The urban gardeners taking over Yorkshire mill town's unloved spaces to grow veg

Friends in the Yorkshire mill town of Todmorden, taking on unloved spaces, had planted fruit and vegetables on grass verges and forgotten plots for everybody to enjoy.

More than a decade on, and having spread around the world, the concept that 'health begins at home' has been heralded in a new book as essential to wellbeing.

But while its launch was a 'calling card' for togetherness on the eve of the last recession, said founder Mary Clear, it's purpose is never more needed than it is today.

"It's about demonstrating kindness," she said. "There is another way, an easy way, to use less resources. It is joyful work.

"We cut grass, pick up litter. We've started building free libraries, dotted around town.

"There's not an endless pot of money to be spent in the public realm," she added. "There is a responsibility of citizens."

Since those first days in Todmorden in 2008, Incredible Edible has grown to over 500 groups sharing its philosophies worldwide, and is particularly fashionable in France.

The urban gardens, from windowboxes to roundabouts, are so popular it is fuelling a trade in 'veg tourism', with visitors paying £6 a time for a tour of the mill town's sites.

Outside the health centre, there are apple and pear trees, cherries, strawberries and nuts.

There is a flourishing apothecary garden, while on the grasses surrounding the car park there are flowering rhubarb, cauliflower and sweetcorn.

There are 300 volunteers, with the youngest this week aged just two and the oldest 76. One lady brought a jar of jam she had made from berries collected on the towpath.

"It's the pennines you see, all this water and the rain," said Ms Clear, 65. "We are known for our berries. You can walk around town and pick them by the pound."

'Kindest town in Yorkshire'

While the concept began with connecting communities, Ms Clear believes it now reaches much further.

"By growing things in public spaces, it demonstrates that we are all in this together," she said. "It's right across the world.

"We never thought it would be, but it doesn't matter. It's not about an empire, but about doing good things in our small town.

"I would say this town is probably the kindest in Yorkshire. I really think it is."

These abandoned spaces are often owned by developers, or the council, and some have been lost, but nobody has ever minded the community taking them on.

"We're a positive group, not a protest group," said the grandmother-of-13. "It takes nothing to make a garden, we just find another space."

And when it comes to communities, she believes firmly in taking a collective responsibility.

"It's sometimes better to ask forgiveness than for permission," she said. "Oftentimes, we just crack on and grow.

"When people sit and have meetings for too long, they get into problem talk, usually about money. We only focus on what is achievable.

"If we see a bench is broken, we fix it. That idea, that there's this 'invisible army' caring for us, is a fantasy. As citizens, we should look out for each other."

New book

Incredible Edible have been featured in a new book authored by the former chief executive of the NHS, Lord Nigel Crisp, who has heralded the concept that 'health begins at home'.

The group, founded by friends in Todmorden to bring communities together and encourage healthy eating, calls for investment in community kitchens on health sites.

Lord Nigel, leader of the NHS until 2006, says the group were ahead of the curve, arguing that to improve population health and wellbeing such an ethos should be at the fore.

His new book, Health is made at home, hospitals are for repairs, calls for communities to take control of our own health and build a healthy-eating society for all.

Incredible Edible co-founder Pam Warhurst said: “We are already seeing a more inclusive approach to decision-making from those who so often rely on a top-down approach.

"The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the failure of this approach. Now is the time for everyone to sit-up and recognise the value of those working away on the ground.”

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