Penshaw Padel, Near Penshaw, Sunderland (2026)

22/08/2026

Over 1.5 MILLION views! 🤯🌾🎾

When we first started sharing our plans for Penshaw Padel, we genuinely had no idea what the response would be.

In the last 30 days:

👀 1.5 MILLION+ views
❤️ 50,000+ interactions
📱 5,300+ followers
📩 Hundreds of mailing list sign-ups
📰 Featured by BBC News, BBC Radio Newcastle, The Daily Telegraph, Farmers Weekly & The Sunderland Echo

And all of this while we’re still at the planning stage.

Penshaw Padel is more than six courts. It’s a farm diversification project, using an underused hardstanding area of our working family farm to support its future, while creating something completely new for the local community.

We completely appreciate that projects like this generate different views. We’ve loved welcoming councillors, consultants and other interested groups onto the farm, showing them our plans and having open conversations about what we’re trying to achieve and how the proposals can work best for the area.

We’ve also been speaking with local schools, children’s groups and Scouts about how we could work together in the future, giving more young people opportunities to get active while also bringing them closer to our working farm and helping them understand farming, the countryside and where their food comes from🌾🎾

The response has shown us just how much interest and excitement there is around Sunderland’s first rural, purpose-built indoor padel facility.

The statutory public consultation period has now ended, so our planning team and consultants will continue working through the next stages of the application🤞

In the meantime, we’ll keep sharing the journey, showing you more of what we’re hoping to create and keeping you updated every step of the way.

Thank you to everyone who has followed, engaged, reached out and supported us so far. We’re incredibly grateful and excited to see where this journey takes us next! ❤️🌾🎾

19/08/2026

🌾 HARVEST 2026… DONE! 🌾🚜

And just like that, we’ve finished harvest! 🙌

It’s definitely been an eventful one. Plenty of breakdowns, one rather large fire, a lot of long days and late nights… but overall, we’re feeling incredibly grateful.

After such a dry year and the drought conditions we’ve had, yields have actually been better than I expected. And one big positive of the dry weather is that we’ve barely had to dry any grain at all, which has been a huge saving this harvest 🙌

It certainly hasn’t all gone smoothly, but another harvest is safely in the shed and that’s something we’ll never take for granted ❤️

No rest for long though… now it’s onto getting the ground ready and drilling next year’s crops 🚜🌱

Harvest 2026 ✅

17/08/2026

Yesterday’s fire was another reminder of some of the challenges that come with farming on the urban fringe 🌾🔥

Firstly, we just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who messaged us, shared our posts and supported us. It genuinely meant a lot ❤️

We saw so many comments from people who were understandably angry that the fire was started by kids messing around.

But the reality is, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened on our farm, and unfortunately, it probably won’t be the last.

We’ve had standing crops set on fire. We’ve had sheds set on fire. And if it’s not arson, it’s theft, fly-tipping, hare coursing or joyriders damaging fields and crops.

Unfortunately, that’s part of what farming on the urban fringe can look like.

Yesterday, around 40 acres of land were affected. That’s not just a field. It’s months of work, time, money and resources, and incidents like this add another layer of pressure to an industry where margins are already incredibly tight.

And this is exactly why diversification matters so much to farms like ours.

Projects like Penshaw Padel aren’t about moving away from farming. They’re about creating another source of income that can help protect the farm, keep the land in agricultural use and allow us to continue farming for future generations 🌾🎾

But we also want diversification to give us an opportunity to connect more closely with the community around us.

We’d love to use Penshaw Padel as a way of getting more local children onto the farm, helping them understand where their food comes from, what goes into growing a crop and why respecting farmland matters.

Because ultimately, we don’t want fires, damage and antisocial behaviour to simply become accepted as “part of farming” here.

If we can bring people onto the farm, educate the next generation and help them feel connected to the countryside on their doorstep, hopefully incidents like this don’t have to be the norm.

For us, that’s just as important as the diversification itself 🌾❤️

16/08/2026

A huge thank you to everyone who shared our post, sent messages of concern and, most importantly, stayed away from the area this afternoon❤️

Because people listened and helped spread the word, ourselves and the emergency services were able to concentrate on getting the fire under control without having to worry about people entering the area or blocking access.

We cannot thank the emergency services enough for their response. More than seven different fire brigade teams attended, with crews coming from as far away as Beamish to help on site. 🚒 The scale of their response was incredible, and we’re hugely grateful to every single person who came out to help.

We’d also like to thank the police, who helped block roads and keep access clear, and the ambulance crews who attended to provide support 🚓🚑

At this stage, we estimate that around 40 acres of land has been consumed by the fire, with approximately £8,000 worth of straw lost. That straw represents months of work, time and cost on the farm, only to be destroyed in a matter of minutes.

Devastatingly, an eyewitness has told us they saw the fire being started by kids messing around in the area.

What might have been seen as a bit of fun has had very serious consequences. Beyond the £8,000 estimated loss, an incident like this also requires a huge amount of emergency service time and resources, with multiple fire crews, police and ambulance support all called to something that was completely avoidable.

More importantly, a fire of this size puts firefighters, emergency services, farm workers, local residents and wildlife at risk. We’re incredibly thankful that nobody was hurt.

Finally, thank you so much to our local community. We’ve been overwhelmed by the messages, comments and well wishes, and by how quickly everyone shared our warning so that people knew to stay away. It genuinely made a difference and allowed the emergency services to do their jobs safely.

A horrible afternoon, but one that has reminded us just how brilliant our emergency services and local community are ❤️🚒🌾

Thank you to everyone who helped.

16/08/2026

⚠️ PLEASE AVOID THE AREA EAST OF HERRINGTON COUNTRY PARK / FLINTON HILL FARM ⚠️

Unfortunately, a group of kids have set fire to some of our straw swaths at Flinton Hill Farm, which were waiting to be baled.

For everyone’s safety, please avoid walking in this area for the time being, particularly east of Herrington Country Park. We really don’t want anyone getting close to the fire or inhaling smoke unnecessarily.

🚒 Please also DO NOT block any field entrances or gateways to stop and view the fire. We currently have four fire engines on site, which are having to regularly leave the farm to refill with water before returning. It is absolutely essential that they have clear and immediate access in and out of the fields at all times.

Please give the area plenty of space and allow the fire service and ourselves to deal with the situation safely.

We’ll update everyone when the area is clear again.

Thank you for your understanding, and please share this with anyone you know who may be walking or driving around Herrington Country Park or Flinton Hill today. 🌾🚒

16/08/2026

Building from scratch means we get to think about every little detail 🎾

When we first started looking at bringing padel to the farm, we considered converting one of our existing grain sheds. But we quickly realised two things: we still need those sheds for farming, and if we were going to do this, we wanted to do it properly.

So instead, we’re proposing a purpose-built home for Penshaw Padel.

🎾 10m internal playing height
❄️ Air conditioning & climate control for comfortable play all year round
🔊 Great acoustics & integrated sound system
💡 Proper, glare-controlled court lighting
🏟️ Six panoramic courts
🧊 Dedicated changing & recovery facilities
☕ Café & social space
👀 Comfortable court-side viewing areas

And all those little details that, as a padel player myself, I know can completely change the experience.

It gives us the chance to create something specifically designed for padel, rather than trying to make padel fit into a building that was designed for something else.

And the best bit? We can do all of that while keeping the grain sheds doing what they were built to do and keeping farming at the heart of the farm 🌾

We want to create somewhere really special to play, and somewhere people genuinely look forward to spending time

14/08/2026

Farming has changed massively over the last five years, and for farms like ours, diversification is becoming more important than ever 🌾

Some of our input costs have nearly doubled, from fertiliser and fuel to machinery, labour and everything needed to grow a crop. Yet the value of what we produce simply hasn’t risen at the same rate. In real terms, farmers are being asked to produce more, invest more and take on more risk, while the margins continue to be squeezed.

For us, diversification isn’t about moving away from farming. It’s about finding ways to bring additional income onto the farm so we can protect its future and keep doing what generations before us have done.

That’s where Penshaw Padel comes in 🎾🌾

We want to create Sunderland’s first rural indoor padel club, right here on our working farm.

Rather than driving onto an industrial estate to play, you’ll be coming into the countryside. You’ll still see the fields being worked, tractors moving around the farm and the seasons changing around you.

And after a game, the idea is that you can sit in the café with your friends, grab some food or a coffee and look out through huge windows towards Penshaw Monument🤍

We want Penshaw Padel to feel completely different. An amazing place to play sport and spend time with friends, but somewhere that still feels unmistakably rural and connected to the farm around it.

It’s about bringing something new to Sunderland, while helping secure the future of something that has been here for generations. 🌾🎾

11/08/2026

Why Penshaw Padel? 🎾🌾

Penshaw Monument has been part of the backdrop to life on our farm for generations. We farm the land around it, see it from our fields every day, and it’s become a huge part of the identity of the farm and the place we’re lucky enough to call home.

So, as we look to diversify and build a new future for the farm, it felt only right that Penshaw came with us.

Our hope is that one day you’ll be able to finish a game of padel, grab some food and a drink with friends and look out through the café windows towards one of the North East’s most iconic landmarks.

And, if we’re being completely truthful… Penshaw Padel just sounds pretty awesome too 😉🎾

Part of our history, part of our everyday, and hopefully part of our future🤍

09/08/2026

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to see our combines in action yesterday! 🌾

It was so lovely to see so many friendly faces, and especially to see how excited all the kids were watching harvest in full swing. It was great to be able to share a little bit of what we do with our local community.

Once this rain has pushed through and we’re back up and running, we’ll keep you guys in the loop with where we’ll be combining next for anyone who wants to come along and watch! 🚜

Thanks again for coming out and supporting British farming! 🇬🇧

08/08/2026

🚜 LIVE COMBINES IN ACTION TODAY! 🌾

If you’re looking for something to do this morning, why not bring the kids up to Penshaw Monument and watch harvest in full swing? We’ll be harvesting roughly between 9am and 2pm. Simply make your way to the top of the monument and look East for a fantastic view of the tractors and combines

It’s completely FREE and one of the best opportunities to experience harvest while taking in the incredible views across the countryside.

We’d love to see our local community come together to support British farming and celebrate one of the busiest and most important times of the year for farming families 🇬🇧🌾

⚠️ Please watch from the public footpaths and the grass around Penshaw Monument only. Our combines and tractors are large working machines with restricted visibility, so please do not enter the cropped fields, cross field entrances or approach the machinery under any circumstances. You’ll still have a fantastic view from the monument while helping to keep everyone safe.

Please also avoid parking in field entrances or gateways, as these are needed for farm vehicles throughout the day. Thank you for helping us keep harvest running safely 🌾

We hope to see lots of familiar faces this morning! ☀️🚜

Penshaw Padel

Share

Location

Category

Contact the business

Website

Address

Listing takedown request