Sunnyside Rural Trust

What Sunnyside Rural Trust does

Sunnyside Rural Trust is a registered UK charity and social enterprise (Charity Registration No: 1004262, founded 1990) headquartered in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, providing training and work experience to over 170 vulnerable adults with learning disabilities. Its operational model centers on a "plot to plate" cycle spanning beekeeping, animal care, horticulture, landscaping, garden maintenance, café and farm shop operations, and PAT testing, delivered across five sites in Dacorum (Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, Northchurch, Bedmond). The trust generates revenue through multiple social enterprise channels: professional gardening and landscape services to commercial and residential clients; plant sales at The Orchard Nursery including perennials and bedding plants; a subscription vegetable box scheme; and retail operations through two cafés, two farm shops, and a weekly market stall.

The underlying technical base is horticultural and operational rather than digital: organic composting (using chicken waste to improve soil), rainwater harvesting for irrigation, solar panels at Northchurch for heating and lighting, transition to rechargeable battery-powered tools, and recyclable/compostable packaging for the veg box scheme. The trust holds no patents, has no app, and operates with no disclosed digital platform or AI components. Core environmental practices are described as part of the organization's DNA rather than as proprietary technology.

Commercial traction rests on a high-credibility reputational stack: 2025 National SME Gold Award for Positive Impact, Investor in People Gold, Hertfordshire Care Award, Disability Confident Leader, RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal featuring, an MBE for the CEO in the 2025 New Year Honours, and an "excellent" PAMMS rating from Dacorum Borough Council. Customer/beneficiary base is split between individual trainees (people with learning disabilities) and local consumers purchasing plants, produce, and café items, with a smaller segment of mid-market commercial clients for gardening services. Go-to-market is community-led through newsletters, social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram), and local events.

Name

Sunnyside Rural Trust

Legal name

Sunnyside Rural Trust

Website

https://sunnysideruraltrust.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sunnyside Rural Trust is a UK charity and social enterprise providing training and work experience to over 170 adults with learning disabilities across five Hertfordshire sites, funding operations through gardening services, plant sales, a vegetable box scheme, cafés, farm shops, and a market stall.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Charitable Vocational Training and Social Enterprise

NAICS

Landscaping Services (561730), Landscaping Services (56173), Soil Preparation, Planting, and Cultivating (115112)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700), Retail-Building Materials, Hardware, Garden Supply (5200)

akta.pro primary industry

Lawn Rolling, Leveling & Topdressing (HSAIAAAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Lot Clearing, Land Clearing & Brush Removal (HSAIADAH), Land Clearing & Field Reclamation Services (Brush, Stump Removal) (AFACAAAJ)

Keywords

• Horticultural training services
• Social enterprise charity
• Learning disability employment
• Organic horticulture farms
• Community wellbeing programmes

Headquarters

HQ city

Northchurch

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Gardening and landscape services: Providing gardening and landscape maintenance services to clients in the local community.
2. Plant sales (perennials and bedding plants):
3. Vegetable box scheme:
4. Cafés, farm shops and market stalls:

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Sunnyside Rural Trust is a UK charity and social enterprise that provides training and work experience for over 170 people with learning disabilities in rural activities, including beekeeping, animal care, plant cultivation, landscaping, and garden maintenance. It operates a 'plot to plate' cycle running nurseries, vegetable box schemes, cafés, farm shops, and gardening services across multiple sites in Dacorum, Hertfordshire. Revenue from these commercial activities funds its charitable mission of vocational training and community wellbeing support.

Product overview

Sunnyside Rural Trust operates as a single unified social enterprise offering training and work experience for over 170 vulnerable people with learning disabilities. The organization provides a portfolio of integrated products and services centered on rural activities including horticulture (The Orchard Nursery, bedding plants, perennial plants, veg box scheme), food retail (cafés, farm shops, market stall), environmental services (gardening and landscape work, woodland play), and community wellbeing support. These offerings form a cohesive ecosystem designed around the full plot-to-plate cycle—from sowing seeds and nurturing plants to selling produce in farm shops—with sites across Dacorum in Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, and Northchurch.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Connect To Work: A project dedicated to supporting people with learning differences to find employment.
• Growing Connections
• The Orchard Nursery

Products and services

• The Orchard Nursery A plant nursery specialising in orchard and perennial plants, operated at Serge Hill Lane, Bedmond, providing horticulture training and work experience for people with learning disabilities.
• Veg Box Scheme & Produce Subscription-based seasonal vegetable box delivery service featuring produce grown at Sunnyside sites using organic standards, supporting the full plot-to-plate cycle.
• Bedding Plants Seasonal bedding plants grown by trainees with learning disabilities, sold to the local community.
• Gardening & Landscape Work Professional gardening and landscape maintenance services offered to commercial and residential clients using battery-powered tools for environmental sustainability.
• Cafés, Farm Shops & Market Stall Retail outlets including Sunnyside Up Café & Farm Shop (Hemel Hempstead), Northchurch farm shop & café, The Kitchen Café at The Forum, and weekly market stalls selling on-site grown produce and plastic-free lifestyle products.
• Community Wellbeing Service Community wellbeing service providing therapeutic gardening, animal care, cooking and nutrition, crafting, and nature-based interventions for people in need, branded as Growing Connections.
• Woodland Play Outdoor woodland play activities for children and families held at Sunnyside sites in natural settings.
• PAT Testing Portable Appliance Testing service offered as a social enterprise activity, providing work experience for trainees.
• Support to Gain Employment Employment support programme connecting people with learning differences to job opportunities, operated under the Connect to Work initiative.
• Events & Workshops Community events, workshops, and educational activities including art fairs, open garden days, and school farmstead projects at Sunnyside sites.

Quantifiable outcome

• Training over 170 vulnerable people with learning disabilities
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Kings Langley Secondary SchoolcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Collaboration on the 'Farmstead' project at Kings Langley Secondary School, bringing horticultural training opportunities to students.
• David Taylor MPminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2025Local MP visited Sunnyside to learn about the Connect To Work project supporting people with learning differences to find employment.
• Mount Vernon Cancer Treatment CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Sunnyside is involved in a garden design project with Matthew Biggs and team to enhance the Hospital Garden at Mount Vernon Cancer Treatment Centre, creating a healing garden for patients.
• Matthew BiggscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Celebrity gardener leading the Mount Vernon Cancer Treatment Centre garden makeover project with Sunnyside Rural Trust.
• NGS (National Garden Scheme)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2024Sunnyside participates in National Garden Scheme events and their artisan tools were featured in an NGS Gold Medal winning Chelsea Show Garden.
• School of Social EntrepreneursminorOthersCEO Keely Siddiqui-Charlick undertakes work for the SSE, using Sunnyside as an example to inspire other charities to move into trading.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Mencap: The UK's leading learning disability charity, supporting employment, training and advocacy — relevant as the dominant incumbent Sunnyside partners with and is benchmarked against, even though its scope is broader than horticulture-based training.
• United Response: A national UK charity supporting people with learning disabilities and mental health needs, operating several social enterprises including horticulture and gardening services — comparable trading activities though at greater scale and broader geographic reach.
• MacIntyre: A national UK charity providing learning disability services including education, supported living, and employment, with horticultural and land-based activities — comparable in mission and multi-site operating model though more dispersed geographically.
• Hft: One of the UK's largest charities supporting people with learning disabilities, with a portfolio including farms, gardens, and social enterprise trading — overlapping with Sunnyside's mission and mixed-activity model, but at significantly larger scale.
• Sense: A major UK charity supporting people with complex disabilities, including learning disabilities, through housing, employment, and wellbeing services — a broader peer in mission but with overlapping service categories like wellbeing and supported employment.

Regional players

• Thera Trust: A UK charity supporting people with learning disabilities through a group of registered providers operating across multiple regions — relevant comparator for charity governance and learning-disability service delivery, though operating outside Sunnyside's geography.

Direct peers

• Commonwork: An organic farm and social enterprise in Kent offering training opportunities and selling produce through farm and café operations — directly comparable to Sunnyside's plot-to-plate organic social enterprise structure.
• Horticap: A UK charity in Yorkshire providing horticultural therapy, training, and work experience for adults with learning disabilities and mental health needs, selling plants and produce — the closest operational analogue to Sunnyside's horticultural social enterprise model.
• Camphill Communities UK: A network of intentional communities across the UK providing supported living and work opportunities (including land-based work) for people with learning disabilities and other support needs — comparable in combining rural activity with vocational outcomes.

Others

• Greenfingers Charity: A UK charity creating inspiring gardens for children in hospices and their families — adjacent rather than directly competitive, sharing the horticulture-meets-charity theme and complementary in the wider social-impact gardening ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sunnyside_news
• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/Sunnyside-Rural-Trust/441473342555414
• LinkedInuk.linkedin.com/company/sunnyside-rural-trust
• Instagraminstagram.com/sunnysider

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sunnyside Rural Trust