The first phase of Northern Roots, the UK's largest urban farm and eco-park, has officially opened in Oldham. The £12.9m development covers around 160 acres to the south of Oldham town centre, next to Alexandra Park.
The site, which was previously landfill and industrial land, now includes Snipe Clough Farm, outdoor play areas, a forestry skills centre, walking trails, orchards, woodlands, wetlands, and a farm-to-fork cafe. The project is a partnership between Oldham Council and the Northern Roots charity.
A living demonstration of urban green space
Northern Roots is not just a visitor attraction. It has been created as a living demonstration of how urban green spaces can tackle some of the UK's biggest challenges simultaneously - improving public health, restoring biodiversity, creating jobs, supporting education, strengthening communities and attracting investment.
Located in one of England's most deprived communities, the project is already delivering measurable impact. Independent NHS research found the Natural Health Service, delivered by Northern Roots, achieved the strongest mental health outcomes across Greater Manchester's Nature for Health programme, improving participants' wellbeing scores by +8.15 on the Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS), compared with a programme average of +4.94. The research also found the programme generated £4,940 in social value per participant - almost double the programme average of £2,530.
Farm-to-fork cafe led by Mary-Ellen McTague
Food is central to the Northern Roots vision. The cafe and catering offer has been developed with acclaimed chef, food writer and restaurateur Mary-Ellen McTague, who has more than 25 years' experience in Michelin-starred kitchens and her own award-winning eateries. She is also the co-founder of Eat Well MCR, which has delivered more than 130,000 meals to people experiencing hardship across Greater Manchester.
Based on a fork-to-farm approach, fruit, vegetables and herbs grown at Snipe Clough Farm travel just a few hundred metres to the cafe kitchen, where Mary-Ellen and her team prepare seasonal dishes for breakfast and lunch, alongside cakes, hot drinks and kids meals. Menus will change year round depending on what's being grown and harvested, with vegetarian, vegan and halal choices. To kickstart the cafe, there will be soups, mezze platters, flatbreads, salads, tarts, cheese and onion pie and sandwiches, as well as cakes made in the kitchen.
Mary-Ellen said: "I first came to the project a couple of years ago. Kimo from Northern Roots asked me to do a dinner at a fundraiser at the original site in a field, with produce from the farm. I loved it and thought it was a wonderful thing. I think there should be one in every town in the UK."
Organic agroforestry and climate adaptation
Snipe Clough Farm, the four-acre urban farm at Northern Roots, is being developed using organic agroforestry techniques to mimic the conditions of a forest. Crops include medlars, damsons, quinces, raspberries, tayberries, loganberries, seabuckthorn, hazel and hostas, with annual crops like wheat, cabbage and carrots planted between the perennial rows.
Kimo Morrison, from the Northern Roots charity, said: "The changing climate is changing what we can grow. Wetter winters, long dry springs and hotter summers cause crops to struggle. This year has been very challenging with the very long hot dry spell but we have still managed to produce large quantities of high-quality produce."
Northern Roots is developing new varieties of familiar crops, like tomatoes, garlic or wheat, to find those best adapted to Oldham's climate, and planting crops from warmer climates - chillis, aubergines or okras - to see what can be grown there. The growing of ingredients has been a collaboration with Mary-Ellen and the kitchen team, with special requests for next year's crop.
Northern Roots is open to the public from Thursday to Sunday, 9am to 4pm, starting 24 September.
