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.

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.