Meanwood Valley Urban Farm is a

city farm Urban agriculture, urban farming, or urban gardening is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around urban areas. It encompasses a complex and diverse mix of food production activities, including fisheries and for ...

established in 1980 in Meanwood,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, England, which has animals and crops and an

environmentally friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...

visitors centre. The farm is on

Meanwood Beck The Meanwood Beck is a stream in West Yorkshire, England, which flows southwards through Adel, Meanwood and Sheepscar into the River Aire in central Leeds. Different portions of the same watercourse have been referred to as Adel Beck, Carr ...

and occupies . The main entrance is on Sugarwell Road.

Activities

It demonstrates a variety of

wildlife habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s, organic farming and

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

over to members of the public, and introduces schoolchildren to various aspects of farming and the environment. The Farm also provides educational services to disadvantaged young people and adults with learning difficulties. It provides locally grown food and allotments for the community. There is a social enterprise coffee shop where profits go to the community, and which provides a meeting place for local communities and work experience and training. The animals farmed include Dexter cattle, sheep ( Whitefaced Woodland

Ryeland The Ryeland is one of the oldest English sheep breeds going back seven centuries when the monks of Leominster in Herefordshire bred sheep and grazed them on the rye pastures, giving them their name. It was introduced into Australia in 1919 and a ...

), alpacas, goats, several breeds of pig, chickens and ducks. There are also guinea pigs and rabbits in the small animals area and two donkeys. Honey is produced from beehives kept on the farm and the moors. A Recycled Bike Project takes cycles from Meanwood Household Waste Site and donated by West Yorkshire Police, which are rebuilt by young people, teaching them mechanical skills. The final bicycles are then donates to trainees or unemployed people to aid commuting. Ten have been sent to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

for Medicare Nurses to visit their patients.

History

It was established in 1980 as a charity run by volunteers with £5,000 from

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...

, initially with one caravan (later two) as the only accommodation, and was formally opened in July 1981 by the

Lord Mayor of Leeds The Lord Mayor of Leeds (until 1897 known as the Mayor of Leeds) is a ceremonial post held by a member of Leeds City Council, elected annually by the council. By charter from Charles I of England, King Charles I in 1626, the leader of the gov ...

. By 1986 there was a hut, and in 1999, having raised half a million pounds, a timber frame building called the Epicentre was opened as a resource for the farm and the local community, with offices, education and meeting rooms. Further fundraising produced donations of a similar sum to enable expansion, with new animal buildings in 2004.

Epicentre

The main building provides administrative rooms for the farm, and meeting rooms for local groups. It is an example of

Walter Segal Walter Segal (15 May 1907 – 27 October 1985) was an architect who developed a system of self-build housing, the Segal self-build method. Based on traditional timber frame methods modified to use standard modern materials, his method eliminat ...

system of self-build construction which is environmentally-friendly in its use of materials and energy. It is a low-energy building using the principle of solar gain; it has a turf roof and uses a

reed bed A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...

drainage treatment system. It was officially opened by the Environment Secretary,

Michael Meacher Michael Hugh Meacher (4 November 1939 – 21 October 2015) was a British politician who served as a government minister under Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Tony Blair. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Ol ...

and was also visited by

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

in 2002.

Recognition

It was commended by Prince Charles. Its Director, Sue Reddington, received an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

for her work with the farm in the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

and one of its first volunteers, Robert Collins, received the same in the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hon ...

. File:Meanwood Farm Map.jpg, Map sign File:MVUF Epicentre 12 September 2018 4.jpg, View across Meanwood Beck and then the reed beds towards the Epicentre File:MVUF flower beds 12 September 2018 1.jpg, Raised flower beds and growing tunnels File:MVUF Limestone Walk 12 September 2018.jpg, The Limestone Walk path File:Meanwood Farm Pig.jpg, A pig File:Meanwood donkey 2008.jpg, A donkey

References

External links

* *
Meanwood Valley Urban Farm
at Visit Leeds website {{Coord, 53, 49, 14.9, N, 1, 33, 11.8, W, type:landmark, display=title Meanwood Urban agriculture Low-energy building in the United Kingdom City farms in England