In the early years of the 21st century, the new farming mantras were working closely with Nature, local provenance and diversification. Whether organic or non-organic, all the best examples in the media seemed to emerge from smaller units, partly because they had an inbuilt flexibility lacking in larger, more traditionally run farms and because innovators and new entrants to the industry tend to start from modest beginnings. However, it’s never been true that big is always bad. These larger farms and estates are exemplars of sustainable farm practice.
Glenfeshie, Cairngorms
Danish entrepreneur Anders Holch Povlsen, whose fortune was amassed by building an international fashion business, calls Wildland —a project encompassing several estates— a masterplan to revive the native flora and fauna of the Scottish Highlands, which have been depleted by centuries of overgrazing by sheep and deer (www.wildland.scot). According to him and his wife, Anne, it is: ‘A lifelong commitment… not only for ourselves, but for the Scottish people and Scottish Nature, too.’
At the core of the 220,000 acres of land acquired across 11 estates is his first purchase, Glenfeshie, in the Cairngorms, bought in 2006. ‘Already, we’ve doubled the size of the Caledonian pine forest on the estate to more than 4,000 acres of natural tree regeneration,’ says Thomas MacDonell, director of conservation. ‘This was achieved by culling red deer down to the required density to allow the likes of Scots pine, aspen, bog bilberry and greater woodrush to re-establish themselves.’ An additional 4½ million trees have been planted across the estates to allow future connectivity of habitats and to act as a seed source for the next 200 years.
Denne historien er fra May 19, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra May 19, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
