Hollybush in Kirkstall is an environmental volunteering centre that has been running for over 40 years. Our volunteers help to manage green spaces across Leeds and beyond. We welcome people of all backgrounds and experience.
How to find us
Hollybush is a former farmhouse located on Broad Lane in Kirkstall, at the junction with Bridge Road (B6157). Please consider the environmental impact of your visit to Hollybush and walk, cycle or use public transport if possible. Bike storage is available, but please bring your own lock!
We are a two-minute walk from bus stops at the Bridge Shopping Centre (numbers 91 and 49) and Kirkstall Morrisons/Kirkstall Road (numbers 33,34,35 and 508, plus Aireline 60). We are a ten-minute walk from Headingley Train Station.
We have limited parking on site reserved for blue badge holders and those with limited mobility. Other visitors travelling by car have the kind permission of Morrison’s to park at the far end of their carpark (LS5 3AU), a short walk from Hollybush. There is also a very small public carpark on Whyther Lane, by the canal (LS5 3BT).
Hollybush History
The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) set up their West Yorkshire branch at Hollybush in 1979. TCV have 65 years history of conservation activity in the UK, read about the history of the organisation here.
Hollybush Farm is Grade II listed and was central to the story of rhubarb cultivation in Leeds. Home to Joseph Whitwell who farmed 70 acres in the area and introduced forcing sheds to grow rhubarb in darkness, and then harvest it by candlelight. By 1871 he employed 28 people, supplied the Ritz in London, and the Royal Agricultural Society reported he was the ‘largest grower of forced rhubarb in any single location in the UK’. The Leeds Rhubarb Triangle provides unique conditions for the native Siberian plant, sited in a frost pocket behind the Pennines, with water from the River Aire flowing past Hollybush, plentiful cheap coal to heat the forcing sheds, and a secret ingredient ‘shoddy’ – woollen waste from nearby mills and weaving sheds that breakdown to feed the plants.
The Conservation Volunteers rescued the derelict Hollybush farmstead in 1979, working with apprentices and volunteers to restore its land and buildings. Hollybush is now a thriving conservation and wellbeing centre with gardens, woodland and community café. It supports 10,000 visitors and volunteers a year, many residing in the local council estates built on former rhubarb fields. In 2024 Historic England and the Leeds Civic Trust supported our community to explore the site’s history and restore the site and gardens for all to enjoy. We were delighted to be awarded a Leeds Civic Trust Blue Plaque to honour Hollybush’s history and place in the Yorkshire rhubarb story.
To celebrate 40 year of TCV at Hollybush the Friends of Hollybush set up a website and published a book on its history. Visit it here.
Inclusivity
Hollybush is a Safe Space and want everyone to have a rewarding and positive experience while volunteering with us. Our aim is to bring people and places together to create happy, healthy and connected communities for everyone. TCV is an inclusive organisation which works with groups from all backgrounds and is committed to the safeguarding of the groups with which we work. Our policies for working with vulnerable groups and for Equal Opportunities are available on our website. New volunteers are asked to sign a Code of Conduct developed to make sure all activities run safely, and everyone feels welcome.
Contact details and Social Media
The Conservation Volunteers
Hollybush Conservation Centre
Broad Lane
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3BP
Email: hollybush@tcv.org.uk
Telephone: 0113 274 2335
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