‘Some absolute gems’: £1.5m appeal to save rewilding haven Strawberry Hill

Strawberry Hill in 2024 after rewilding. The area is a haven for endangered nightingales, dragonflies and other rare wildlife. Photograph: Holly Wilkinson

When new rules in the 1980s encouraged farmers to “set aside” some arable fields from crop-growing to reduce EU-wide overproduction, Hugh White rebelled.

“He said: ‘If you don’t want my corn, I’ll put the whole lot in set-aside,’” remembers the farmer’s son, Graham White. And so in 1988, cultivation ceased abruptly on all 153 hectares (377 acres) of Strawberry Hill farm in rural Bedfordshire.