The landing

MUD’s first kitchen garden design and build project in collaboration with Where The Light Gets In.

The Landing began it’s life in 2020 when MUD were asked by chef Sam Buckley of Where The Light Gets In to collaborate on the creation of a kitchen garden for his Stockport based restaurant. After attempting to grow food for the restaurant on a plot of land in Marple, Sam had the opportunity for something closer to home with the help of Stockport Council and Merseyway. Together with MUD and some seed funding from Patagonia, The Landing was born.

The design of the space was massively governed by the restrictive nature of it’s location. A thin strip of concrete roof adjacent to a car park and on top of Stockport town centre’s Merseyway shopping centre. Access to the space, water and waste management were early issues for consideration in the design and most obviously - the lack of soil.

Through previous experience of container growing, we created raised beds using a Hügelkultur inspired process. Using locally sourced sustainable larch for the raised bed construction, we filled them with a layered mixture of wind-felled logs and branches, woodchip and compost. Compost bays were installed right away to manage any garden waste and organic waste from the restaurant and water butts installed to catch rainwater from the adjacent rooftops.

MUD also used their expertise as graphic designers to run a branding workshop with the restaurant team. The Landing’s name was inspired by the long runway like shape of the space and the aeroplanes that fly overhead taking off from Manchester Airport. The logo was created to reflect the community focused/DIY/hand-built nature of space and is made up of the handwritten letters of the staff at the restaurant.

Where The Light Gets In’s commitment to sustainable practice and the creation of The Landing contributed to the restaurant receiving one of the first ever Michelin Green Star awards and The Landing has since developed and been constituted as its very own CIC, continuing to strive for food system change through community growing.

From The Landing’s website:

“A collaborative community growing space designed and built by Where The Light Gets In and Manchester Urban Diggers, a 5 minute walk away from the restaurant. Our passion for a sustainable food system has driven the need for an urban growing space. The garden provides produce for the restaurant as well as the local community.

The Landing supports both Where The Light Gets In and MUD's objectives of promoting food sovereignty, community engagement in local food systems and increased biodiversity in our ever expanding urban environments. It is an oasis for learning, growing and socialising in an unexpected space, to encourage people to grow and share food wherever they can. The Landing CIC can be found on the Rooftop of Merseyway Shopping Centre Car Park.”