Lowther Estate Wilding

with Jim Bliss

Lowther continues to be ambitious – with access and education at the centre of the agenda for the Castle and a regenerative agricultural strategy driving the machine of the Estate. Access across the Estate has been opened up to walkers and cyclists within the North Park while other areas of the estate remain private to allow natural processes to return and the wildlife to flourish without being disturbed. The medieval Deer Park may still be as it was hundreds of years ago but its management, along with the husbandry of much of the park, is being substantially de-intensified. Fences have come down, small graziers replaced by large ones, stock managed in an entirely different, more sustainable way. This is to promote a more natural environment where biodiversity and species richness increases.  To promote natural regeneration and create a more diverse range of habitats for our birds, insects and mammals, we use our graziers as ecosystem engineers.