‘In addition to regular doses of artificial fertiliser, the plants had to be sprayed with two fungicides as they emerged from the ground, and a plant-growth hormone to prevent them growing too tall… As they grew, they were given another cocktail of fungicides and growth hormones, followed by a third in the most rapid stage of stem growth and a final dose as the grains begin to develop’ (p.

This is how Tree describes the ‘increasingly expensive’ regimen for wheat and barley before wilding at Knepp: Among them is the use of truly industrial amounts of chemicals. It vividly portrays the ‘normal’ farming practices that often escape the attention even of an interested outsider. An aptly named chapter 2, ‘At Odds with Everything’, is an uncomfortable reading. ‘Wilding’ by Isabella Tree begins with an account of the family’s industrial-scale intensive farm before they embarked on the project. Horrors of Knepp before wilding: the chemicals The book describes the history of a wilding project they started at Knepp in 2000. She is married to Sir Charles Burrell, and together they manage the 3,500-acre Knepp estate in West Sussex, UK. Isabella Tree is an established author who published several other books on nature and travel.

It is impossible not to be influenced by it – it changes how its readers perceive nature, farming, countryside, and their own gardens. ‘ Wilding‘ by Isabella Tree ( Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm, Picador, 2018) is one of the most inspiring books recently published.

Rewilding by isabella tree