We have a number of indoor and outdoor spaces available to hire at our growing site in Chingford suitable for a range of activities and group sizes. Our indoor spaces are the Glasshouse, Classroom, Woodland Classroom and Kitchen. We also have a number of outdoor spaces including the Magical Realm and the Oak Grove.
If you’re interested in hiring a space, please complete our venue hire enquiry form.
All our indoor spaces have wifi available as well as chairs and tables. We are able to provide refreshments for an additional cost, and can also provide catering for meals (subject to availability). Alternatively, you are welcome to bring your own refreshments if you would prefer. Refreshments must be vegetarian or vegan to comply with our kitchen requirements.
In addition to the spaces below, we are also able to provide add-ons such as site tours and team-building activities. Please let us know when completing the enquiry form if you would be interested in finding out more about these.
We will only accept bookings for public events with accessible ticket price options and where the aims of the organisation and event strongly align with Organiclea’s vision and aims. If you are planning a public event you will be asked to provide information in the venue hire enquiry form.
NEW for 2025! We are now taking very limited bookings for small, day time civil partnerships, wedding receptions and similar celebratory events. These events would need to be limited to a maximum of 100 attendees with a finish time of no later than 8pm.
Glasshouse
The glasshouse is one of our growing spaces and where we hold events and activities for larger numbers of people.
The event space is 15m x 5m with roughly the following capacities:
Standing reception – maximum 100 people
Classroom style seating – maximum 40 people
Theatre style seating – maximum 85 people
This space is not insulated or heated and is not separated from daily tasks during the week when we are working on site so it is only available to hire for evening and weekend events. All requests for use of this space need to be considered on a case by case basis to ensure health and safety is fully assessed.
The space is wheelchair accessible. Toilets and hot drink-making facilities are in the same building.
In the room: we can provide whiteboard, flipchart & paper, pens.
Classroom
The classroom is in our main building and is often used for teaching our courses in horticulture and food growing.
It is 7.5m x 5.5m with roughly the following capacities:
Standing reception – maximum 60 people
Classroom style seating – maximum 25 people
Theatre style seating – maximum 35 people
The room is wheelchair accessible. Toilets and hot drink-making facilities are in the same building.
In the room: we can provide projector, whiteboard, flipchart & paper, pens.
Woodland Classroom
The woodland classroom is nestled in a wooded area on site and is used for a wide range of activities. It is a reciprocal-framed roundwood building, built in 2019 by Adrian Leaman of Wholewoods and a team of incredible individuals who came together for a series of Build Camps to complete the building.
It is 6m in diameter with roughly the following capacities:
Standing reception – maximum 45 people
Classroom style seating – maximum 20 people
Theatre style seating – maximum 30 people
There is step-free access to this space but the approaching path is uneven. There is a compost toilet and hot drink-making facilities are available in the classroom.
In the room: we can provide whiteboard, flipchart & paper, pens.
Kitchen
Our kitchen is used to prepare weekly lunches for site users but is sometimes available if you are interested in using it for catering or cooking classes. The kitchen has an induction hub, two small ovens, two microwaves and access to a variety of pans and utensils.
This space is unfortunately not currently wheelchair accessible.
Maximum capacity: 10 people
Outdoor spaces
We have a number of outdoor spaces that can be hired alongside or separately to the rooms listed above.
Our magical realm is set up for Forest School and we welcome enquiries from forest school practitioners who are interested in running ad hoc sessions as well as ad hoc hires for workshops and training sessions. The magical realm has a maximum capacity of c.30 people.
Our Oak Grove is situated next to the Woodland Classroom and is suitable for group gatherings and events. We also have a pizza oven situated opposite our main building.
Typical Hire Fees based on a midweek business day:
Charges for bespoke events for larger groups of people and multiple space use will be discussed on an individual basis.
- £200 day rate (£125 half-day) for Individual/Small Charity (income under £250k/year)
Discretionary discounted rates available for very low income or partner organisations
Additional out of hours fee: £25/hour
- £320 day rate (£200 half-day) for Small Business/Large Charity (income over £250k/year)
Additional out of hours fee: £40/hour
- £500 (£320 half-day) for Large Business/Corporate (income between £2m – £5m/year)
Additional out of hours fee: £65/hour
Charges for larger organisations and other days of the week to be agreed on a case-by-case basis.
Other rates available for use of solely outdoor space (no use of kitchen facilities, access to compost toilets only)
Hours: 9am-5pm (outside of this time incurs out of hours charges)
Summer Open Days at Organiclea’s growing site – always the last Sunday of the month, 12-4pm with a free skill-share, sagra, work opportunity and drop-in learning.
General Format for our open days:
· There is always a group gardening activity to participate in – and learn more about how we grow food at our site, 12-4pm
· Throughout the day, every month we try to celebrate a specific preparation of a different seasonal vegetable – our very own ‘sagra’ calendar. ‘Sagra’ can be a celebration of a certain dish or product, of a vegetable or fruit, a wine, a type of preparation. In this way abundance of a certain crop at our growing site is celebrated and shared!
· A site tour takes place at a designated time in the afternoon.
· Timetabled skill-share from 2-3pm.
The day runs from 12-4pm - drop by at anytime or stay for the day - we
break from lunch between 1.30-2pm .. bring a packed lunch and join us.
Themes for the coming months:
Sunday 31 July: *Seasonal gardening tasks and learn about cucumber preserving*
This month’s ‘sagra’ is the humble cucumber – come relish in some pickling.
Find out more about the Permculture Design Course running from the site in Sept-Oct.
Sunday 28 August: *Share in the season’s gardening tasks and turn tomato gluts into passata*
This month’s ‘sagra’ will equip you with a preservation technique so you enjoy the taste of home grown tomatoes right through winter.
Sunday 25 September: Celebrate food produced across this community by joining us for a good food swap – bring your surplus produce and pickles and all else. Contact plants@organiclea.org.uk for more information about this celebration and the day’s activity.
All welcome - and it's also a good time to catch us for general gardening
chat... Directions to the site are at www.organiclea.org.uk, see 'finding
us' or you can call 020 8524 4994
For more information about general volunteering at the site during the week contact sophie@organiclea.org.uk / 020 8524 4994.
