A working farm near Hadrian’s Wall has been given the green light to build two padel courts, after Northumberland County Council approved the planning application under delegated powers.
Vallum Farm, located near Matfen – about 14 miles west of Newcastle – submitted plans to convert existing agricultural buildings into a padel facility. The approved scheme includes two courts, two sets of changing rooms, a seating area, a plant room, and solar panels on the west and south elevations.
The plans were scaled back during the application process. A proposed swimming facility and car park were removed following concerns from the council’s highways development management team and ecologist. The revised scheme was judged to involve only minor alterations to an existing building – new openings and PV panels – which meant it would not significantly affect the openness of the green belt.
What is Vallum Farm?
A working farm and lifestyle hub near Matfen, Northumberland, home to Michelin-starred Restaurant Pine, rural cabins, and artisan businesses – 14 miles west of Newcastle.
Vallum Farm is run by Chris and Poppy Downs alongside Peter Moffitt. It has grown into one of Northumberland’s more unlikely destinations: the site is home to Restaurant Pine, a Michelin-starred fine dining venue set in a converted cow barn where chef Cal Byerley serves a tasting menu built around foraged and kitchen-garden ingredients. Alongside the restaurant, Vallum hosts countryside cabins, artisan coffee roasters, a wedding venue, architects, craft makers, and a bakery.
The padel courts are listed on the Vallum website as “coming soon”, described as a place to “blend sport, community, and countryside calm.” That framing fits the rest of what Vallum does – it has positioned itself as a destination for people who want more than a single-purpose leisure trip.
Why this matters for the North East
Padel in Northumberland and the wider North East has lagged well behind the rest of the country.
Hexham Tennis Club was one of the first venues in the area to add a court, and True Padel operates indoor facilities in Durham and Sunderland. Project Padel in Newcastle has three indoor courts now open. But compared with the density of venues in London, Manchester, or Glasgow, the region remains thinly covered.
Vallum adds something different from all of those. The North East’s padel venues so far have been urban – converted leisure units, tennis clubs, and warehouse spaces. A rural farm setting, particularly one attached to an already-established hospitality destination, is a new model for the sport.
For players in Northumberland itself, the farm is more accessible than travelling into Newcastle. For visitors to the Hadrian’s Wall corridor, it creates a reason to extend a trip.
The planning picture nationally
Vallum is one of a growing number of padel applications working their way through the UK planning system. The conversion of agricultural buildings for padel has precedent elsewhere – a former farm shed in North Lincolnshire was converted to padel courts in a similar move. Rural venues face different planning considerations from urban ones: green belt policy, highways concerns, and ecological assessments all feature more prominently than in an urban leisure conversion.
That Vallum navigated those concerns – even if it meant dropping the swimming facility and car park – suggests the planning environment is workable when the scheme is properly designed. The use of an existing building, rather than a new structure, appears to have been decisive.
When will it open?
No opening date has been announced. The planning approval is the first formal step; construction timelines will depend on the build programme. Given Vallum’s positioning as a year-round destination, outdoor or semi-outdoor courts in a rural Northumberland setting will also be weather-dependent in the colder months.
For now, the courts are marked as “coming soon” on the Vallum Farm website. When they do open, they will bring padel to a part of England that doesn’t have much of it yet. The broader pattern of how new courts are appearing in unexpected locations – retail parks, leisure centres, farmland – is covered in padel outside London and how UK padel courts are built.