A unique farm in Bedfordshire with significant ecological and conservation prospects has been acquired by The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire (WTFBCN) to provide a unique opportunity to save a site rich in nature and create a wild visitor destination.
Our farm agency team marketed Strawberry Hill Farm, in Knotting Green on behalf of the vendors. The property included a detached Grade II listed four-bedroom farmhouse and Grade II listed Bedford Estate Model Farm Buildings in addition to about 364 acres of grazing, woodland, amenity land and ponds.
The farm was entered into a habitat scheme in the 1990s designed to create and enhance certain valuable habitats by removing land from agricultural production for wildlife preservation for a 25-year period. Despite the agreement expiring in 2014, the land has since remained unmanaged and undisturbed..
A high-level ecology report from Natural England was commissioned in 2016 to establish the extent of any ecological areas of importance, which suggested the diverse habitats created were ideal conditions for a range of rare and protected species, including an array of declining bird species such as nightingales and turtle doves.
Strawberry Hill was bought by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Julia Davies, the founder of We Have the POWER, and other lenders through the Funding Nature Project who have ensured that the site is safe from being returned to agriculture, giving the WTFBCN time to raise the funds to purchase the freehold of the site.
Associate Partner Richard Gadd said: “Whilst we have sold many smaller acreages of amenity land, Strawberry Hill Farm provided an opportunity of significant scale, and we were delighted to have been involved in such a unique offering. Rewilding has become a familiar term over recent years with a new buyer type entering the market to manage land less intensively and with environmental and soil health protection at the forefront of their management objectives.
“Strawberry Hill Farm offered a truly unique opportunity for a conservation group. The land features a mosaic of habitats, and as well as a number of conservation opportunities so it is wonderful to learn that there are exciting plans to create something really special there.”
The site will now be developed to allow for a high-quality nature-based visitor attraction, with room for a visitor centre, nature trails café, education facilities and a forest school training centre.
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