Very exciting to be here. But im trying to understand what has happened to this land of yours, because when you arrived here, this was an intensively farmed land, wasnt it . It was. My husband, charlie, inherited it from his grandparents when he was in his early 20s, and this was back in the 1980s. And every inch of the land was ploughed, it was producing arable crops and dairy. And we fully expected to be farmers for the rest of our lives. Mm. 17 years on, we were £1. 5 million in debt, tearing our hair out and realised that, you know, this is very marginal land. Were walking on 320 metres of clay, over a bedrock of limestone, and its an absolute pig to farm. So you were literally close to going out of business . Yeah, the farm was a failing business. And we did everything we could. We diversified, we tried different crops, we tried different cows. We sold ice cream. We did everything we could. But always it was this clay that was against us. So lets just stop for a second and look a
ah, well, it s actually still, for me, very exciting to be here. but i m trying to understand what has happened to this land of yours, because when you arrived here, this was an intensively farmed land, wasn t it? it was. my husband, charlie, inherited it from his grandparents when he was in his early 20s, and this was back in the 1980s. and every inch of the land was ploughed, it was producing arable crops and dairy. and we fully expected to be farmers for the rest of our lives. mm. 17 years on, we were £1.5 million in debt, tearing our hair out, and realised that, you know, this is very marginal land. we re walking on 320 metres of clay, over a bedrock of limestone, and it s an absolute pig to farm. so you were literally close to going out of business? yeah, the farm was a failing business. and we did everything we could. we diversified, we tried different crops, we tried different cows. we sold ice cream. we did everything we could. but always it was this clay that was ag
going to have housing, and that has to be where we ve got infrastructure, where we ve got transport. we can t have people getting into cars to get to work, to get to school. and we have to restore our ecosystems in the face of climate change and pollution and disease. we have to get populations of wildlife being able to connect together again. well, that s very interesting. ..or we re going to see a complete collapse in what remains of our wildlife in the uk. so, in this heavily, densely populated part of england, you re saying that what is it? 1,400 hectares that you currently are rewilding, you want that to massively expand? you want much more land. yes. ..devoted to the ecosystem. yes. ..that you re trying to produce here? absolutely. and we are committed. is that realistic? we are committed to that. you know, we have the montreal agreement, the cop15 agreement that 30% of terrestrial landmass has to be devoted to nature by 2030. that s seven years away.
where we will have housing. and that has to be where we have infrastructure, transport, we cannot have people getting into cars to get to work to get to school. and we have to restore our ecosystems, in the face of climate change, and pollution and disease. we have to get population of wildlife being able to connect together again. or we will see a complete collapse and what remains of our wildlife. collapse and what remains of ourwildlife. in collapse and what remains of our wildlife. our wildlife. in this densely populated our wildlife. in this densely populated part our wildlife. in this densely populated part of our wildlife. in this densely populated part of england, | our wildlife. in this densely - populated part of england, you are saying, the 1,400 hectares you currently ari wilding you want that to massively expand? you want much more land want that to massively expand? you want much more [and devoted to the ecosystem that you are trying to produce here? absolutely. i5
and that has to be where we ve got infrastructure, where we ve got transport. we can t have people getting into cars to get to work, to get to school. and we have to restore our ecosystems in the face of climate change and pollution and disease. we have to get populations of wildlife being able to connect together again. well, that s very interesting. ..or we re going to see a complete collapse in what remains of our wildlife in the uk. so, in this heavily, densely populated part of england, you re saying that what is it? 1,400 hectares that you currently are rewilding, you want that to massively expand? you want much more land. yes. ..devoted to the ecosystem. yes. ..that you re trying to produce here? absolutely. and we are committed. is that realistic? we are committed to that. you know, we have the montreal agreement, the copis agreement that 30% of terrestrial landmass has to be devoted to nature by 2030. that s seven years away.