting and chatting amongst the lush greenery of Culpeper Community Garden - a nourishing, heartwarming afternoon to celebrate the closing of summer.
Upon entering the abundant green sanctuary that is Culpeper Garden, you can feel yourself take a long exhale, drop your shoulders, and feel immediately welcomed. And that’s exactly what we try to facilitate at each Mike’s Table event, so this collaboration was ideal!
The sun was radiant, and we got to work setting up gazebos, picnic blankets, a banquet table, games, and a watercolour painting station. We were delighted to receive another organic, seasonal bounty from The Castle Garden - heritage tomatoes, figs, kale, cucumber, and basil. Along with this, we received artisanal ham from the West Hampstead branch of The Hampstead Butcher & Providore London. Our kitchen team Simon and Eve rustled up delicious wraps and fresh salads fit for the warm August day, spread across a table adorned with origami flowers wonderfully made by guest Pauline. Soon the garden was energised with a flow of guests, gathering in conversation, playing games, and painting the beautiful flora of the garden. We had a bar serving refreshing pineapple and grapefruit sodas kindly donated by Ardent Pubs and a spread of delicious cakes made by the team! The afternoon felt timeless in the most wonderful, easeful way.
Lastly, our beloved raffle was announced: a bottle of sparkling wine, a bag of nice toiletries, a notebook and drawing pencils, and plants grown from cuttings from Culpeper - a wonderful memento from the day. Thank you to everyone that came long, sat, ate, played games, made food, painted, wandered the garden, served drinks, helped set up and pack down, and donated something - every mode of participation is appreciated and makes Mike’s Table possible. Thank you in particular to Mandy at Culpeper garden for collaborating with us and being an all-round legend - thank you for supporting us!
The Menu
Drinks:
Pineapple soda
Grapefruit soda
Soda water and lime
Picnic:
Tortilla wraps with: cheese and chutney (V) ; tuna mayo; roast veg and hummus (Vg)
Roast ham with sweetcorn salsa
Leek tarts (Vg)
Potato salad
Couscous salad with sweet red peppers and fresh basil
Cucumber, tomato and feta salad with figs
Cakes:
Red velvet cake
Stem ginger cake (Vg)
Lemon drizzle cake (Vg)
Scones with cream and jam
Chocolate brownies
The Team
Kitchen: Simon and Eve
Front of House: Mala, Reece, Lucy, Milo, Louise, and Georgie
Photographer: Lucy, who is a freelance photographer. You can see more of her work and follow her here.
Our Partners
As always, the event couldn’t have happened without the generous donations of our fantastic partners:
Organic fruit and veg generously donated by The Castle Garden.
Ham donated by the West Hampstead branch of The Hampstead Butcher & Providore London.
Cakes lovingly made by Daniel, Louise, Eve and Trisha.
Plants generously donated by Culpeper Garden.
We are so grateful to you all.
And, as ever, we couldn’t do it without our wonderful charity partners:
Change Grow Live Carers Network Compassionate Neighbours HostNation Nova New Opportunities Prisoners Abroad Room to Heal St Joseph’s Hospice Spitalfields Crypt Trust
Kind words from our guests
“It was an absolutely beautiful day, the weather was brilliant too. There's a really great and friendly atmosphere there too. Thank you so much for all the hard work you all put in, in making the day so special. It was so wonderful to be a part of it all.” - Guest
“What you do is priceless.” - Guest
“Lovely, friendly people, tasty food and a beautiful secret garden.” - Guest
