THE PIG’s Pickling Workshop with Mr Pickle in the South Downs
THE PIG-in the South Downs | Monday 7 July 2025Join us at THE PIG-in the South Downs for a hands-on masterclass on how to preserve and pickle your homegrown garden goodies with our very own Group Training Chef, Kamil…. or, as we know him, Mr Pickle!
£105 per person
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At THE PIGs, working with the seasons and growing our own is part of our DNA. The warmer months bring heaps of hearty, fresh fruit and veg in our garden beds and polytunnels so our chefs can use what they need for our daily menus – and they preserve what’s left over, so everything is used up and absolutely nothing goes to waste. It’s been a core part of our kitchen ethos since day one!
So, this summer, we’re throwing open the doors to invite you to come and learn how to pickle and preserve, THE PIG way, from our Group Training Chef, Kamil Oseka (aka Mr Pickle!). Kamil introduced pickling to THE PIG way of life back when we opened our very first house in the New Forest in 2011 – he’s the reason why you’ll always spot pickling walls full of Kitchen Garden produce in every one of our PIGs.
Join us at THE PIG-in the South Downs where you’ll get to pick your own veg fresh from our veg beds through a private Kitchen Garden tour, and bring them into our Garden Room, tucked behind the restaurant. You’ll get involved with prepping your chosen veggies, and Mr Pickle will pickle them using THE PIG’s pickling liquor – you’ll learn how to make it, so you can create even more of your own at home.
We’ll then move to The Cellar, the beating heart of where our very best bottles are kept in the restaurant. You can sip on a non-alcoholic Pentire cocktail – our go-to non-alcoholic spirit partner you’ll always find behind our bars at THE PIGs – and hear stories from how Mr Pickle came to be… well, Mr Pickle. Then, after working up an appetite, you’ll head back to the Garden room to tuck into a two-course PIG lunch packed with hearty Kitchen Garden veg harvested the same morning, and rounded off with a plate of moreish Piggy Fours. You’ll head home with a Kilner jar of your handpicked and pickled veg – and Mr Pickle’s secrets!
Where & When?
Monday 7th July 2025 at THE PIG-in the South Downs
We also have an alternative date available at THE PIG-near Bath on Wednesday 2nd July 2025, find out more here.
What time?
Arrive at 10.30am – depart at 3:30pm (after lunch)
Settle in and meet your fellow picklers with a hot drink and freshly baked pastries at 10.30am on the outdoor garden terrace, overlooking our very own vineyard, at THE PIG-in the South Downs. Your Kitchen Garden tour will begin at 11am.
How much & what’s included?
£105 per person, which includes teas, coffees and pastries on arrival, a three-course PIG lunch with a glass of PIG Cut wine, a non-alcoholic Kitchen Garden cocktail, and a 1L Kilner jar of your handpicked pickled veg to take home with you.
Why not really make the most of it and book a room to stay a while longer and sleepover at ours – so you can relax, enjoy the day and leave the rest to us!
Meet Mr Pickle...
“I love pickling produce,” says Kamil. “Growing up in Poland, that was our culture – sometimes in winter it can be -20°C… so nothing grows! Summer foraging was a way to get free food, and pickling was the way to preserve it for winter.”
Kamil is our longest serving chef, having joined THE PIGs when we first opened our doors in 2011 – and he famously has his own dedicated pickle room behind the kitchen at THE PIG-in the South Downs, and a pickling wall in the restaurant at THE PIG-at Bridge Place; their shelves heaving with a rainbow spectrum of hefty glass jars of his creations. “My nickname here is Mr Pickle – I even have a chef’s jacket with ‘Mr Pickle’ on it!” he says.
“Pickling is a great way to use veg from the garden, especially the wonky ones. It’s what always makes our PIG menus interesting in the winter, because we preserve what was in season in summer – we make jams, marmalades, syrups, compotes and we even use the pickling liquid for our cocktails at the bar. Anyone can pickle; I’m excited to show you how.”
