We are delighted to be taking part in Agroforestry Open Weekend 2025

Our farm

Kindling Farm is a Community Benefit Society owned by our 800 members with the aim of creating a fairer and more sustainable food and farming system for all.

In April 2023, we purchased a 78 acre farm between Manchester & Liverpool where we are now establishing a pioneering, agroforestry farm for the Northwest. Here we will research, explore, practise and demonstrate the best ways to farm for wildlife, climate change, soil and communities.

Our farm is a traditional Victorian farm layout with beautiful redbrick buildings set around a cobbled courtyard. We have exciting plans and ideas to transform our neglected buildings into a thriving hub of activity. Over the next year, we will be working with communities to co-design our buildings and facilities while also piloting heritage skills workshops and wildlife activities to help us to shape the future of Kindling Farm.

Our agroforestry

As part of a project funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund and run by our sister organisation the Kindling Trust, over 9,000 fruit trees were grafted in 2021 – 2,000 of these are destined for Kindling Farm’s agroforestry system and orchard – including 40 heritage UK varieties. Over the past year we have been working with volunteers to plant these trees onsite.

These trees play a prominent role in our orchard; they are dotted through our agroforestry system, both to keep heritage varieties alive – to continue the cycle that will otherwise be broken if a species dies out – and to make our food supply chain more resilient to pests and diseases through a greater diversity of species.

Approximately 80% of the farm will (eventually) be dedicated to field-scale production of vegetables, fruits, cereals and pulses utilising agroforestry methods. This will include approximately 2,000 top fruit, nut and bio-fuel trees, as a permanent feature within a 6 year crop rotation. Approximately 2 hectares of land will be dedicated to soft fruit production and to protected cropping of higher value crops.

While the farm team has overall responsibility for the trees, we hold a number of tree focused volunteer days throughout the year from Spring pruning, to weeding in the first few years of growth and eventual harvesting of the fruit.

Over the next year, we will be delivering a community engagement programme with support from The National Heritage Lottery Fund which includes holding workshops to teach people about heritage varieties and
to graft their own heritage fruit tree to take away.

Here are some photos of what we do:

how to find us

You will find us at Kindling Farm, Netherley Road, Tarbock Green, L35 1QG.

The best way to find us is to search for Kindling Farm on google maps as the postcode takes you to ½ mile west of the farm.

You can also find us using What3Words with the following 3 words: ///feed.strict.march

There are two entrances; we ask that you try to use the larger entrance which brings you into the caravan storage area – thank you!

agroforestry open weekend 2025

Over Agroforestry Open Weekend 2023 we will be open Sunday 18th May 2025. Tours will take place at 11am & 2.30pm. This event is free of charge. Tours will last approximately 2 hours.

Please don’t just turn up – parking is very limited. For the morning tour, register here. To register for the afternoon tour, please click here.
If you are wanting to book for more than one person, please make sure you register them separately.

We kindly ask that you don’t bring your dogs with you.

We do not have a cafe on site but we will make refreshments available.

Please note that we have limited facilities. There is one indoor toilet up a set of stairs and one outdoor compost loo.

Unfortunately, our farm is not wheelchair accessible at the moment. The farm is about to undergo refurbishment but right now, there are lots of uneven footpaths and minimal accessible provision.

Please be aware that this activity includes quite a lot of walking; while there is no walking uphill, the ground is uneven. We suggest wearing flat, sturdy footwear which is waterproof.

If you have any questions regarding access, please contact farm@kindling.org.uk or call 07926 975 391.

Website: https://kindling.org.uk/

Instagram: @kindlingfarm

Facebook: @kindlingfarm