UK’s first essential oils centre and National Wildflower Farm for St.Helens
Fields of lavender and acres of stunning wildflowers will become a familiar sight in St.Helens with the prospective launch of the UK’s first essential oils and national wildflower farm.

Phytobotanica UK Ltd, founders of the first essential oils research centre in Europe, and Landlife, a wildlife charity based at the National Wildflower Centre in Knowsley, will jointly develop Inglenook Farm, St.Helens, producing crops, undertaking research and creating a haven for wildlife.

The 500-acre farm in Rainford, which occupies a prominent gateway position on the A570 close to motorways and major roads leading in and out of St.Helens, is part of the Knowsley Hall estate.

It will now be the site of more than 100 acres of wildflowers and lavender and other essential oils crops. Subject to securing planning permission for reuse of the outbuildings, Phytobotanica will also relocate its processing and visitor education facilities to the farm, which will become a colourful addition to the already thriving rural economy in St.Helens.  The project is an integral part of the borough’s Rural Economy Action Plan (REAP), as well as the wider City Growth Strategy.

Dr. Jane Collins of Phytobotanica UK Ltd, says: “This is a very exciting project as essential oils production on this scale is virtually unprecedented in the UK and it will be really something to see when the plants comes into flower. As well as the crops, if we can secure planning permission we will also have an education and training base where we intend to deliver courses in aromatherapy and other complementary therapies.

“Our students would then be able to study surrounded by fields of organic essential oil crops, watch us do our research and development in our unique on-farm laboratory and see the whole thing from the crops to the oil in the bottle.”

Inglenook Farm will also put St.Helens on the wildlife map, providing a haven for a wide variety of animals including hares, owls, bats and endangered species.

Jan Pell of Landlife, says: “This development will bring our wildflower fields to one stunning location, making them more efficient to grow and harvest, and providing a fantastic new nature, education and tourism resource for people in St.Helens, the Northwest and beyond.

Wildflowers are essential to wildlife and the farm will enable us to supply a living seedbank for the growing regional and national markets in new landscape creation in response to climate change and declining biodiversity.

It is the ideal site for us, highly visible and easily accessible. Once the fields are established we will also use the farm for some of our project work researching sustainable landscapes, while the living seed bank will conserve some species that would not otherwise survive, so that we can continue to establish new wildflower landscapes across the UK.”

Cllr. Neil Taylor, St.Helens Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration says: “Inglenook Farm is yet another first for St.Helens, reflecting our innovative approach to regeneration that is driving the successful, ongoing transformation of the Borough.

It may surprise some people to learn that St.Helens already has a flourishing rural economy that we are working hard to develop, however this will clearly be a superb addition to the many rural businesses already based here.

Both Phytobotanica and Landlife have extremely exciting development plans, which will not only provide a stunning visual arrival into the Borough and add a further asset to our growing visitor economy, but if fully realised would also create a major centre for vital research, and we wish them every success in the new venture.”

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