Tree Amble

Anyone in the "re-wilding" conversation will be well aware of Knepp - from Isabella's book on Knepp's ground breaking work to copious media reports, videos and personal testaments. But fewer folks will be aware of some of the deeper thinking that underlies the conversations about nature people and history and how do we restore vital habitats without erasing or better still positively respecting our culture and history? This podcast episode is of a 2025 meeting of ecologists and archaeologists who got together at Knepp to talk about just that! I hope you enjoy.... 

One of the most traditional forms of woodland management is that of coppicing - cutting a tree to its base, using the material you have cut to make things like tool handles, fencing or chair legs, letting the tree regrow and cutting it again later on. This craft and way of living has had something of a resurgence in South Cumbria with apprenticeships and co-ops now working to support young workers into a skilled and satisfying craft. Listen here to Sam and Emily on their work and life and ideas.... 

In this episode we meet Patricia Wiklund from Finland - recorded over TEAMS. Regular Tree Amble listeners will know we spent some time on Aland in 2025, Patricia was behind our journey there. Patricia's company, known as Invenire, has the ambition to create rural landscapes that are regenerative and thriving. It was set up to help farmers and companies design and deliver better, more equal, human-centric and regenerative systems products and services. Check out Invenire.fi - we hope you enjoy this episode.

In this episode of Tree Amble we meet Chris Clark of Nethergill Associates. Chris and his colleagues now work from a North Devon base, though we first came across him on farm in Cumbria. Nethergill Business Management Consultancy has developed a unique approach to farm management which seeks to find a sweet spot where the farm is most profitable which they call the maximum sustainable output (MSO).   To date Chris's team have analysed over 370 farm accounts from all types of farming enterprises, across the UK and overseas, and calculated the MSO for each one. Tree Amble is interested in Chris's work because there is a direct nature feedback. The Nethergill view is that by working in balance with nature and farming in a more regenerative way which maximises free energy (e.g. of sunlight) at MSO we are able to ensure that farm businesses plan for maximum profitability. Conversely money spent on bringing in energy to the farm from outside sources rarely sees itself being repaid.  To delve deeper into this matter have a look at their book "the Profitable Farm" by Chris Clark and Brian Scanlon, or check out their website.  I hope you enjoy our chat with Chris! 

Lynn Barnes kick started a veg revolution in Cumbria through her business Vista Veg. Since we chatted with Lynn about her early days growing vegetables and starting her veg box scheme. The box scheme she kicked off has grown and Vista Veg are now working with a number of other vegetable growers across Cumbria in a group called "Home Grown Here". The aim is clear - grown locally, grown responsibly and grown together. This project is supporting great food with low miles and lots of good organic credentials whilst employing people in rural Cumbria.  Please listen in and hear Lynn's story!

In summer 2025 Tree Amble was invited to the Finnish Island of Aland to meet with a group of people trying to safeguard and restore the traditional wood pastures on the island through regenerative practices. The project, run by Patricia Wiklund and her colleagues, is aimed at bringing farmers together to learn and discuss regen techniques and to look at ways of re-evaluating their traditional pastures in a modern way. They still have extremely biodiverse pastures scattered around more intensive farms. Whilst in Aland we met with farmers, project managers, the water company, foresters, chefs and Jenni who is promoting food tourism. We came away with 4 Tree Amble podcasts - this fourth episode is with Tage talking about how he came to be at his family farm, how he manages it with his son and his pride in his wood pastures.

In summer 2025 Tree Amble was invited to the Finnish Island of Aland to meet with a group of people trying to safeguard and restore the traditional wood pastures on the island through regenerative practices. The project, run by Patricia Wiklund and her colleagues, is aimed at bringing farmers together to learn and discuss regen techniques and to look at ways of re-evaluating their traditional pastures in a modern way. They still have extremely biodiverse pastures scattered around more intensive farms. Whilst in Aland we met with farmers, project managers, the water company, foresters, chefs and Jenni who is promoting food tourism. We came away with 4 Tree Amble podcasts - this third episode is with Anna and John in their organic / regenerative orchard, a real treat! Aland produces a lot of fruit and vegetables, mostly conventionally, but it was interesting to talk to a couple working with more natural approaches. 

In summer 2025 Tree Amble was invited to the Finnish Island of Aland to meet with a group of people trying to safeguard and restore the traditional wood pastures on the island through regenerative practices. The project, run by Patricia Wiklund and her colleagues, is aimed at bringing farmers together to learn and discuss regen techniques and to look at ways of re-evaluating their traditional pastures in a modern way. They still have extremely biodiverse pastures scattered around more intensive farms. Whilst in Aland we met with farmers, project managers, the water company, foresters, chefs and Jenni who is promoting food tourism. We came away with 4 Tree Amble podcasts - this second one is with chef Victor who promotes local and natural foods where he can. 

In summer 2025 Tree Amble was invited to the Finnish Island of Aland to meet with a group of people trying to safeguard and restore the traditional wood pastures on the island through regenerative practices. The project, run by Patricia Wiklund and her colleagues, is aimed at bringing farmers together to learn and discuss regen techniques and to look at ways of re-evaluating their traditional pastures in a modern way. They still have extremely biodiverse pastures scattered around more intensive farms. Whilst in Aland we met with farmers, project managers, the water company, foresters, chefs and Jenni who is promoting food tourism. We came away with 4 Tree Amble podcasts - this first one is with Patricia, Romy and Jenni. 

Claire Whittle is now very well known in the regenerative agriculture sphere - she has a significant presence on social media and talks both vocally and passionately about natural systems and managing animals as naturally as possible - indeed this comes across as soon as you get into conversation.  Claire trained as a vet and worked until recently in standard veterinary roles but became aware of the limitations of drug based therapies through her study of dung beetles. These small animals are so important to soil health and the cycling of nutrients yet are often missing on farms due to over medication and our now standard use of drugs and other chemicals on farms.  Claire now practices as the "Regen Vet" advising on more natural approaches to pasture and animal management. 

The fourth of our mini series talking with the team who manage Epping Forest - a 6000 acre ancient woodland which sits cheek by jowl with the City of London. The forest stretches from the core of the city right out to the M25. Now it also has an area called the Borderlands where there is potential to create a new forest extension and its here that we meet and talk with Tanith Cook who heads the conservation team for Epping Forest. We discuss the potential for landscape and nature enhancements in the Border Lands.   

John Phillips manages the long horn cattle in Epping Forest - John's episode is third in our series of 4 podcasts about Epping Forest. This amazing 6000 acre ancient woodland and site of special scientific interest is literally cheek by jowl with the city of London - the woodland sits mainly between the London boroughs of Chingford and Epping - an area of woodland that rises not far from the city and travels north and east out to the M25. Its management history goes back 1000's of years of cattle grazing and tree management through pollarding and coppicing of trees. Its conservation status is fascinating too as it was the first major win for conservation in the UK through the forest's acquisition and safeguarding by the City of London by act in 1878. Today the forest receives 10,000,000 visits a year. Our 4 episodes consider history and people, pollard management, cattle grazing and the future extension of the forest northwards. 

Andy's episode in second in our series of 4 podcasts about Epping Forest. This amazing 6000 acre ancient woodland and site of special scientific interest is literally cheek by jowl with the city of London - the woodland sits mainly between the London boroughs of Chingford and Epping - an area of woodland that rises not far from the city and travels north and east out to the M25. Its management history goes back 1000's of years of cattle grazing and tree management through pollarding and coppicing of trees. Its conservation status is fascinating too as it was the first major win for conservation in the UK through the forest's acquisition and safeguarding by the City of London by act in 1878. Today the forest receives 10,000,000 visits a year. Our 4 episodes consider history and people, pollard management, cattle grazing and the future extension of the forest northwards. 

Tom Boughton's episode kicks off our series of 4 podcasts about Epping Forest. This amazing 6000 acre ancient woodland and site of special scientific interest is literally cheek by jowl with the city of London - the woodland sits mainly between the London boroughs of Chingford and Epping - an area of woodland that rises not far from the city and travels north and east out to the M25. Its management history goes back 1000's of years of cattle grazing and tree management through pollarding and coppicing of trees. Its conservation status is fascinating too as it was the first major win for conservation in the UK through the forest's acquisition and safeguarding by the City of London by act in 1878. Today the forest receives 10,000,000 visits a year. Our 4 episodes consider history and people, pollard management, cattle grazing and the future extension of the forest northwards. 

James needs little by way of introduction - he's well known for his views on farming and both his books and many broadcasts and interviews he's had on the subject. We were lucky enough to have worked with James on the farm with various hedge and tree planting events over the years.  Enjoy an episode about farming planting trees and hedges and not losing productive land!

We meet coppice worker Lee Bassett on a Cumbrian farm talking about his work to bring farm woodlands back into economic use and value to farms. Given the increase in planting on farms we need to value wood on our farms either using it directly or for sale. Lee is especially interested in bringing sweet chestnut into use in Cumbria, and on this farm discusses how it might be planted, managed and used.   

In this episode we meet Maurice Pankhurst who spent his life working for nature and especially trees and woods. Maurice recently retired as the National Trust's forester for Borrowdale in the north of the English Lake District - and, for this interview, we meet him close to his home in Borrowdale for a walk in some of his favourite woods and trees. As with many people that work with natural systems the history of human engagement with them becomes very important as to how they were shaped and continue to be so. We discuss how busy with people, industry, grazing by cows and horses, fire and disturbance these woods would once have been yet they retained their inherent biodiversity and we go on to talk about the insidious loss that happens through modern forms of air pollution (from cars) and sometimes for the very protection measures we put in place. 

Andy and Kathy Swinscoe have developed, from very small beginnings, a cheese retail business that now employs over 20 people in the heart of Yorkshire.  The business has been located just outside Settle since 2017 and has grown to include the Cheese Shop, cheese production facility, museum and restaurant. Andy has spent a life in and around cheese both as a retailer and as maker in the UK and in France - his knowledge about cheese is astounding.  We went to interview Andy because of the effect his business is having on a small but beautiful resurgence of quality artisan farm cheeses in Yorkshire and the wider UK. Can we bring back jobs and culture, through farm house production, to our uplands which are suffering the loss of young people and jobs?

Mike has been ecologically monitoring habitat restoration sites for us for nearly a decade. He has shown to us several times over not just the value of monitoring change but also how, when you do monitor change after a habitat restoration project, nature responds rapidly.... but not always by the book! He has uncovered lots of positive changes that the textbooks say should not happen. The value of having a "Mike" in the team is enormous. This chat we had opens up some of Mike's findings and how he approaches monitoring. 

The second agroforestry show is coming to Woodoaks Farm, Maple Cross in Hertfordshire on 10th and 11th of September. Here at tree Amble we really support the bringing back together of trees and farming - particularly with all the benefits for animal welfare, productivity and nature that can be gained from well planned agroforestry systems. So, we went to chat with site manager Steve Dutch at Woodoaks and also met with Rose Lewis (Steve's boss!) to talk about how Woodoaks farm came to the SA and there thinking around soils and agroforestry.  

Part 2 of our conversation with Peter Livingstone at his not for profit tree nursery near Glasgow. We hear more about about the other species Peter is working on and more about his motivations, people and projects. 

As a younger man Peter got involved with remediating derelict land in Scotland's central belt. His work eventually exposed him to using trees to aid restoration and before long he discovered that aspen was used all over Europe for restoration but not at home. Research and grant aid later finds him collecting and growing aspen clones for planting on remediation sites and then a journey into trees.....

Mention Phil's name in West Cumbria and many folks will know him. He has created a wonderful community of people around him through his work as a basket maker and willow weaver. Phil grows willow and makes baskets but he also shares his knowledge widely and engages in many other willow related things - including river restoration! Phil is a complete gem and is great spend time with.

Rose, Anwen and I met at a farming conference and very quickly hit it off. We were all wondering why a tree lover and two archaeologists would spend a weekend talking about mob grazing and soils. Yet it is obvious really - learning about how we manage land reflects on where we have come from and how we might restore nature to farming once more. Rose and Anwen have such life and energy for their chosen subject!

Neil and Leigh Heseltine farm in the North Yorkshire village of Malham - famous for its amazing geology and beautiful setting. Neil's journey into farming with nature, in fact farming nature, is fascinating. He has moved from farming sheep to farming cattle. He loves the landscape he has farmed all his life and it comes across in this episode. 

In this episode of Tree Amble we head up to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park in Central Scotland to meet Hamish Thompson the Estate Manager of the Woodland Trust's largest single site Glen Finglas. Hamish and his team are responsible for managing over 4000 ha / 10,000 acres of ancient woodland, wood pasture, peat bog and mountain.  This is tree management on an epic scale and a day's walk around the tracks or up one of the Glen's hills is hardly enough to take in the scale of this landscape. Hamish's work crosses many disciplines but we meet him in a stand of ancient hazel talking about the importance of this species to ecology today and people in the past. 

Have you ever thought about beef or dairy from the cow's perspective? In this episode of Tree Amble we meet Dr Lindsay Whistance who has a life long passion for cows and is deeply concerned about our relationship with them. She works as the senior livestock researcher at the Organic Research Centre and has 4 themes to her work:  * Farm animal behaviour  * Participatory research and facilitation * Health and welfare planning and assessments * Role of trees and shrubs in landscapes and food systems for farmed animals I hope you enjoy this conversation!

We met Kate Hanley down at Dovestones just east of Oldham on a very wet day in 2024. Kate works for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and manages a brilliant project on land above Dovestones which is owned by water company United Utilities but leased to the RSPB for nature recovery. Kates work here is really drilling down into how we restore very degraded peat bogs - essential for carbon storage, water management [keeping water back for both flood prevention and droughts] and for nature. Our upland peat bogs have been hammered by pollution, extraction and drainage. But Kate's work is truly inspirational even if it is turning a few heads - birds are flooding back, insects galore but also trees are seeding into her project and this challenges the peat / tree dogma. This is one site visit which is well worth the walk! 

In this Tree Amble Special we went back to Torpenhow [pronounced Tre'pen'ah] - Mark and Jenny's Farm - and joined the Specialist Cheesemakers Association at their annual gathering. We had a ball with these amazing cheese makers eating and talking about the best of the best cheeses in the UK. These folks are brilliant food producers and all concerned with nature on land they manage or where their milk comes from and what it can do for good food taste and production. 

In this episode we talk to the brilliant Chantal Lyons about her book "Groundbreakers" which is all about Wild Boar. For us in the UK this is a challenging species which we hunted from our shores many years ago but for which there is an ecological argument for restoration. It is challenging this one though, they make a huge mess and are difficult to control at any level. But we should have a discussion about all and any species that were once here and see whether they may fit into our landscape again at some point. Chantal's book does the two side of this equation very well. I hope our interview brings out some of the best point on both sides. 

We took some time out last spring to head out to Lismore - a wee island a short ferry ride from Oban - to meet Claire and Mike on their beautiful productive and, as it turned out, biodiverse croft. Crofting is a very old tradition in Scotland with small areas of land managed for food production in often remote communities. Claire and Mike have created an oasis of life within their which produces lots of vegetables and fruits - but they also grow tea! The spring birds were a joy when we visited feasting off innumerable insects.  

Matson Ground is a traditional Lake District Estate with house, gardens and cottages (some available as holiday accommodation) a few small offices and about 500 ha of organic farmland situated just south and East of Windermere in the Lake District. In this Tree Amble episode we meet Madelaine who is the current owner of the estate which came into her family 100 years ago. We also meet Pete Webster - farm manager - and Luke Steer - woodland adviser. We talk about managing the estate and the new wood pasture project emerging under Luke's guidance.

Hedgerows / People's Trust For Endangered Species / Habitats / Conservation In this episode we meet Megan Gimber from the People's Trust for Endangered Species where she has worked since 2015. She is a self confessed hedgerow geek and has developed and manages two hedgerow survey for PTES. The Great British Hedgerow and Healthy Hedges. We meet and walk on a Cumbrian farm in July 2024.

Urban Gardening / Scouse Flower House / Postcode Gardener / Liverpool Tree Amble was invited to attend a conference hosted by the Chartered Institute of Ecological and Environmental Management in Liverpool in 2024. The idea behind the conference was to ask questions about how we engage people and landscape to restore both elements - how do we connect people with their environment and how do we restore biodiversity in tandem. This episode is full of urban voices with experience thrown in from gardeners, foresters and ecologists. We also take a tour around Liverpool looking at the amazing wildflower sites which Scouse Flower House have promoted. 

Wellbeing / Community / Vegetables  We met with Paul Cambre at the Growing Well plant nursery at Tebay Services to discuss the work of Growing Well and their recent move to create more projects at Tebay and Egremont in Cumbria. This fabulous charity works with people to improve their mental health and wellbeing through programmes based in cultivation of vegetables. Paul's experience and enthusiasm runs through this thoroughly enjoyable and uplifting chat. Please listen and enjoy!

Beavers / Re-introduction / Farming with Nature  We had a lovely meeting with Chris on our Oxford Real Farming podcast and decided then to have a longer follow up chat with him - and here it is. Because we are geographically about as far apart as we can be in England this chat was over TEAMS... the joys of modern comms! Chris is very much the farmer but as you'll hear in this conversation he absolutely sees the value in and of farming with nature. He has brought back those amazing eco engineers, beavers, to his Cornwall farm and clearly loves it! Please take a listen.

Lentils / Dal / Protein / Legumes / Climate positive Agriculture Welcome to a delicious edition of Tree Amble! In July we headed off to the second annual Dal festival on Wakelyns Farm in Suffolk. David and his team, with support from Hodmedods, started growing lentils in their agroforestry system in 2023 and held their first Dal celebration in 2023. We joined them to celebrate the second festival and on the way got to talk Dal with 5 chefs creating dishes fom India, Africa and Afghanistan as well and climate and diet with some of the 150 people attending. We hope this edition gets the taste buds going!  

Rivers / River Restoration / Habitat Creation / Fish / Climate Change  In this episode of Tree Amble, the first of Series 4, we meet George Heritage who has made a career out of understanding rivers and now works to restore them for biodiversity and water management and we go out to the riverside with a team from West Cumbria Rivers Trust and volunteers to monitor a stretch of river for its fish population. Jonny and Ruth use a method call "eclectro fishing" to count fish of all sizes in a stretch of river and then, through repeat surveys see how fish populations change over time and over the catchment. They can easily see the effect of poor habitat or pollution incidents and then work to change it with farmers and land owners.  In other words this one is all about rivers and what we can do to help restore and revitalise them. Have a listen!

Landscape Scale Restoration / Community Projects / Upland Scotland / Rural Community  In this Tree Amble episode we hear from a range of great people engaged on landscape scale restoration in North West Scotland - notably on the Assynt Foundation land and the Woodland Trusts Loch Arkaig woodland restoration project. We hear about community engagement, tree planting and woodland management, specialist kit removing timber across lochs, living and working in remote communities and wild life management.  We hope you enjoy this Tree Amble into the far north west! 

Organic Dairy / Milk / Manging Organic Land / Bore Place  In this Tree Amble we meet Dan Burdett who is the farm manger on the 500-acre regeneratively managed historic estate of Bore Place, an hour south London. Dan is an experienced organic dairy man with his feet in two farms - we meet him at work at Bore Place.  The farm's focus is on organic farming and regenerative land management whilst supporting people to live happy, fulfilling, and sustainable lives. It offer educational programmes for school children and young people, holiday stays, group retreat accommodation, marked trails to explore the estate and farm, and a programme of public events. The recording on this podcast is a little marred by the dairy chiller in the back ground.. but, hey ho - it shows we were where we said we were! 

Trees / Veteran Trees / Ancient Trees / journey on foot  Martin Hügi took a four-month sabbatical to walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats. Dubbed the ‘Tree Pilgrim’ he set out to meet thousands of incredible trees on his special journey. He wanted to spend time connecting with some of our oldest living things in the countryside - to learn more about them and the people and landscape around them and to bring about a greater level of protection for them. Martin accepts that he is obsessed by trees. Did he get to John O'Groats... well no... he didn't but he had an amazing journey none the less...!

Soils / Earth Worms / Fungi / Compost / Nematodes  In today's episode we meet Kate Roberts and have a brilliant conversation about what is going on beneath our feet! Kate is delightfully obsessed by how soils work and what drives fertility at a soil and then field level. She has created her own "not for profit" to train people in the diversity of life below the soil surface and in what we can do to increase and look after it - we talk about nematodes, arthropods and earthworms as well as composts and compost teas. This conversation was a real eye opener for Tree Amble!

Emergency medicine / nature / wellbeing in nature / gardening / swifts and swift boxes / tree planting  Emergency doctor and nature lover Beanie Merson is more than an inspiration! This episode is about how anyone can pick up the nature bug and start with small scale projects that help transform an area.  Beanie came into practicing medicine during covid - she was one of a generation of doctors who came out into the world at a time of massive stress and when we needed them like rarely before. We met Beanie when she stared talking to people in her village about conservation... then got some folks on board to plant trees in their edges.... then went on to create a swift project locally.. and now campaigns for swift protection and gets her husband to make swift boxes.

Arable Farming / Grants / Agri-envirnoment / Minimum Tillage  In this episode of Tree Amble we headed off to Norfolk to meet Gavin Lane to talk about his efforts to change farming practices on the two holdings he manages. We talk about reducing tillage and the the use of agri-environment grants as a route to fund changes in approach, Pete admits to being a bit out of his depth on this one - not knowing the ins and outs of the arable sectors as well as others, but we hope its an interesting listen! 

Lake District / Farming / Food production / Food Supply / Rural Jobs  Tree Amble went to meet the team at Lake District farmers for a chat about their role in bridging the gap between quality meat production in Cumbria's Lake District and markets for that meat further south. The company was set up to create a value chain which brought back more income to the upland farmers of Cumbria and which created a sustainable quality meat supply.  As Pete is a vegetarian - and has been for over 3 decades - this might be a difficult place to go for a conversation. But the aim of the podcast is to talk about good land management and how we get there using all the tools we have and maintaining rural livelihoods and cultures. Animals are now and will always be par of this landscape - it is how we manage and value them which is key. Have a listen and enjoy!

River Restoration / Natural Flood Management / Biodiversity / Salmon / Ponds / Water  Danny Teasdale is one of those characters who pops up in a a generation for whom a pathway was not built for them but somehow the life before leads to the life after... as a mechanic and very capable machinery man he spent his youth chasing after salmon in streams and rivers around Ullswater in the Lake District of northern England. I have worked with Danny on many small projects over about 12 years but after major flooding in the Lakes in 2019 he managed to bring his love of rivers and streams and his ability with machines into a small business doing river restoration, pond building and habitat restoration around water -Ullswater Catchment Management CIC was born! Amazingly even in Cumbria over 75% of our water courses have been changed by people - deepened, dredged and straightened - losing much of the naturalness which supports insect and fish populations. In this episode Danny and I tale a walk along a beck (the name for a small stream in Cumbria) where he has worked with landowners to restore natural features ...... and we find spawning salmon! 

Organic Vegetables / Mental Health / Wellbeing / Tree Planting / Pond Creation / Flower Growing / Community We spent a lovely morning with Abby and some of the local community who come together, when they want to, to grow veg and cut flowers on this amazing small plot of land in North Yorkshire. I met Abby a few years back when she had just started the project by buying a bit of land from a neighbour and inviting local folks to help plant trees and a hedge. Since then this project has grown into Holme Grown Eastby which now, in the summer, supplies veg boxes to 2 villages along with lovely cut flowers - producing food and importantly bringing isolated local people together to work as a team - its a brilliant wee project! 

Ancient Woodland / Cumbria / Rainforest / Farmer / Conservation  I met Jamie Chaplin Brice on a very wild wet woolly day in January and we went for a wander in one of our local ancient woods. Jamie is a lover of woods and woodlands and is a very capable maker of beautiful furniture. He is also a farmer. So, Jamie bridges the gap between farmer and woodsman. We talk here about the things we see on our woodland walk.  Ancient woodland in the UK is now a rare habitat as people through development and agriculture have eroded what was once a very significant woodland cover. In some areas with the right climate and rainfall we can also say that this ancient woodland is rainforest - and our temperate rainforests are just as important as others around the world. 

Sheep Farming / Tree Planting / Upland farming / Water / Nature / Tree Planting  If you know the Lakes and perhaps have walked in the fells north of Ambleside you will likely have past Chris at some point or more likely his sheep and cows. His tenanted farm must be in one of the most iconic locations we have - tucked in as it is below Fairfield. But it was once much more tree'd so we have been working with Chris now for over a decade trying to see how we can integrate trees into his farming system - notably via a higher level stewardship scheme. When first met Chris we probably had one of those standard adviser / land manager slightly stilted relationships. But as time has gone on we have become friends and the occasions we can share a cuppa around the kitchen table are always fun and stimulating. The farm is about to launch into its next scheme and trees are again a very significant part of the deal... as is good grazing management. 

Farming / Rewilding / Native Breen Cattle / Climate: Chris, Helen and the family agreed several years ago that they were increasingly concerned about the state of nature and that, with some money they had at hand, they would buy some land in North Yorkshire for a tree planting project. I met Chris and Helen around this time more or less when they had acquired their first site. We talked about possible outcomes and went on to create a woodland with wildflowers much like Alwyn did [see one of earlier episodes - Alwyn's Forest of Flowers].  Since then they have acquired more land and started a farming and wildlife operation and employing a small team under the banner "Make it Wild". This interview is with Chris at a gorgeous site which links a low input farming system with ancient woodland and scrub restoration.