Charity buys unique 150-hectare wildlife farm in Bedford

The Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants (WTBCN) has snapped up a unique farm in north Bedford which has been left to rewild for 25 years.

Surrounded by arable farmland, the 150-hectare Strawberry Hill at Knotting Green, is a unique opportunity to save a site rich in nature and create a wild visitor destination.

In the 1990s, an enlightened farmer gave up sowing crops and turned his land over to nature, Strawberry Hill has now been transformed from arable fields to the largest area of scrub and young woodland in the region.

A bird survey has also shown healthy populations of nightingales, willow warblers, whitethroats and garden warblers with habitat ideal for turtle doves.

With a farmhouse, barns, outbuildings and ample land, the site also presents an ideal location for a high-quality nature-based visitor attraction, with room for a visitor centre, café, nature trails, education facilities, offices as well as a forest school training centre.

Brian Eversham, WTBCN CEO, said: “The first time I saw Strawberry Hill I knew we had to save it – such an amazing place, on a scale we can rarely achieve in lowland Britain.

“Five times the size of an average nature reserve with 370 acres of flower-rich grassland, amid naturally-developing hawthorn and blackthorn, out of which rise magnificent old oak and ash trees, and the biggest stand of mature burred elm that I’ve seen.

"So I am very excited by the opportunity Strawberry Hill provides us and look forward to creating something really special here in the coming months and years.

“In order to give the trust time to raise the funds to purchase the freehold of the site, it has initially been bought by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Julia Davies of We Have the Power with help from some generous philanthropic lenders.

"We are extremely grateful to these partners who have ensured the site is safe from being returned to intensive agriculture, giving us the time to raise the funds needed through grants and an appeal.

"We will soon be embarking on a research and development project, engaging with local stakeholders and the community to ensure we create a site which attracts new audiences without impacting on the species present.”