I’ve just finished this: ‘Wilding’ by Isabella Tree.
It’s the story of them returning their 3,500 acre Knepp estate in Sussex to wilderness; a farm estate the family had owned since the 1700’s.
It is an absolute mine of information presented in a very readable style that documents the trials and tribulations, as well as the successes and celebrations, of transforming a heavily ‘processed’ farm to as close to a natural British wilderness as possible. It covers a lot more besides: issues with farming policy and subsidy; the reticence of British Government to grasp some of the concepts now being implemented in Europe and the USA; problems with the British food chain and associated ill-health; and, of course, the needs of native wildlife in Britain.
I am not convinced by all of Ms Tree’s arguments, and she occasionally states as fact some things I would rather see presented as hypothesis, but it is, without doubt, a very useful source of information and an ideal focal point for discussion and learning.
I recommend it.
It’s the story of them returning their 3,500 acre Knepp estate in Sussex to wilderness; a farm estate the family had owned since the 1700’s.
It is an absolute mine of information presented in a very readable style that documents the trials and tribulations, as well as the successes and celebrations, of transforming a heavily ‘processed’ farm to as close to a natural British wilderness as possible. It covers a lot more besides: issues with farming policy and subsidy; the reticence of British Government to grasp some of the concepts now being implemented in Europe and the USA; problems with the British food chain and associated ill-health; and, of course, the needs of native wildlife in Britain.
I am not convinced by all of Ms Tree’s arguments, and she occasionally states as fact some things I would rather see presented as hypothesis, but it is, without doubt, a very useful source of information and an ideal focal point for discussion and learning.
I recommend it.