They go by many names – environmental purchasers, tree planters, carbon offsetters, green investors – but they all share a similar goal.
While recent events have brought a sharp focus back onto domestic food production, the desire to explore different uses for land is evident in enquiries made to Carter Jonas agents across the UK.
Some business owners have already forged ahead and gained a head start.
In recent years, a new category of farmland buyer has become more prevalent in the market.
Who is buying farms in Yorkshire?
Helen and Christopher Neave, co-founders of Make It Wild, sensed an opportunity to turn their worries about the natural world into action.
“As a family, we’d always been concerned about the loss of the natural world,” Christopher explains. “My wife and I had reached a point in our careers where we had a bit more time on our hands and I’d just sold a business which gave me some resources. We realised that we could sit and cry about the situation at home or actually do something about it.”
Carter Jonas helped the pair purchase their first plot of land in 2011; 26 acres of rough grazing land in Kirk Hammerton near York, on the banks of the River Nidd.
“Sylvan Nature Reserve was our first habitat creation project,” Christopher says.
“The land is quite often flooded with water from the river, making it unattractive for arable farming, which is the main type of agriculture in this area. But this wasn’t a problem for us.
“With support from the Woodland Trust, Environment Agency and Forestry Commission, we planted 18,000 British deciduous native trees in 2012. We also sowed eight acres of wildflower meadow, and more recently, we dug several ponds and a scrape.
“This project showed us how ‘benign’ land management can create a haven for wildlife and humans. The increase in biodiversity has been astonishing, considering it was practically a biodiversity desert before.”
Creating a rewilding project
Not content with just one nature reserve, the Neaves quickly turned their attention to another project, purchasing 45ha at Bank Woods near Harrogate
in 2017.
“This land is very different to Sylvan – it is in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and it has steep gradients and several different types of existing habitat,” Christopher says.
The upper part of the reserve is managed as a rewilding project, with a small herd of Belted Galloway cattle arriving in 2018 and six Exmoor ponies in 2020.
“These are our conservation grazing teams, performing a vital role in spreading wildflower seed, trampling the ground and maintaining paths through the gorse.”
The team also planted 9,000 trees, to sit alongside three areas of ancient woodland. “Only around 2% of the UK’s land cover is ancient woodland which, when compared to the European average of 12%, is a national disgrace,” Christopher says. “So, we’re passionate about protecting the bit we have.”
However, this woodland needs to be actively managed – it’s not enough to just own it, Christopher explains.
“All the top predators – such as bears, lynxes and wolves – were wiped out in the Tudor period so, today, deer don’t have a natural predator. This means they must be controlled by methods such as shooting, which is crazy really – we want nature, but we’ve ended up shooting it because it’s not in any kind of proper balance.”
As deer like to eat young tree seedlings, the team had to erect deer-proof
fencing to protect the ancient woodlands.
“The old trees will mature and will ultimately die off – the new trees should be coming through to replace them, but the only tree that wasn’t being eaten was holly,” Christopher says. “We’ve had to put up nearly two kilometres of
fencing to keep the deer out so the woodland can naturally regenerate.”
An eco-friendly self-catering cottage features air source heating, solar panels, eco-friendly appliances and exclusive private access to 150 acres of land.
The team also began marketing trees for dedication, with people choosing to mark occasions such as weddings and birthdays, as well as memorials.
“The other stream of our business is carbon offsetting, which is much more in the public consciousness now,” he explains.
Generating an income from rewilding and habitat creation
All of this work naturally comes at a price and, with a growing team of staff, it was essential Make It Wild could generate a profit.
“We needed to create an enterprise that was totally focused on habitat creation and preservation, but one that was ultimately self-funded,” Christopher says. “As much as we wanted to build an enterprise where the metrics for success weren’t solely profitability and productivity, we needed it to have an income stream of its own.”
At the beginning, Christopher would sell eco-friendly products at markets, but quickly realised that it wasn’t sustainable as a main source of income.
“We help organisations examine their carbon footprint. We always try to help them reduce it, but there will always be an excess, which can then be offset by the carbon sequestered by our planted trees.”
Rather than being purely transactional, Make It Wild encourages organisations to send employees to see the trees for themselves and help look after them.
“Everyone wants to help ‘plant’ the trees, but many don’t realise that there is a lot of work involved in tending the trees to make sure they reach their potential.”
Then, finally, there is the Make It Wild Memorial Woodland, where trees are planted incorporating cremation ashes, providing a unique final resting place.
“Our partner, Life Tree UK, uses its unique method to incorporate the ashes of a loved one into the compost for planting a native tree,” Christopher explains.
“It’s becoming increasingly popular as, even though a person has left this world, it enables them to contribute to a wonderful new life.”
Make It Wild now owns seven different locations, ranging from nature reserves to woodlands. The most recent purchases were Skipbridge Nature Reserve, which the team hopes to restore to wetland.
“Wetland is one of the richest habitats in the UK for biodiversity,” says Christopher. “Sadly, it’s also the habitat which has been most widely destroyed
or degraded.”
Windmill Hill, a piece of land adjacent to Sylvan Nature Reserve, was purchased in 2021 and is now home to a wide mixed hedge interspersed with oaks and mixed native trees. Two small wildlife ponds and a wildflower meadow will also occupy the site.
Expansion: buying wetlands in Yorkshire
“We’re always looking out for new pieces of land,” says Christopher.
“If it’s given a chance, nature grabs it – it doesn’t need to be told. We just let nature run wild – once there is a place for wildlife, it arrives.”
Dave Thomas dreamt of relocating his family from London to the countryside and, in 2019, took the first step towards making that dream a reality.
“Initially we looked at lots for sale in the South East, but prices were very high and they tended to only have around 10 acres of land,” Dave says.
He widened the search area to include Yorkshire, his birthplace.
The buyers of Nethergill Farm, Yorkshire
“That’s when Nethergill came up as an option,” Dave says. “The previous owners had already started using some elements of rewilding – we were able to take on that baton and progress it further.”
Dave’s parents, Malcolm and Helen, shared the couple’s passion for nature, so they came on board to run the holiday cottage, which is one of the main forms of income. Dave and his family are currently splitting their time between London and Nethergill while they wait for planning permission for a new dwelling to be approved.
“We’re not from a farming background and we’re newcomers to the Dales, but that means we’re bringing a new perspective with us – we can see how people visiting the area want to enjoy the land and we’re passionate about sharing it with them and enabling access to the benefits that it brings,” Dave explains.
Dave, founder of renowned London fitness company The Foundry and founding trustee for The School of Hard Knocks, is also keen to welcome visitors to the site for retreats and offer an experience that incorporates both physical exercise and mental wellbeing.
“We’re playing to our strengths,” he says. “If we were to try farming the land ourselves we would be useless. But we want our children to grow up on this land, which means we have to make it viable for our family to earn a living here.
“We want to increase biodiversity while also sparking a passion for the environment in other people by showing them how physical and mental health can be improved simply by being in nature.”
“Everybody should be able to access and enjoy the natural world but because of how the land is currently managed there isn’t that accessibility for people who have mobility issues or young children.”
As well as extending rewilding on the 400-acre site and selling the farm’s ewes in favour of running a neighbour’s Belted Galloway herd across the land, Dave has a variety of different projects planned.
“We’re working on getting funding for a boardwalk which would take visitors through the site’s key habitats,” he reveals.
From concept to reality:
buying farms in Yorkshire for carbon sequestration, biodiversity and amenity
“We realised that we could sit and cry about the situation
at home or actually do something about it.”
“The upper part of the reserve is managed as a rewilding project, with a small herd of Belted Galloway cattle arriving in 2018 and six Exmoor ponies in 2020.”
“We help organisations examine their carbon footprint. We always try to help them reduce it, but there will always be an excess, which can then be offset by the carbon seqestered by our planted trees.”
“Even though a person has left this world, it enables them to contribute to a wonderful new life.”
“We are bringing new perspective with us.”
From concept to reality:
buying farms in Yorkshire for carbon sequestration, biodiversity and amenity
“The upper part of the reserve is managed as a rewilding project, with a small herd of Belted Galloway cattle arriving in 2018 and six Exmoor ponies in 2020.”
“We are bringing new perspective with us.”
“We realised that we could sit and cry about the situation
at home or actually do something about it.”
They go by many names – environmental purchasers, tree planters, carbon offsetters, green investors – but they all share a similar goal.
While recent events have brought a sharp focus back onto domestic food production, the desire to explore different uses for land is evident in enquiries made to Carter Jonas agents across the UK.
Some business owners have already forged ahead and gained a head start.
Helen and Christopher Neave, co-founders of Make It Wild, sensed an opportunity to turn their worries about the natural world into action.
“As a family, we’d always been concerned about the loss of the natural world,” Christopher explains. “My wife and I had reached a point in our careers where we had a bit more time on our hands and I’d just sold a business which gave me some resources. We realised that we could sit and cry about the situation at home or actually do something about it.”
Carter Jonas helped the pair purchase their first plot of land in 2011; 26 acres of rough grazing land in Kirk Hammerton near York, on the banks of the River Nidd.
“Sylvan Nature Reserve was our first habitat creation project,” Christopher says.
“The land is quite often flooded with water from the river, which makes it unattractive for arable farming, which is the main type of agriculture in this area. But this wasn’t a problem for us.
“With support from the Woodland Trust, Environment Agency and Forestry Commission, we planted 18,000 British deciduous native trees in 2012. We also sowed eight acres of wildflower meadow, and more recently, we dug several ponds and a scrape.
“This project showed us how ‘benign’ land management can create a haven for wildlife and humans. The increase in biodiversity has been astonishing, considering it was practically a biodiversity desert before.”
Not content with just one nature reserve, the Neaves quickly turned their attention to another project, purchasing 45ha at Bank Woods near Harrogate
in 2017.
“This land is very different to Sylvan –
it is in Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and it has steep gradients and several different types of existing habitat,” Christopher says.
The upper part of the reserve is managed as a rewilding project, with a small herd of Belted Galloway cattle arriving in 2018 and six Exmoor ponies in 2020.
“These are our conservation grazing teams, performing a vital role in spreading wildflower seed, trampling the ground and maintaining paths through the gorse.”
The team also planted 9,000 trees, to sit alongside three areas of ancient woodland. “Only around 2% of the UK’s land cover is ancient woodland which, when compared to the European average of 12%, is a national disgrace,” Christopher says. “So, we’re passionate about protecting the bit we have.”
However, this woodland needs to be actively managed – it’s not enough to just own it, Christopher explains.
“All the top predators – such as bears, lynxes and wolves – were wiped out in the Tudor period so, today, deer don’t have a natural predator. This means they must be controlled by methods such as shooting, which is crazy really – we want nature, but we’ve ended up shooting it because it’s not in any kind of proper balance.”
As deer like to eat young tree seedlings, the team had to erect deer-proof
fencing to protect the ancient woodlands.
“The old trees will mature and will ultimately die off – the new trees should be coming through to replace them, but the only tree that wasn’t being eaten was holly,” Christopher says. “We’ve had to put up nearly two kilometres of fencing to keep the deer out so the woodland can naturally regenerate.”
Who is buying farms in Yorkshire?
Creating a rewilding project
An eco-friendly self-catering cottage features air source heating, solar panels, eco-friendly appliances and exclusive private access to 150 acres of land.
The team also began marketing trees for dedication, with people choosing to mark occasions such as weddings and birthdays, as well as memorials.
“The other stream of our business is carbon offsetting, which is much more in the public consciousness now,” he explains.
“We help organisations examine their carbon footprint. We always try to help them reduce it, but there will always be an excess, which can then be offset by the carbon sequestered by our planted trees.”
Rather than being purely transactional, Make It Wild encourages organisations to send employees to see the trees for themselves and help look after them.
“Everyone wants to help ‘plant’ the trees, but many don’t realise that there is a lot of work involved in tending the trees to make sure they reach their potential.”
Then, finally, there is the Make It Wild Memorial Woodland, where trees are planted incorporating cremation ashes, providing a unique final resting place.
“Our partner, Life Tree UK, uses its unique method to incorporate the ashes of a loved one into the compost for planting a native tree,” Christopher explains.
“It’s becoming increasingly popular as, even though a person has left this world, it enables them to contribute to a wonderful new life.”
All of this work naturally comes at a price and, with a growing team of staff, it was essential Make It Wild could generate a profit.
“We needed to create an enterprise that was totally focused on habitat creation and preservation, but one that was ultimately self-funded,” Christopher says. “As much as we wanted to build an enterprise where the metrics for success weren’t solely profitability and productivity, we needed it to have an income stream of its own.”
At the beginning, Christopher would sell eco-friendly products at markets, but quickly realised that it wasn’t sustainable as a main source of income.
Generating an income from rewilding and habitat creation
Make It Wild now owns seven different locations, ranging from nature reserves to woodlands. The most recent purchases were Skipbridge Nature Reserve, which the team hopes to restore to wetland.
“Wetland is one of the richest habitats in the UK for biodiversity,” says Christopher. “Sadly, it’s also the habitat which has been most widely destroyed
or degraded.”
Windmill Hill, a piece of land adjacent to Sylvan Nature Reserve, was purchased in 2021 and is now home to a wide mixed hedge interspersed with oaks and mixed native trees. Two small wildlife ponds and a wildflower meadow will also occupy the site.
“We’re always looking out for new pieces of land,” says Christopher.
“If it’s given a chance, nature grabs it – it doesn’t need to be told. We just let nature run wild – once there is a place for wildlife, it arrives.”
Expansion: buying wetlands in Yorkshire
Dave Thomas dreamt of relocating his family from London to the countryside and, in 2019, took the first step towards making that dream a reality.
“Initially we looked at lots for sale in the South East, but prices were very high and they tended to only have around 10 acres of land,” Dave says.
He widened the search area to include Yorkshire, his birthplace.
“That’s when Nethergill came up as an option,” Dave says. “The previous owners had already started using some elements of rewilding – we were able to take on that baton and progress it further.”
Dave’s parents, Malcolm and Helen, shared the couple’s passion for nature, so they came on board to run the holiday cottage, which is one of the main forms of income. Dave and his family are currently splitting their time between London and Nethergill while they wait for planning permission for a new dwelling to be approved.
“We’re not from a farming background and we’re newcomers to the Dales, but that means we’re bringing a new perspective with us – we can see how people visiting the area want to enjoy the land and we’re passionate about sharing it with them and enabling access to the benefits that it brings,” Dave explains.
Dave, founder of renowned London fitness company The Foundry and founding trustee for The School of Hard Knocks, is also keen to welcome visitors to the site for retreats and offer an experience that incorporates both physical exercise and mental wellbeing.
“We’re playing to our strengths,” he says. “If we were to try farming the land ourselves we would be useless. But we want our children to grow up on this land, which means we have to make it viable for our family to earn a living here.
“We want to increase biodiversity while also sparking a passion for the environment in other people by showing them how physical and mental health can be improved simply by being in nature.”
“Everybody should be able to access and enjoy the natural world but because of how the land is currently managed there isn’t that accessibility for people who have mobility issues or young children.”
As well as extending rewilding on the 400-acre site and selling the farm’s ewes in favour of running a neighbour’s Belted Galloway herd across the land, Dave has a variety of different projects planned.
“We’re working on getting funding for a boardwalk which would take visitors through the site’s key habitats,” he reveals.
The buyers of Nethergill Farm, Yorkshire
In recent years, a new category of farmland buyer has become more prevalent in the market.
“We help organisations examine their carbon footprint. We always try to help them reduce it, but there will always be an excess, which can then be offset by the carbon seqestered by our planted trees.”
“Even though a person has left this world, it enables them to contribute to a wonderful new life.”
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