Big Nature, Better Access at Sherborne

What is Big Nature, Better Access?

Big Nature, Better Access is our vision to unlock Sherborne’s potential for nature, climate and people. It aims to create a landscape where wildlife thrives, heritage is celebrated and visitors of all ages and backgrounds feel welcome. At its heart is the ambition to build a Sherborne for everyone that’s wilder, richer in beauty, climate-resilient and easier to explore. The programme sets out a long-term plan built around five core aims:

1. Restoring wildlife and habitats

Big Nature, Better Access will deliver large-scale habitat restoration across the estate. This includes creating flower-rich meadows, expanding native woodlands, improving soils and waterways and embedding nature-friendly land management.

2. Transforming access and experience

The initiative will improve how people move through and experience Sherborne, from improving signage and routes to supporting ways people get to Sherborne and what they can do when they are here. The aim is to make it easy to roam, play, learn and connect with both nature and heritage.

3. Adapting to the changing climate

Sherborne will become a leading example of nature-based solutions. Increasing woodland cover, improving soil health and restoring wetlands will help lock up more carbon while building resilience against flooding, drought and extreme weather.

4. Celebrating heritage and landscape

The project embraces Sherborne’s unique story of a historic Cotswold estate adapting for the future. Through interpretation and thoughtful management of heritage sites, visitors will be able to experience a landscape where history, nature and modern needs sit side by side.

5. Working collaboratively

Partnership is central to the programme. We will collaborate through the project with local communities, tenants, conservation organisations and neighbouring landowners.

A place where nature thrives

With Big Nature, Better Access, we’ve started one of the most ambitious programmes of nature restoration in the Cotswolds. We are restoring connected habitats at scale, from meadows and parkland to wetlands and native woodland. Our vision for the project looks to create a landscape that is wilder, more natural and where a wide range of species flourish.

At Sherborne Farm alone, 167 hectares of Priority Habitat are planned, transforming land currently managed as arable or overgrazed pasture. This includes 53 hectares of new wood pasture, 43 hectares of parkland tree planting, 56 hectares of flower-rich grassland, and 15 hectares of new native woodland. The design combines closed-canopy woodland, coppice, scrub and wood pasture, creating a mosaic of habitats that will support everything from woodland plants to rare wildlife species.

Tree planting is central to the estate’s recovery, both as a means of increasing biodiversity and locking up carbon. More than 50,000 new trees, including 15 hectares of closed-canopy woodland, have already been planted, with an additional 5.5km of new hedgerows creating vital corridors for birds, pollinators, bats, and small mammals.

A major restoration of the historic Bridgeman landscape at Lodge Park has seen 15,000 trees planted within the Grade I listed parkland, reviving its original design, while many miles of traditional Cotswold drystone wall has also been replaced. You can read more about our work and vision for the Bridgeman Landscape here.

Grassland restoration sits alongside woodland expansion as a major priority. The estate’s meadows, parkland and former watermeadows will be restored to create species-rich grasslands that support priority farmland birds such as skylark, linnet and yellowhammer, as well as arable wildflowers of significance. New butterfly banks, ponds and riverside habitats will strengthen populations of red-listed species, pollinators and protected mammals.

Finally, work on the Sherborne Brook and Broadwaters will support healthier waterways, natural flood management and cleaner water, and you can read more about our plans for the Sherborne wetlands below.

Together, these changes will create a richer, wilder, more resilient Sherborne, and a landscape where nature is given space to thrive.

Sherborne wetlands

A planning application has been submitted for sensitive enhancements designed to increase opportunities for wildlife while helping conserve the area’s much-loved open water.

The proposals focus on restoring natural processes by creating areas where water can slow and settle before rejoining the main channel. This approach is intended to help manage silt levels and control aquatic vegetation in the most visible sections of the brook, protecting the historic aesthetic, as well as providing wetter conditions to support a greater variety of wildlife already found along the Brook, including snipe, water voles, otters and grass snakes, as well as a wide range of dragonflies, damselflies and other invertebrates.

The wetlands project sits alongside wider habitat restoration across the estate, but here the focus is on strengthening the wetland system while encouraging open water for the future. More detail can be viewed in the video below. The planning application (ref. 25/02583/FUL) is now with Cotswold District Council.

Improving access to nature

At the heart of the Big Nature, Better Access vision is a commitment to make Sherborne a place where everyone feels welcome. A landscape that is easy to explore, accessible to a wider range of people and designed to support deeper connections with nature, heritage and wellbeing.

Sherborne already attracts visitors who are drawn to its sweeping Cotswold scenery, historic parkland and riverside walks. But much of the estate remains difficult to reach or navigate, with limited facilities and uneven routes that can exclude people. The project aims to change this by creating a more inclusive and intuitive experience, ensuring that more people can enjoy the landscape in ways that suit them.

A network of new and revitalised paths will be established, improving connections between areas of the estate and opening up routes that allow visitors to experience woodlands, grasslands, wetlands and heritage features at their own pace. More than 8km of paths have already been resurfaced, and future plans include up to 5km of additional routes will create circular trails and linking gateways, hubs and car parks more effectively across the estate.

Working with the community

Community involvement is important to Big Nature, Better Access. Engagement work is already shaping the design of access routes and planned facilities and visitor experiences, and we’ve also been working with a broad variety of experts on nature and restoration work. The restoration of the Sherborne Farm Orchard, working with David Lingren of Cotswolds Fruit, has reinstated an almost entirely lost orchard that appeared on Sherborne maps from the early 19th century. This is a conservation orchard, and we have planted some very rare Gloucestershire varieties here.