Partnership with Gibside National Trust

Gibside Community Farm (GCF) is a community venture that from the start has had the support and encouragement from the team at the National Trust Gibside estate. GCF now lease a field from the National Trust (NT) which bought the farm next to the Gibside estate to prevent an opencast coal mine from being developed.

We originally grew veg in the walled garden at Gibside National Trust and moved to the field in 2017.  Our years in the walled garden helped GCF test out our model of working before moving to the much larger scale of the 14-acre field.


Photo: The original location in NT’s walled garden

Moving to the field to expand our farm

We have gradually developed our plans for the 14-acre field with financial support from Gibside NT, Woodland Trust, Big Lottery and Power to Change.  We have now converted the land to organic status, planting trees and hedgerows to shelter the crops, experimenting with an innovative agroforestry horticultural method, and creating office and storage space on the field with a portacabin and shipping container.


Photo: Our 14 acre field in Burnopfield

Gibside Community Farm has grown its ability to develop the field, slowly using more of it.  We have continued to be well supported by the Gibside National Trust estate with the use of their equipment, storage facilities and meeting rooms. We have had stalls at the Gibside farmers market and now make vegetables available for National Trust visitors through display stands near the main café. Visitors make a donation in exchange for the organic, local, fresh veg.

We are keen to continue developing the partnership with Gibside National Trust estate and are grateful for the support they have given us.  We look forward to working together to promote both organisations and provide fun, healthy and low carbon opportunities for local people and visitors to Gibside.

Our achievements

  • Designed the agroforestry and rotational plots
  • Created an orchard and planted a shelterbelt, tree alleys and hedgerows.
  • Developed the infrastructure on the field with irrigation, a container for tools, a portacabin for shelter and packing, a polytunnel and equipment
  • Awarded organic status in 2019
  • Created the Friends and Neighbours scheme to sell seasonal veg bags from July 2019
  • Have 40 members (March 2022)
  • Harvested 8.8 tonnes of veg in the season July 2021 to April 2022.
  • Donated veg to Blaydon Foodbank, Community Larder and Feeding Families project
  • Sell veg at Gibside National Trust, to local veg bag schemes and at farmers markets.
  • Created a relationship with The Comfrey Project to provide opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers to come to the field
  • Refurbished a 60-year-old Ferguson tractor (with a lot of help from the Ferguson Club)
  • Created a willow growing area for basketry willow

Future plans

But that’s not all! We’re ambitious for the future and welcome new members to help us with the following plans:

  • Expand our membership
  • Expand the amount of veg we are growing
  • Expand the amount of veg bags we sell through Friends and Neighbours
  • Develop our ability to provide training courses
  • Employ growers for longer
  • Extend the growing season and range of veg through polytunnel cultivation

Join us to help create this vision!