Whitsun Open Day at the Captain's Garden 10am to 2pm

 

The 300 year old walled Captain's Garden at Deal Castle will be open to the public on 

Whitsun Sunday 24th 2026 10am to 2pm.

The garden which was created in the 1720s for the high ranking Captains of Deal Castle.

The garden then evolved into a kitchen garden in the 19th century and then a market garden in the 20th century.

The Garden went into disuse in 1980 and for the last nine years a group of local volunteers have been working to bring the garden back into community use.

Entrance is free - there is some shed tea & cake, stalls from the Deal Hop Farm and local beekeepers and music from the garden's scratch band.

There is no parking at the site.

Our paths are rough woodchip or grass and there is step down at the gate (we have a ramp)

We can be found opposite Deal Castle on Victoria Rd, Deal CT14 7BA

Easter Monday Open Day at the Captain's Garden 6th April 10am to 2pm

 

The 300 year old walled Captain's Garden at Deal Castle will be open to the public on Easter Monday 6th April 2026 10am to 2pm.

The garden which was created in the 1720s for the high ranking Captains of Deal Castle.

The garden then evolved into a kitchen garden in the 19th century and then a market garden in the 20th century.

The Garden went into disuse in 1980 and for the last nine years a group of local volunteers have been working to bring the garden back into community use.

Entrance is free - there is some shed tea & cake, stalls from the Deal Hop Farm and local beekeepers and music for the garden scratch band.

There is no parking at the site and our paths are rough woodchip or grass

We can be found opposite Deal Castle on Victoria Rd, Deal CT14 7BA

Deal Festival @ The Captain's Garden

 

The Deal Festival is coming to the Captain's Garden on Sunday 13th July 10am to 2pm

Free Festival Day at the Captain’s Garden!

Discover the secrets of Deal’s community garden where a summery feast of art, poetry and music will take place in the middle of the day. One of Deal's hidden gems, this event has something for everyone to enjoy!

Date: Sunday, 13 July

Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Location: The Captain’s Garden (opposite Deal Castle)

FREE

Event Highlights:

10–11 AM – Art workshop for children aged 4-11, led by SEAS artists (an adult must accompany children) - no booking required

11 AM–1 PM – Live music from local favourites including the Scratch Band, Landmark Choir, and the DMA Saxophone Saturday group performing Blasio Kavuma’s new piece.

1–2 PM – Poetry open mic session hosted by Deal’s own Phil Welton, under the garden’s iconic tree.

Bring your deck chairs and picnic rugs and spend a magical day soaking up the summer vibes. Stay as long as you like - there’s no better way to unwind!

Beefest at the Captains Garden 25th August 2024

 

Open Days at the Captains Garden 2024

 

Captains Garden Open Day Easter Monday 1st April 2024

 

The next open day at the Captains Garden will be on Easter Monday 1st April 2024 10am to 2pm

The 300yr old garden which is being brought back into community use by volunteers is Opposite Deal Castle

There will be tea & cake, seed swap and some music and a great chance to catch up with our volunteers work over the winter

There is no parking at the site (but public paid parking at Deal Castle and Tides) and no toilets.

Our paths can be a bit rough in places

Find us on Facebook and Instragram @CAPTAINSGARDENDEAL

Beefest at the Captains Garden - Bank Holiday Monday 28th August 10-2pm

 

Open Day Captains Garden 8th May 2023

 

Open Day - Chance to see this 300yr old walled garden opposite Deal Castle which is being brought back into community use by volunteers.

Free to enter - donations to the garden always welcome

Some rough music, rougher cakes and tool-shed tea. Asell as info on the garden and the volunteers plans

NB: There is no parking on site - please use the Castle or Tides public car parks
NB: We have no toilets at the garden
NB: The garden is still a Work-In-Progress so paths can be rough in places with wild bits nettles, brambles and fox holes etc. There is a step down at the entrance. So please be careful.
Dogs welcome with well behaved owners on leads

Beefest at the Captains Garden Sunday 28th August

 

Captains Garden June 5th Open Day

Thank you to our 225 visitors at today's Open Day at the Captain's Garden at Deal Castle and to your generous donations some £381. 

Massive thanks to all our volunteers who made today happen ( Jenny, Penny, Sonja, Anna, Kris, Lucy, Eileen, Philippa, Eilnor, Jeremy & Steve) plus our wonderful musicians (Steve G, Pat, Steve H, Rose, Lynda, Anna-Stina)

Open Day at the Captain's Garden 5th June 2022

 

Captain's Garden Easter Open Day 2022

Thank you to our 377 visitors today to the Captain's Garden.
We hope you enjoyed your visit You donated at least £445 and that is much appreciated by us.

Big thanks to our volunteers who made the day so successful - Penny, Jenny, Lucy, Rafi, Anna, Elinor, Jeremy, Phillipa & Steve plus our colleagues from Tony & Grand-daughter from the beekeepers, Deal Hop Farm and Pick Deal Clean.

 
Special thanks to our musicians whose tunes went down very well

 
We are sorting out our Summer Open Day but probably in June

Photo Maddie4Music

Easter Monday Open Day at the Captain's Garden

 

Wassailing at the Captains Garden

Thank you to everyone (some 287 of you) who came Wassailing today at the Captains Garden - A lovely welcome to the start of our Orchard & a good wake up for our Hops! 

Big thanks to the Deal Hop Farm Scratch band (esp Steve Grayland & Rose Dowd for the research, music & organising) for running the music and celebration despite the windy conditions. 

Big thanks to Kerry from Time & Tide Brewing for the samples to toast with, our beekeepers Tony & granddaughter, Lyn from NGS, the volunteers from the DHF for running their stall (Marita, Jane, John & Charles) and our great captains garden volunteers (Penny, Jenny, Rafi, Elieen, Lucy & Steve) for everything els

Our next Open Day will be on Easter Monday 18th April

Wassail at the Captain's Garden - Sat 19th March 2022

 

Orchard Progress at the Captains Garden

 

Garden and Orchard in 1872

Just a quick Xmas update on our plans for the orchard at the Captain's Garden @ Deal Castle. 

We been very lucky to have been working with Brogdale, the home of the national fruit collection, to design the orchard and pick for us interesting varieties which will thrive at the garden. 

They have selected some 65 different varieties for us with lovely names like Chorister Boy, Laxton’s Fortune, Marjorie’s Seedling Plum and Neville Copeman just to name a few. 

The trees will be specially grafted & grown for us by Brogdale which great part of the story. 

We will be planting the first 35 trees in January, then in the spring we are building a Victorian stepover with 16 apples and pears and the remaining 69 trees will be delivered in December 2022 - in total there will be at least 120 trees. 

The design of the orchard follows the original garden layout from 1800s to 1872 and is part of the English Heritage's Conservation Statement for the Garden

We will be doing another post in January on our public planting day which people can get involved with. 

All this is possible because of our successful Crowdfunding Kent project in 2021 which raised £6500 from about 90 different individuals and local organisations including Deal Rotary Club, Inner Wheel Club of Deal and KCC.

Thank you again for your support in making this all happen in 2021 (+2022)

Have a great and safe Xmas

Captains Garden Community Garden Group

#CrowdfundingKent

Deal Hop Farm: Public Hop Pick at Captains Garden Weds 15th 3.30PM

 

The Deal Hop Farm has its 2nd harvest of the 2021 season on Wednesday 15th September - ( The first one last week produced a cracking 120kgs harvested from 70 sites in and around the town).

This harvest is especially important as it is the one which Time & Tide (our brewers) turn into a Green Hop Beer. This should be available in the towns pubs in about 2-3 weeks time

The site at the Captains Garden will be harvesting theirs on Weds from 3:30pm - please bring a chair and some gloves and if possible email us at info@dealhopfarm.org.uk so we can check numbers

The Captains Garden is opposite Deal Castle on Victoria Rd

The final Deal Hop Farm harvest will be on Monday 20th September

BEE Fest 29th August 2021

Thank you to everyone who came to the garden today ... some 306 of you ... and the generous donations which amounted to £290. All of which gets ploughed back into rhe garden (pun intentional)

Thanks to Dover Beekepers and our garden volunteer team of Penny, Lucy, Anna, Sonja, Jenny, Rose, Rafi & Steve for running the event and of course to our resident bees (bumble, solidary and honey)

We will be open for Deal Hop Farm harvest in Setptember and the Heritage Day Tour on 19th Sept

Bee Fest and Open Day at Captain's Garden 29th August 2021

 

We have Dover Beekeepers with us on our Open Day at the Captain's Garden on Sunday 29th August

You Can book a place here or turn up on the day

Community Orchard at the Captains Garden - #CrowdFundKent

Help us create an orchard for The Captain’s Garden!

We’ve launched an ambitious new project as part of our mission to bring the historic Captain’s Garden back to life – and we need your help.

The plan is to create a beautiful and diverse orchard that can be enjoyed by everyone in Deal and the surrounding area, by planting a range of 100 fruit, nut and flowering trees around the garden and lining the paths.

Apple, pear, cherry and nut trees will add to the biodiversity of the garden, as well as providing a beautiful oasis for people and wildlife alike. In particular, the blossom in springtime and the fruit in autumn will be enjoyed by everyone.

We want this to be a space that can be used by the whole community for practical activities and educational purposes, as well as for socialising and relaxing in the nature-filled surroundings. We aim to involve the local community in creation of the orchard, through volunteer tree planting days and activities to care for the trees as they grow.

We plan to start planting trees in Autumn 2021, with a series of orchard-related events held throughout the project.

How you can help

We have launched a crowd-funding campaign as part of #CrowdFundKent which is backed by KCC to raise the £6,215 needed to buy trees, compost, mulch and tools, and to train volunteers and community members to plant and nurture the new orchard.

You can contribute to the crowd-funder via Spacehive, using this link: https://www.spacehive.com/captainsgardenatdealcastle

The crowd funding runs to 1st September - its a all-or-nothing crowdfund. If we do not met our target your pledge will not be taken. If we raise more money it will go directly into planting and paths for the garden.

For more details see the Deal With It contact info@dealwithit.org.uk