Isabella Tree and her husband, Charlie Burrell, strive to breathe new life into the ailing Knepp estate near Pulborough. A dying landscape is healed against all odds, and goes on to thrive in astonishing ways.
Imagine you’ve inherited a castle in West Sussex plus five square miles of farmland. You continue the family tradition of mixed arable and dairy farming, but the soil is so depleted that yields decrease, year on year. In 2000, faced with these dire circumstances, Isabella and Charlie took the risky decision. They abandoned farming, tore down the fences, introduced herds of Exmoor ponies, longhorn cattle and deer and some cute Tamworth pigs… and waited. 20 years later, largely by helping nature restore itself, Knepp has become a wildlife haven – and a beacon of hope for nature lovers. In this glorious documentary that engenders hope, you will be treated to beautiful Attenborough-style photography of the countryside reasserting itself and of the animals that returned to it. This is unmissable cinema (a huge hit across the country this Summer), and a source of pride for this area of the UK.
UK 2024 David Allen 75m
