Rewild the land, rewild the spirit

Beavers moved onto the Broughton Sanctuary this year. Last year, native cattle were introduced to the land; before that, iron age pigs. Trees have been planted and wetlands extended.

Since 2020, under the gentle stewardship of Roger Tempest and his expert team, The Wild began returning to this ancient land. People are coming too - to walk, swim, ride bikes, and to partake in fire ceremonies, woodland saunas, forest dining, and even to experience life as a forest creature!

Established in 1097, Broughton Hall has been home to the Tempests for more than 900 years. In the last two decades, farm buildings were turned into spaces for more than 50 companies, and there are holiday cottages, a bistro, and a state-of-the-art wellbeing retreat centre, all within 2,500 acres of spectacular landscape which is being regenerated.

Naturally healthy in body…

Roger, Broughton's current custodian, is full of energy, enthusiasm and passion to improve the estate for the benefit of everyone. He’s determined to leave the land in a healthier state for future generations. Its name change from Broughton Hall Estate to Broughton Sanctuary represents his vision of a regenerative space that’s rooted in the wellbeing of both humanity and the planet.

“At Broughton, we want to show that there is a way of living in harmony and connection with everything around us,” he says.

The work of regeneration and connection has been partly inspired by food - specifically, Roger’s vision of producing naturally healthy food. Food production here is in the form of foraging, allotments, orchards and raising cattle.

“We want to be able to give our children real food - at the moment there’s distance between what food really is and what food appears in the supermarket,” he says.

“We’re part of the movement to embrace organic, plant based food, the cleanest food possible - which is essentially going back to how food used to be.”

At the moment all the food produced goes back into the Broughton community, but the quantity and variety of food sourced on the estate is abundant and increasing.

… and soul

Broughton strives to provide a healthy, accessible space for people within nature. Broughton Sanctuary is considered to be one of the UK’s leading retreat centres. Visitors can Broughton Hall choose from activities at Avalon, the wellbeing centre, and out in the landscape.

The ‘be an animal’ experience, for example, involves a human sized nest and burrow and has the aim of helping us remember the wild animal within us. Odyssey, a self-guided nature recovery tour around the Sanctuary, is a journey of experiences for mind, body and spirit, with various trails and ways of exploring and learning about the landscape.

Roger feels that what’s going on at Broughton is part of a movement that is gathering momentum. He wants the Sanctuary to be a great example of how humans can live in a thriving partnership with nature. “It’s actually happening on the ground; it’s not an academic construct and it’s all grounded in common sense. We offer an antidote to urbanisation.

“As custodians of such a large area of land, there is a responsibility to the land and for the people who live in this country. As a population we can’t go on with just single use land, which is essentially what much of the country is.

“Broughton is a sanctuary, a wilderness that is needed. The result of putting nature in the driving seat changes the way we feel; it’s very, very rewarding, natural…inevitable…working with the systems. And it’s returning our mind, our soul and our hearts to happy. It’s rewilding the spirit.”

The story of Broughton Sanctuary’s rewilding

Conversations about the possibility of undertaking a nature recovery programme started in 2020. “When we first started talking about doing this, there was every reason not to do it,” Roger recalls. “There were so many hurdles we’d have to overcome, but we had to say ‘no, that’s not acceptable, we are doing it’. Time is not on our side, so we just had to get on with it.”

The aim was to move away from intensive sheep farming and give the land back to nature. Work began in 2021 and the speed at which things have progressed is impressive.

PHASE 1: resetting the landscape

Kelly Hollick, Broughton's Rewilding Project Manager, explains that this was about creating more complexity. With support from White Rose Forest, thousands of trees were planted by contractors, before volunteers and community groups took over. The estate has gone from 5% to 35% woodland, with 320,000 trees planted to date.

Nineteen native varieties of trees and shrubs create a mix of closed canopy woodland, areas of scrubland, and wood pasture, to build up a mosaic of different habitats.

Rewetting small areas of the estate was also one of the early tasks and this is now evolving into a plan for a wetland restoration area around an ancient oxbow lake. The aim is to make the area better for breeding wader birds such as curlew, lapwing, snipe and oyster catcher.

PHASE 2: bio-abundance

Moving away from a mono culture of intensive sheep farming allowed grasses to grow longer. As a result, insect life returned very quickly, creating a base layer or ‘food web’ of a bio-abundant landscape.

Kelly enthuses: “From just two species of grass, there are now insects everywhere at your feet and buzzing around your head. It’s incredible!”

The increase in insect life attracted small mammals like voles, which in turn brought more birds of prey like red kite, merlin, and sparrowhawk. All five UK species of owl now live here, with the short-eared owl looking to breed here for the first time in living memory.

Broughton’s environmental advisor Professor Alistair Driver conducts regular moth counts using a live trap. Five years ago, he was catching up to five different species with 20-30 in the trap. Now he regularly catches 35-40 different species with 500-1,000 in the trap.

The boom in flora and fauna is monitored and recorded, led by volunteer Dr David Cockburn. Today, there are 1,500 different species on the estate - from mosses to birds, and invertebrates to flowers.

PHASE 3: the phase of the beasts

The Iron Age pigs Roger introduced now live as wild animals, finding their own food and living as natural an existence as possible. The animals’ behaviour and presence in the landscape helps to create and maintain ecosystems, which draw in other species.

These pigs act like wild boar, turning over the earth andbreaking up the tight grass. This allows tree seeds to penetrate and wild plant seeds to get purchase, and creates microhabitats for mining bees, ants, invertebrates, and reptiles.

Introducing the beavers, another keystone species, was very exciting. Kelly explains: “They have been released into a woodland area that is currently quite basic, and will work to build a watery kingdom that creates more micro habitats.

“Beavers are natural coppicers so it means that the trees don’t grow too spindly, they’ll grow nice and bushy, creating a habitat for songbirds. The presence of the beavers means pools within the water course are warmer, so that’s another thing that leads to greater biodiversity; it’s a perfect environment for certain larvae. The wildlife is all part of everything co-existing, getting back to a natural state.”

Last year, native Riggit Galloway cows were introduced. With their hardy nature and adaptability, they are ideal for contributing to the rewilding process. The way they graze and roam freely, mimicking what the bison and elk used to do, is gentle on the landscape. “Even their hoof prints create habitats for insects to thrive”, says Kelly. “Unlike sheep, native Riggit Galloway cows are built for this environment.”

Roger Tempest and his team have been working hard at Broughton Sanctuary, and with a heartfelt commitment to improve the land for the benefit of all, exciting things will continue to happen here.