A TYNEDALE food co-operative has outgrown its current home and is keen to take the blossoming business to pastures new.

Go Local Food currently farms a two acre site at the Ovington nursery of Halls of Heddon.

Members of the crop-share scheme pay a monthly fee for a bag of fresh and seasonal vegetables every week and the produce grown is divided between them.

The scheme, which was launched a little over three years ago, is now running at full capacity, with membership growing by a third last year.

The current site in Ovington can produce vegetables for around 60 members, but Go Local is keen to expand.

A feasibility grant of £29,500 from the Big Lottery-funded Social Investment Business is helping Go Local consider taking on a larger site that will provide for new members for the next five years.

Organisers behind the scheme are now on the look-out for a five to seven acre plot within 10 miles of Ovingham.

For crops to be grown, the plot will need water onsite, access to hard standing for a small tractor, fencing and permission to build storage and put up cloches and ground cover.

The potential for the co-operative to keep hens is also under consideration.

The field at Halls of Heddon will be maintained for the foreseeable future alongside any new land acquired by the co-operative.