Exclusive: First look at trailer for 'Wilding', the documentary of the Knepp Estate

Isabella Tree's hugely successful book about the rewilding project at her and her husband's estate in West Sussex will hit the big screen on June 14. Country Life was given a sneak-peak at the trailer, below.

'We put all our trust in Nature': David Allen's film 'Wilding' tells an incredible tale.
'We put all our trust in Nature': David Allen's film 'Wilding' tells an incredible tale.
(Image credit: Submarine Deluxe / Passion Pictures / HHMU Tangled Bank Studios)
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First an idea, then a book and now a film. Country Life is proud to share the first trailer for the upcoming film Wilding, based on Isabella Tree’s hugely successful book of the same name, which documents her and her husband Charlie Burrell’s rewilding project at Knepp Estate in West Sussex.

Directed by David Allen, the documentary tells the story of how Isabella and Charlie took a ‘dying landscape’ at the 3,500-acre Knepp Estate and gave it back to nature, knocking down fences, letting the livestock roam free and removing fertilisers, chemicals and just about everything else from the landscape. 

What happened next has become one of the UK’s great success stories, as the Knepp estate transformed from an unprofitable farm to somewhere that ‘vibrates with wildlife’ as a friend once told me. There are free-ranging pigs. There are beavers. There are storks. There are more bugs than you can shake a stick at. It looks, tastes, smells and sounds like wilderness. It is alive.

The Knepp ‘experiment’, as it was once known, is now a leading example of how nature can bounce back in even the most desolate environments. The film will be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on June 14, and you can have a glimpse at the trailer below.

beavers in sussex

(Image credit: David Plummer / Sussex Wildlife Trust David Plummer / Sussex Wildlife Trust)

Beavers back in Sussex for the first time in 400 years

Thanks to the Sussex Wildlife Trust and the Knepp Estate, beavers will once more be seen in the the Adur

Charlie Harpur, Head Gardener of the Knepp Estate in West Sussex.

Charlie Harpur, Head Gardener of the Knepp Estate in West Sussex.
(Image credit: Philip Sowels / Country Life Magazine)

'The king and queen of rewilding's new head gardener : 'It could be quite challenging — everybody loves a lawn'

Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

Rewilding project aims to restore white stork species in Southern England

Private landowners and conservation charities are working to restore a population of at least 50 breeding pairs by 2030.

Ben Goldsmith with his Tamworth pigs Henry, Elizabeth and Boudicca.
(Image credit: Anya Campbell / Country Life)

Ben Goldsmith: 'Families who have worked the same land for generations are best placed to breathe life back into our landscapes'

Wilder farming is as close to a silver bullet for the future management of our marginal lands as we’ll find

James Fisher
James Fisher
Digital Commissioning Editor

James Fisher is the Digital Commissioning Editor of Country Life. He writes about motoring, travel and things that upset him. He lives in London. He wants to publish good stories, so you should email him.

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