Northern Roots’ first phase opened in September 2026. Visitors can explore a working farm, café, play area and woodland beside Alexandra Park in Oldham, with different opening arrangements for buildings and the wider landscape.
A new visitor hub beside Alexandra Park
Northern Roots’ first-phase opening gives visitors access to a Welcome Building with a café and shop, a working urban farm, outdoor play and woodland paths. The 160-acre project sits beside Alexandra Park in Oldham. For anyone visiting Northern Roots, the main distinction is between the always-accessible landscape and facilities with set opening hours.
This account reflects published visitor information as at 23 October 2026. The September opening marks the first phase, not completion of the whole project.
The cover and article images are AI-generated illustrations of generic scenes related to this topic.
Northern Roots opening hours and September launch
The charity held its free BIG Welcome launch celebration on Saturday 19 September 2026. Oldham Council published its report confirming the first-phase opening on 21 September. Regular opening began on Thursday 24 September.
Northern Roots opening hours differ between facilities. The operator lists the Welcome Building, café, shop, play area and Snipe Clough Farm as open Thursday to Sunday, 09:00–16:00. Brook Mills Gardens has a shorter weekly timetable, opening Friday to Sunday, 09:00–16:00.
The wider landscape remains publicly accessible outside those hours. That does not mean buildings, toilets or every individual facility stay open. Northern Roots was developed through a partnership between the charity and Oldham Council, with the first phase bringing indoor visitor services alongside the farm and surrounding green space.
Inside the Welcome Building
The Welcome Building stands at the woodland edge, overlooking Snipe Clough Farm towards the Peak District foothills. It brings several visitor services together: a café, shop, toilets and quiet room, alongside a production kitchen and bookable spaces.
There are sofas inside the café and terrace seating for suitable weather. Beside the building, an amphitheatre offers another place to sit or have a picnic. Visitors may bring their own food and use the site’s picnic spots and benches.
The small quiet room is available for prayer, breastfeeding or simply taking a quiet moment. This makes the building more than a refreshment stop, although the production kitchen and booked rooms should not be treated as freely accessible attractions.
General admission is free, but the events programme includes both free and ticketed activities. Purchases are cashless, so anyone planning to buy food or shop items needs card or contactless payment.
Seasonal food and the shop’s local makers
Northern Roots describes the café’s approach as farm to fork, with chef and food campaigner Mary-Ellen McTague working with the team. According to the operator, harvested produce travels approximately 200 metres from Snipe Clough Farm to the kitchen for café and shop use.
Its published food examples include seasonal soups, salads, sandwiches, cheese and onion pie, and cakes. There is also a children’s menu. These describe the café’s approach rather than a fixed daily selection: what is growing helps shape what is available.
The café lists vegetarian and vegan options and says all its meat is halal. Coffee comes from local roaster Blossom. Visitors with allergies or intolerances should speak to staff about ingredients and preparation; dietary choices do not establish an allergen-free kitchen.
The shop extends the connection between growing and selling. Its advertised range includes fruit and vegetables, plants, seeds, preserves and chutneys, alongside books, gifts and handcrafted products. Seasonal harvests affect the produce available.
It also features independent producers, artists and craftspeople from Oldham, plus businesses based at the site. Cards and prints draw on the character of Northern Roots. The charity says shop purchases support its work, linking the retail space to the wider project rather than presenting it as a separate attraction.
Exploring Snipe Clough’s working urban farm
Snipe Clough Farm occupies four acres directly in front of the Welcome Building. This is a working growing space, not simply a planted backdrop to the visitor facilities.
The operator describes its approach as organic agroforestry. In practical terms, perennial trees and shrubs grow in rows, with annual crops between them. The trees and shrubs provide shelter and nourishment for crops grown alongside them.
Listed perennial crops include damsons, quinces, raspberries, medlars and hazel. Wheat, cabbage and carrots are among the annual crops. A barn and five commercial-grade polytunnels support production, with tomatoes, chillies, aubergines and okra among the examples described by the charity.
The farm’s name also recalls the land’s earlier uses. Northern Roots describes a former valley and coal mine, followed by infilling and later allotments, stables and a school playing field. Environmental volunteers have helped establish the present farm.
Visitors are welcome, but its working role sets clear boundaries. Stay on pathways, follow signs and staff instructions, and watch for farm vehicles. Under-18s must be accompanied. Well-behaved dogs are permitted on short leads, and owners must clear up after them.
Outdoor play and accessible visitor facilities
The free outdoor play area sits directly in front of the Welcome Building. Designed and built by Timberplay, it has three zones covering different kinds of play and levels of challenge.
Younger children have physical and imaginative play features. Water play and a large sandpit form another part of the space, while older children and young people have more challenging climbing and collaborative play.
The Northern Roots accessibility guide identifies an accessible seesaw, swing and water-play equipment. These are specific provisions, rather than a claim that every feature suits every visitor.
Flat paths connect the car park, Welcome Building and play area. Paths around the farm are described as wheelchair- and pushchair-accessible. Public spaces in the building are on the ground floor with step-free access, and accessible seating is available indoors and outside.
The building has accessible toilets, baby-changing facilities and ablution facilities in the male and female toilets. A lowered end of the café counter supports wheelchair access. Assistance dogs have full site access; well-behaved dogs on short leads are also welcome in the café and shop.
Woodland trails and the recovering industrial landscape
Beyond the main visitor facilities, the Eco Park offers walking, cycling and horse riding. There is a path network with some waymarked routes. Northern Roots also advertises guided nature and heritage walks starting at the Welcome Building, separate from independent exploration.
The landscape includes woodland, grassland, heathland, wetland and freshwater habitats. Around two-thirds of the Eco Park is wooded. Along the River Medlock, Bankfield Clough is identified as a Site of Biological Importance for its acidic birch-oak woodland and grassland.
This green setting has a substantial industrial history. The charity describes two mills, two coal mines and an industrial railway within the wider landscape. Around 60 acres later became a tip, receiving landfill for 30 years.
Much of the land was left largely untouched from the 1990s, allowing natural recovery. The operator lists lapwings, buzzards, bats and roe deer among wildlife visitors could encounter, without promising sightings.
Current landscape work includes woodland management, hedge planting and new ponds. Timber, charcoal, hazel, willow and natural clay connect the site with practical craft uses. The always-accessible woodland, meadows and ponds offer a different experience from the staffed visitor hub; toilets remain restricted to opening hours.
Community gardens and practical learning
Brook Mills Gardens contains the community garden and hosts the Natural Health Service, a programme involving referrals from local health workers. Visitors can relax in the garden when groups, volunteers, events or partner businesses are not using it.
The gardens take their name from a mill erected in 1854 and demolished in 1929. An earlier urban-farm phase was established here in 2023, with two 18-metre polytunnels, no-dig growing beds, a community garden and an orchard.
Hive5 Manchester manages the apiary and runs courses and workshops. Those organised activities are distinct from ordinary garden access, as are the health programme’s referral arrangements.
Behind the Welcome Building, the Forestry Skills Centre contains offices, training and meeting rooms, plus woodworking and mechanics workshops. It is not open to ordinary visiting members of the public. The charity and its training partners use it for technical learning in arboriculture, landscape management and horticulture.
Northern Roots also publishes a school learning offer. Its Key Stage 1 Farm to Fork session explores growing and preparing a healthy snack. An Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 ranger experience includes planting and plant identification. Education groups need to discuss availability and costs with the learning team rather than assume these are drop-in activities.
Finding the entrance and reaching the visitor buildings
The published address is Northern Roots, Kings Road, Oldham, OL8 2BJ. The main entrance is off Kings Road, while the Welcome Building complex is reached via Brook Lane. Public rights of way and other access points serve the wider landscape.
The operator identifies Oldham Central as the nearest tram stop, approximately 20 minutes’ walk via Alexandra Park. National Cycle Network Route 626 runs along the site between Oldham town centre and Ashton-under-Lyne. Bicycle racks are outside the Welcome Building.
Entrance parking is free, with nearby disabled bays and alternative parking in Alexandra Park. The approximately 300-metre route from the car park to the building uses flat concrete and gravel paths, without benches or toilets along that stretch. Wheelchair and mobility-scooter hire is not offered.
Before visiting Northern Roots, check the operator’s published opening times and accessibility information to match your arrival with the facilities you need.
Sources
- Northern Roots opens: A major new green space for Oldham welcomes first visitors | Oldham Council
- The Big Welcome — Northern Roots
- Opening times — Northern Roots
- Welcome Building — Northern Roots
- Visitor FAQs — Northern Roots
- Café — Northern Roots
- Shop — Northern Roots
- Snipe Clough Farm — Northern Roots
- Play area — Northern Roots
- Accessibility guide — Northern Roots
- Ecopark — Northern Roots
- Brook Mills Gardens — Northern Roots
- Forestry Skills Centre — Northern Roots
- Learning opportunities — Northern Roots
- Northern Roots: bookable spaces
- Getting here — Northern Roots