❄️🥳 Winter Festival
Saturday 6th December 2025, 12 noon – 4pm
Join us for our warming, light filled Winter Festival this December 6th from Midday to 4pm. Canalside Community Food welcomes the wider community to the farm all year to enjoy the bounty of every season and this is our free Winter event. Scroll down for more info.
Make jam jar lanterns with the family so we can light up the farm up as dusk falls and add sparkle to the colourful performance of Plum Jerkum our fantastic local Border Morris Side!
We will have delicious hot food for sale: baked potatoes, samosas and cakes of course! Our bar will be serving mulled cider and apple juice (made with apples from the Canalside orchard) to keep everyone warm as we gather by the bonfire.
Hop onto our shuttle bus for a free ride to and from the Festival, running from Leamington Spa Train Station and stopping at Southam Rd-Church Lane, Radford Semele Community Hall and Bloxham Way. Leaving Leamington station 11.30am, Midday, 12.30pm.
Pull on your warmest Winter boots and jumpers and join us for this, foot tapping, bright and colourful, family Festival on the farm!
❄️🧑🏻🌾 Big Winter Work Day
Saturday 22nd November, 10am-4pm
It’s our BIG WINTER WORK DAY on Saturday 22nd November, our all day members’ event for all ages.
10am start– Drinks and snacks available all day – hearty lunch provided at 1pm – We expect to work until 4/5pm but please work with us as suits you into the afternoon.
Lena and Nikki will be leading us with a variety of interesting tasks on the land: removing bean-canes, cutting back willow hedges, moving squash and hefting covers! (Pictures from previous Novembers.)
You can work at your own pace and switch to different jobs as you wish. All help is welcome.
Our Social Team Volunteers will be cooking a delicious soup with our organic vegetables for lunch. In addition, our talented bakers, Carmen and Xandra have plans that include home baked bread and hot puddings! That should keep us all going across the day if we don’t start napping by the fire!
In the afternoon we can begin to get the wood piles ready for Winter socials and festivities. The WINTER FESTIVAL is on the 6th December and we have a generous bonfire to prepare.
We need to process, gather and move wood before we decide for sure where to site the fire, which will be a fun project for everyone to work on together.
If you aren’t yet a Canalside member and you like the sound of this, you can become a social member and come to this and any of our member events – click here to join (£36 standard rate/£18 concessions until 31st March next year then on 1st April annually).
Workshop Sundays: 🍞 ‘Sourdough Baking’
A 2 hour workshop with Erica Moody on Sunday 9th November
Offering two sessions: Morning 10am – 12 and Afternoon 1pm – 3pm
Learn a new recipe and processes, with sourdough rolls to bake and taste, whilst also supporting Canalside. This workshop will be a mixture of hands on mixing dough, watching some of the processes and talking about your starter and how to look after it.
Take home dough, to rise and bake at home, your own starter and a recipe!
Limited spaces, booking required.
£20 per person – 6 places am. 6 places pm.
Book and pay to attend through this link or scan the QR code in the flier below.
🦋 Autumn Moth Breakfast
Saturday 25th October, 8.30am – 10.30am
With Catherine, Holly and Pam.
Join us for breakfast as we open up the specialist moth traps to admire and learn about our astonishing UK moth species. A free event with breakfast and moths provided!
Workshop Sundays: 🍯🫙🍎 ‘Viking Mead and Fire Cider Vinegar’
A day workshop by Nic Bingley and Craig Barnes
Sunday October 19th 11am -4pm
Prepare for winter by crafting some Viking Foraged Mead and Fire Cider Vinegar to support the body and soul through the dark winter months, whilst also supporting Canalside.
🍛 Warming lunch included.
🫙 Take home your own jar of mead to ferment with a brew stick along with your jar of fire cider vinegar to infuse, ready for winter!
🥾 We will be foraging ingredients from Canalside’s hedgerows so come prepared for the day’s weather.
Limited spaces, booking required.
£50 per person – 12 places only. See flier below.
Book and pay to attend through this link or scan the QR code in the flier below.
🍂🍏🍎 Autumn Celebration Apple Day, Sat 11th Oct
🍏 The fruit trees are heavy with an incredible harvest and it’s almost time to meet together for all kinds of apple processing fun! Our Autumn Celebration Apple Day is October 11th this year from 12 – 6pm.
🍎 Autumn Celebration is a fantastic, free community-run event and is open to the public this year. Bring along friends and neighbours as the hands-on apple pressing, juicing and bobbing is so much fun for all ages; particularly the apple juice tasting!
🍻 As well as free, fresh apple juice (bring your own bottle if you’d like to take some home), we will have our colourful bar open with a delicious selection of quality wine, pale ale (Drop Bear Beer), IPA, larger (Purity) and soft drinks (Belvoir). There will be farm cider too of course!
🍰 The brilliant Chacma are going to be frying up vada (lentil fritters, VG and GF), there will be home-made cakes for sale and we are thinking it’s an opportunity to bring back good old fashioned toffee apples!! (take care with those fillings everyone!)
🎁 Young apprentice apple-pressers and bobbers will be rewarded with lucky dip prizes and certificates.
🚐 CCF hope to improve access to the farm for local people so we are offering Free Shuttle Bus trips in and out of Radford Semele village. Do spread the news on this, so folks know they have the opportunity to leave their car at home.
🚏 The Shuttle Bus will run from Radford Semele Community Hall, Leam View, Southam Rd-Church Lane and Bloxham Way at 11.30am/12 noon /12.30pm returning to all stops at 5pm/5.30pm/6pm.
🔥🍏 See you all in October by the fireside to enjoy time together and our amazing apples!
Canalside Team
🍂🥳 Autumn Celebration in brief
Timings:
Saturday 11th October, noon until 6pm
What’s on:
Apple pressing and juicing
Apple bobbing
Bar
Chacma veda (lentil fritters)
Cake stall
Toffee apples
Hot drinks
Fire
What to bring (if you wish):
Cash/card for drink/food purchases
How to get here:
Free shuttle bus from Radford Semele
Cycle and park your bike on the track by the social area
Drive and park in the car park/on the track through Tallis Wood
Open Farm Sunday, 8th June 2025
☀️ Come and join in with a tour of the farm 🚜
or one of the free activities
On Sunday 8th June, we will hold our open day as part of the national event ‘Open Farm Sunday’, when the farm will be open from 10.30am until 3pm. It’s an ideal opportunity to be taken round our fields and find out what’s growing on the farm at the moment. It’s also a chance to join a foraging walk with members Craig Barnes (forager) and Nic Bingley (herbalist in training), or a fermenting workshop with member Erica Moody.
Sunday 8th June, 10.30am – 3pm
Farm tour, free activities, bring-a-picnic, refreshments
🚜 Tour of the farm starts at 12 noon – look round the fields and polytunnels
🌿 Join a foraging walk at 11am or 1pm
🔪🫙 Fermenting workshop at 2pm
🪴🫖 Plants and refreshments to buy (including pizzas from The Willows pizza oven from 1pm)
🥕🍐 Find out how our community supported agriculture scheme works and what vegetables and fruits we grow
🧺 Bring a picnic to enjoy in the social area
🛝 Children’s activities and play area
🌿🫙🔪 Herbal Harvest, Forage and Ferment!
With Canalside members Nic Bigley, Craig Barnes and Erica Moody
Forage and Herbal Harvest 11am and 1pm
Fermentation workshop 2pm
Join us to forage delicious weeds from around the farm and to make herbal vinegars and vinaigrettes to taste, like elderflower vinegar.
Those attending Erica’s fermentation workshop will learn about fermentation, get hands on prepping veg and have the opportunity to taste and take home a fermented treat made from delicious Canalside organic veg and our herbal harvest!
⬇️ Craig and Nic will lead a forage and herbal harvest, Erica will run a fermenting workshop
⌚ What the day will look like:
10.30am – open day starts
🌿 11am and 1pm – foraging walk
🚜 12 noon – farm tour for about an hour
🍕 1pm onwards – pizzas from The Willows’ pizza oven
🫙 2pm – fermenting workshop
Anytime: 🧺 bring-a-picnic to enjoy
🛝 children’s play area
🪴 plants and 🫖 refreshments to buy
🐶 Dogs at events:
We are happy to welcome people with their well-behaved dog(s) on a lead when they come into the social area for Canalside events. Thanks so much – this means everyone can feel relaxed and enjoy the event/space.
We hope to see you there. With bright summer wishes, Ali
🌸 Spring Celebration, Sat 3rd May 🥳
Our Spring Celebration is this Saturday May 3rd, midday until late. The Maypole ribbons are ready for the dance! It’s time for Canalsiders to have some Spring fun and to welcome new faces into the farm. The plan is:
🌸 ‘Decorate your Spring Bonnet and Bunting’ Family Activity
🌼 Spring Face painting offered by Aggy’s Girls Group “Girls Go Wild”
🌸 ‘Maypole Celebration’ Radford Semele School children dance at 2pm
🌼 Look for what grows and lives at Canalside with Pam Reason leading “BioBlitz” at 3pm.
“A BioBlitz is a natural history event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area in a short period of time. Record all of the plants, birds, animals and insects that we see. We will create a snapshot of the biodiversity on the farm, as well as learning more about the natural world on our doorstep!”
🌸 It’s ‘Bring a Picnic’ 🧺🥪🧁🍏
🌼 Cake stall 🧁 plus 🫖tea, ☕coffee and 🥤🍏🍎orchard apple juice
🌸 Welcoming ‘Chacma’ delicious Chilli Bhajis from 3pm
🌼 Canalside Bar serving Belvoir Farm lemonade, Purity Brewing Co. I.P.A. and Pure Helles Lager, Drop Bear Beer Co. Yuzu Pale Ale 0.5%, wines and a Spring Perry Elder Fizz!
🌸 It’s Happy Hour from 4pm!
🌼 Wear your Spring Bonnet and see you there!
Looking forward to seeing you there with a Spring in your step!
🌸🥳 Canalside team 🍾🍰
🌸🥳 Spring Celebration in brief
Timings:
Saturday 3rd May, noon until late
What’s on:
Decorate your Spring Bonnet and Bunting
Face painting
Bioblitz
Maypole dancing at 2pm
Bar
Chacma bhajis from 3pm
Cake stall
Hot drinks
What to bring (if you wish):
A picnic
Spring bonnet to decorate
Cash/card for drink/food purchases
Open Farm Sunday, 9th June 2024
On Sunday 9th June, we will hold our open day as part of the national event ‘Open Farm Sunday’, when the farm will be open from 9.45am until 3pm. It’s an ideal opportunity to be taken round our fields and find out what’s growing on the farm at the moment. It’s also a great opportunity for a rare volunteering session open to the public, led by the growers.
Sunday 9th June, 9.45am – 3pm
Volunteer morning, bring-a-picnic, children’s activities, tour
In the morning, join in with the volunteer morning to help the growers progress a seasonal task at this busy time of year when all the crops for the coming year need to be planted out.
Come and have a tour round the fields, polytunnels and orchard and bring a picnic to enjoy in the social area.
There will be hot and cold drinks available and children’s activities to enable their discovery of the farm. The Willows Project will also have a cash stall selling herbs their participants have potted and grown and skin products they have made. They are also going to be firing up their pizza oven (pizzas available while ingredients last and cash donations appreciated).
What the day will look like:
9.45am – open day starts
10am-1pm – volunteer morning led by the growers, with tea break around 11.15
1pm onwards – bring your own picnic lunch, time to socialise
1.30pm – farm tour for about an hour, starting at the pole barn/social area
We hope to see you there.
With bright summer wishes, Ali
Educational visits at Canalside
