The farm was failing, the soil was poor and the debts were increasing. Having carried on agriculture for many generations, Isabella Tree and Sir Charles Burrell were forced to make a decision which seemed almost unimaginable – that of stopping their attempt to run their 3,500-acre estate in West Sussex as a traditional farm. The situation that followed was the opposite of what they had anticipated, as per a report by University of Sussex.
Rather than pressing the fields to produce more, room was allowed for nature to take control. Initially, the change led to weeds, a state of untidiness and criticism. Then something remarkable started to take place. Insects came back, birds appeared and the wildlife which had become increasingly rare began to return.
