Nature Recovery at Broughton Sanctuary

Our 3000 acre nature recovery project

The Broughton Sanctuary Nature Recovery Programme is a heartfelt commitment to address one of our deepest contemporary crises – our lack of harmonious co-existence with the Earth – an issue causing mass extinction of species across the globe as well as a deep lack of belonging for humanity.

NATURE RECOVERY : FAQs
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Our Duty

We feel it is our duty to leave the Broughton Sanctuary in a much healthier condition for generations to come and aim to demonstrate how humans can live in a more fruitful and positive partnership with the land, in a way which helps both nature and humanity to truly flourish.

How Are We Doing This?

To achieve this, we are transforming our 1030 hectares of high intensity sheep pasture into a mosaic of different habitats that coexist and work together, to not only produce food, but also work towards helping nature recover.

Within our land management plan we aim to migrate our intensive agriculture practices over towards a regenerative farming model that works to support nature. We have also dedicated some areas for rewilding, where we are working with nature, to get natural processes, the foundations of life, working again.

We are currently working on a new website to share our journey with you in detail, which we will launch in early 2024. In the meantime you can read a short summary on some of the work we have been doing over the last 3 years.

What Are We Doing?

As with all similar projects in areas heavily modified by humanity, we will need to carry out several interventions to kick-start the recovery of natural processes and thus nature recovery.
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Tree planting
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Natural regeneration of trees, scrub & grasslands
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The creation and restoration of wetland habitats
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Sensitive woodland management
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Our Contribution

This will be our contribution to the UK Government target to protect 30% of the country for nature by 2030 and so, wherever possible, these interventions will be carried out in collaboration with government agencies.

Why Are We Doing it?

As well as aiming to increase biodiversity and health and wellbeing opportunities for people, this nature recovery will also deliver a wide range of other benefits to society, known as “ecosystem services”. Through this project we are also helping to grow White Rose Forest, the community forest in North and West Yorkshire, and the larger Northern forest, which will stretch from Merseyside to the Yorkshire coast.
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Increase biodiversity
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Health and wellbeing opportunities

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Working to reduce flood risk downstream

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Carbon lock-up
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Rid ourselves of toxic chemicals and hormones
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Improve water quality in our rivers and streams

Our Philosophy Behind the Project

Rewild the Land, Rewild the Spirit

We recognise that to obtain peace within our ‘outer nature’ we must also obtain peace within our ‘inner nature’. The change we need to see will not only come through rewilding the land but also through rewilding the spirit.
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The Web Of Life

It is in our desperate search for more, bigger and greater that we have forgotten that we are not separate but in fact part of an interconnected web of life. Rewilding the spirit is about remembering that we all belong to the same web.
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Bound Together

We need this biodiverse web to contribute to the delicately running natural cycles that help make Earth habitable to humans and contribute to our way of life in many ways. Biodiversity is essential for this wide array of natural cycles to exist and thrive. One break in the chain can cause a major malfunction and halt these systems that we so heavily rely on. To preserve the processes that are most important to us, we must preserve them all.
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All Things Connect

The Broughton Sanctuary is dedicated to encouraging this reconnection of our ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ nature. We believe that with rewilding the land and kick-starting the recovery of natural processes in conjunction with rewilding the spirit through learning to live in compassionate reciprocity with nature we can heal both ourselves and our world.
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Follow Our Journey

Our rewilding journey has just begun on the Broughton Sanctuary and everything is “work in progress”. We are doing our best to engender changes sympathetically, and we recognise that we also need to be bold and brave if we are to achieve our objective to create a legacy project of great benefit to society for many generations to come.
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Channel 4 News

The Nature Recovery programme at Broughton was recently featured on Channel 4 news, click here to watch.
WATCH NOW
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Meet the Team

Coming Soon

Associates

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Common Questions Answered

Get Involved

If you have any questions or would like to contribute to our project, please talk to us.
Get In Touch
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Stay With Us

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Retreats

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People Working in Broughton Hall Red Drawing Room

For Your Work

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