clairedavieswriter

On my training ride today, I found myself looking at the passing scenery with fresh eyes, thanks to what I’ve learned so far from Wilding – Isabella Tree’s story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell are returning their Knepp estate in Sussex to nature.

I’m lucky enough to be able to ride straight from my house into open countryside, and I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of being out among nature. But before I began reading Isabella’s book it hadn’t really occurred to me how little of it was, strictly speaking, natural. Virtually every living thing I could see – from the crops in the fields and the woods on the hillside to the buzzard gliding overhead – was planted, controlled or influenced by human hand. Even when they appeared to be living as nature intended, it was only within the parameters we allowed, either deliberately or as a consequence of some other human intervention.

Wilding is beautifully written, and an education in British natural history – in both senses of the term. Crucially, in these days of grim climate news, it’s also a positive and inspiring story of nature’s ability to repair and restore itself, if we humans just give it a chance, and the benefits to us all if we do. My thanks to Harriet for recommending the book – I hadn’t realised when I bought it that Charlie Burrell was a trustee of Rewilding Britain, my chosen charity.