346 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
346 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
sponsored
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motoring
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countryside-life
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7859270
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# The British countryside's natural beauty
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## Christopher Middleton discovers how humans and wildlife can live in
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harmony together in the most unlikely locations.
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![Tern - British Countryside][1]
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Species such as the Tern have flourished, thanks to bodies such as the
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National Trust
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Christopher Middleton 4:34PM BST 28 Jun 2010
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In a cloudless blue sky, a snow-white tern hovers hungrily over one small
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corner of a lake. As if to give him space, a crowd of smaller, brown birds
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flies away from the water's edge, skimming across the bulrushes like tiny
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surfers over the tops of waves.
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Suddenly, the tern dives down into the water, emerging a second or two later
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and then soaring triumphantly back up into the air. You can clearly see the
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outline of a fish, struggling in his beak. At least you can until you lose it
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against the drab, 15-storey backdrop of Charing Cross Hospital.
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Yes, this little slice of rural life is being served up not in the middle of
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England's apple-pie countryside, but half a mile from Hammersmith Broadway, at
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the Barnes Wetland Centre, in south-west London. Technically, then, this isn't
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the countryside, but, when it comes to the preservation and protection of
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flora and fauna, the same rules apply here as in the very remotest rural
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uplands of the UK.
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"If we didn't control this stuff, it would take over the place in 20 years'
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time," says John Arbon, the Wetland Centre's reserve manager, pointing at a
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mass of phragmites, or Norfolk reeds. "And I mean, take it over completely.
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You could say you were letting nature take its course, but at the same time,
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you'd lose any kind of biodiversity."
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To whit, the 180 species of bird that visit this site in any one year; not to
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mention the 24,000 schoolchildren who come to see them. So, while it looks on
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the surface as if Mother Nature is in charge of the Barnes Wetland Centre, it
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is, in fact, the humans who work for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust who are
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steering the ship.
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## Related Articles
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* [Guest of honour][2]
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26 Jul 2010
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* [Coast to coast cycle][3]
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28 Jun 2010
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* [Lucky River Severn][4]
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30 Jun 2010
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Fifteen years ago, this 100-acre site was just watery gravel pits. Since then,
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its two-footed custodians have introduced 27,000 trees, 300,000 plants and all
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kinds of animals from slow worms to grass snakes. Because the Thames here is
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too salty for freshwater birds, the centre managers get their lake water not
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from the handily-placed river, 50 yards away, but from a giant tunnel that
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links south-west and north-east London. They've built special wooden platforms
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for the terns to nest on, and artificial riverbanks with holes in, for the
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sand martens to occupy when they fly over from Africa.
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"The crux of the matter," says Arbon, "is that we are both a nature reserve
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and a visitor attraction."
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As is, of course, the whole of the British countryside. In fact, there's not a
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single rural location, however far-flung, where some kind of compromise does
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not have to be achieved between the requirements of nature and of humankind.
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"Really, there is no such thing as natural countryside," says Jack Neill-Hall,
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of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). "It's all managed by humans
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in one way or another."
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Absolutely true, of course, though that management comes in many forms, from
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individual volunteers right up to large-scale professional organisations. And
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they don't come larger than the National Trust, which, as well as looking
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after the country's stately homes, is also responsible for the agricultural
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estates on which those homes sit.
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In all, there are some 1,500 tenant farmers working on National Trust land.
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So, while romantically-moated Scotney Castle, in Kent, is producing a crop of
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paying visitors, the hop fields around it are producing beer. In the same way,
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the orchards at 18th-century Killerton House, in Devon, are supplying the raw
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materials for cider and chutney, while the deer grazing today beside 17th-
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century Belton House, in Lincolnshire, are the much sought-after venison of
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tomorrow.
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What's more, the National Trust is increasingly directing its gaze out of the
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drawing room window and across the fields.
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"The countryside is becoming a far more important part of the trust's
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portfolio," says Simon Jenkins, the NT's chairman. "For while the threat to
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the country's big houses has, for the most part, passed, that's not the case
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with our coastline and uplands."
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Which means that as well as just issuing entrance tickets to handsome country
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houses, the trust is also getting involved in countryside management, financed
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in part by charging for rural and coastal car parks.
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"We provide parking spaces and visitor centres at many of the best surfing
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beaches in Britain, particularly in Devon and Cornwall," says Jenkins. "We've
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established ourselves very firmly with the surfing community, and have even
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produced a manual on surfboard etiquette!"
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But what happens if, unlike the National Trust, you don't happen to have a
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nationwide network of subscription-paying members, or a steady stream of
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income from car parks? If you're just a farmer, or a small landowner, how can
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you even begin the costly business of countryside-conserving? That's where
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Natural England comes in.
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As well as looking after 4,000 unglamorous but environmentally-important areas
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such as the Humberhead Levels, in Yorkshire (rich in peat and bog asphodels),
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Natural England operates what's called an Environmental Stewardship Scheme.
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Each year, it gives out £400 million of government money to farmers who sign
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up to an arrangement whereby they undertake to encourage more birds and
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animals, improve water quality and generally promote biodiversity on their
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land (pay-outs range from £12-£25 per acre).
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Mind you, successfully upping the number of winged visitors to your land is
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not just a matter of putting out more birdseed and trousering the grant.
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Indeed, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds runs an entire, 450-acre
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farm just outside Cambridge, showing landowners and soil-tillers how best to
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boost their bird population.
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"We demonstrate how it's possible to grow a good wildlife crop alongside a
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good arable crop," says Chris Bailey, the RSPB's project manager at Hope Farm,
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in Knapwell. "There are three main things which you need to have in place, in
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order to attract farmland birds like the yellowhammer, whitethroat and grey
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partridge.
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"First, you need to keep some areas uncut during winter, to provide cover and
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food. Second, you need to clear patches of bare ground in the middle of your
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wheat crop, for the birds to nest in. And third, you need a plentiful supply
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of insects during the summer, for the chicks to feed on."
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Follow these guidelines, the RSPB tells visiting farmers, and you can triple
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the bird population on your land. However, according to author Bill Bryson,
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it's not just people who work in the countryside who can improve it, but the
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people who drive through it, too.
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As well as being a celebrated writer and Brito-phile, Bryson is the president
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of the CPRE, in which capacity he has launched an initiative called Stop the
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Drop, encouraging people not to leave litter in the countryside.
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"Nowhere in the world is there a landscape more lovely to behold, more
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comfortable to be in, more artfully worked, more visited and walked across and
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gazed upon than the countryside of England," he says. "And nowhere in the
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world is there a more unappetising sight than that of car drivers rolling down
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their windows to throw out trash.
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"In the cities, it gets cleared up, but in the countryside it can sit for
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months, or years, on a motorway grass verge or a railway embankment. So we
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need people just to hold on to that McDonald's wrapper until they get where
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they're going. It would only take a small shift in thinking, but it would have
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a big impact on how the countryside looks."
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Of course, the biggest problem facing champions of Britain's countryside is
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the fact that most people live in towns. Not only do a mere one per cent of
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the population work in front-line food growing, but the average Briton is five
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generations removed from anyone who has ever worked on the land.
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Which means organisations such as the Countryside Alliance have to engage not
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just in lobbying the great and good, but in doing missionary work among
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Britain's townies, especially the younger generation.
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Hence the alliance's annual Connect with the Countryside event, in Sussex, to
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which 2,500 schoolchildren come each year (2009 highlight: the sheep-shearing
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roadshow). In addition, the CA promotes clay pigeon-shooting for women, helps
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inner-city teenagers into rural employment, such as 17-year-old trainee
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gamekeeper Harry Mosley, from Vauxhall, and brings the countryside into the
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school corridors, by putting on shows such as the Falconry Day, at Treloar
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School, in Hampshire (birds soaring through the air at morning assembly).
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Nor is the alliance the only organisation interested in catching them young.
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Each summer, Leaf (Linking Environment and Farming) holds an Open Farm Sunday
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at which 400 farmers tie back their gates and let the public in (listeners to
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The Archers will have heard Ruth and David's efforts this year).
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In similar vein, the Soil Association has a network of 110 demonstration
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farms, offering everything from DIY farm trails to guided school visits to
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breadmaking and beekeeping courses. All a far cry from the days when a
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farmer's standard reaction to strangers was to unleash the dog.
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Another organisation which has taken down the Keep Out signs is the Forestry
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Commission, which invites schools not just to come into its woods, but to take
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part in rumbustious den-building sessions, using ferns, logs, fallen branches
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and anything else to make a forest hideaway.
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"The children absolutely love our Forest School Wednesdays," says Kate
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Hockley, a teacher at Radwinter Primary School, in rural Essex (total number
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of pupils 84). "As a teacher, you get the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes
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when you know you're doing something truly worthwhile."
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A sensation not unfamiliar to former motor racing star Jody Scheckter, Formula
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One world champion in 1979, but for the past 14 years the owner of Laverstoke
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Park, a gigantic farm estate in Hampshire, which he runs according to a
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pesticide-free, organic-plus code called biodynamics.
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Four years ago, Scheckter was listed as having a personal fortune of £90-£100
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million (he set up a lucrative firearms simulation training system after
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leaving motor racing). Now his bank balance is more commonly quoted at £60
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million, thanks to the huge investment he's put into Laverstoke: the farm has
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its own abattoir, vineyard and salami-production unit, as well as large herds
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of buffalo, wild boar, rare breed pigs, Hereford cattle and Hebridean sheep.
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His mozzarella is in 206 Waitrose stores, and his biltong is in both Harrods
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and Harvey Nichols, but what he's proudest of, is the purity of his soil.
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"Everything - and I can't stress this too strongly - begins with the soil," he
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says. "In just one spadeful of soil, there are more living organisms than
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there are people on this planet."
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And after more than a decade, is the estate making any money? There is a
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pause.
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"You know, if anything, I should have taken things slower," he replies, in his
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characteristically mournful way. "We're trying to do so much here, probably
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more than any other estate in the world."
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So that's a "no", then. At the same time, though, you can hear the I Did It My
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Way satisfaction in his voice, and the same is true for countryside pioneer
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Nigel Lowthrope, whose eco-principles have also left him less financially
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well-off. Reason being, that, having bought 32 acres of Lincolnshire woodland,
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he not only opened up a rural enterprise project on the land, but gave away 22
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of those acres in perpetuity, to that selfsame project.
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For nine years, Lowthrope and family lived in a caravan on site, and have only
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recently moved into their newly built wooden house. Meanwhile, his Hill Holt
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Wood project has grown in size, and not only employs 30 people, but trains
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scores of socially excluded groups in everything from carpentry to gardening,
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from woodcutting to housebuilding. Profits are shared annually, and at no time
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is the wage of the chief executive (ie Nigel) to be more than thee times that
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of the lowest-paid worker.
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"We have created an estate which belongs to the community", says Lowthrope.
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"As opposed to the old-fashioned model, whereby one family owns the land, and
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everyone is dependent on their paternalism and goodwill."
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That said, there are plenty of estates that are still run on more traditional
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lines, not least up on the grouse moors of Northumberland and Durham. But
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despite having a far wilder and more windblown outer appearance than somewhere
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such as Hill Holt Wood, it's still the efforts of individual humans that shape
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the land here.
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Individuals such as gamekeeper Robert Mitchell, on whose shoulders rests
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responsibility for practically the entire grouse-shooting economy around the
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Northumbrian village of Blanchland. It's his job to control the wild animals
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who prey on his grouse (foxes, crows, stoats, weasels), but not so rigorously
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that rabbits run riot and eat all the heather meant for the grouse.
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"It's always a balance," says Mitchell. "There's a lot that can go wrong, but
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at the end of the day, all you can do is rely on your experience."
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No question about it, then; we humans may do our bit to spoil the countryside,
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but we do plenty to improve it, too. Take the 791,000 volunteers who, between
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them, run some 2,000-plus Wildlife Trusts reserves in their spare time. Or the
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heroic Professor Dennis Russell, unpaid chairman of the CPRE's Isle of Wight
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Branch, who, in the course of just six years, wrote a total of 1,800 letters
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to various local councils and planning authorities.
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Oh yes, the champions of the British countryside come in many different forms.
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[X][5] Share & bookmark
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[What are these?][6]
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* Share: [Share][5] [ ][7] [ ][8]
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[Tweet][9]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/countryside-life/7859270/The-
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British-countrysides-natural-beauty.html
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Telegraph
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## [Range Rover - countryside life][10]
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* ### [Sponsored »][11]
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* ### [Motoring »][12]
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[X][5] Share & bookmark
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[What are these?][6]
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Share:
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* [ ][5]
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* [ ][7]
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* [ ][8]
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* [Tweet][9]
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*
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[1]: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01671/Tern_1671412c.jpg
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[2]: /news/newsvideo/royalfamilyvideo/7910512/Camilla-guest-of-honour-on-
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Queen-Victoria.html
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[3]: /sponsored/motoring/countryside-life/7859265/Cycle-route-coast-to-
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coast-from-Cumbria-to-Yorkshire.html
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[4]: /sponsored/motoring/countryside-life/7863587/River-Severn-history-and-
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beauty.html
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[5]: #
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[6]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/4590190/Share-this-article-
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What-are-these.html
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[7]: mailto:?subject=A Telegraph reader thought you would be interested in
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this article&body=Depending on your email program, you may be able to click on
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the link in the email. Alternatively, you may have to open a web browser, such
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%0A%0Ahttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/countryside-life/7859270
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/The-British-countrysides-natural-beauty.html %0A%0AFor the best content
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online, visit www.telegraph.co.uk
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[8]: javascript:print()
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[9]: http://twitter.com/share?via=Telegraph
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[10]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/countryside-life/
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[11]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/
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[12]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/
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