Ep. 052: Three Years In: The Honest Truth About Rewilding 80 Acres

No guest this week. Just Tom and Chloe with a drink, a lot to catch up on, and roughly an hour to get through it all.

It's been 18 months since the last proper project update and quite a lot has happened. 4,000 trees planted. A tiny forest that nearly died twice and is now over six feet tall. A market garden. A distillery in the barn. A charity. Four schools through the gate in one week. And an otter, which felt significant.

This is the third update episode - episode 9 was the start, episode 29 was one year in. This one's the most honest of the three.

What We Cover

Restoring More Nature

• The trees, the dragon's nests, and what happens when you prepare the ground properly
• Why the tiny forest survived a drought, deer, and voles - and is now extraordinary
• The wood meadow: a rare habitat, hand-scythed by the community, and why it matters
• The pond that failed, then gave us house martins, a kestrel, and an otter
• The pig situation (it got complicated)
• The cow debate: October, says Chloe. Tom is less sure
• Breeding birds: double the species recorded between 2024 and 2025
• Naturfa Pathway: one of four sites selected across Wales by the Welsh Government

Producing More Food

• From silage grassland to 50-100+ varieties of fruit and veg - and why that matters for food security
• The cathedral polytunnel, the duck pond, the new orchard, and chickens planned for under the trees
• Courses launching this summer: market gardening, agroforestry, mushroom growing, seed saving and more
• What it actually means when the food you grew feeds the people who came to help grow it

Contributing to the Local Economy

• From two tractor drivers twenty days a year to six people working on site
• Wilder Spirits: pre-orders open 2 April. The first spirit distilled on a rewilding site in Wales, in a paper bottle
• Platform Nature: 20 founding partners from Wildlife Trusts to a koala sanctuary in Australia
• The Grange Hub, Wilder Away Days, and why Tom talks about money on a nature podcast
• Revenue transparency: what the first six months actually generated

Connecting More People to Wilder Nature

• Wilder Connections charity: Chloe's co-design phase with schools across Monmouthshire
• What happened when a group of teenagers asked if they could hug a tree
• Monthly open days: selling out a month in advance
• Hopes for the rest of 2026 - and why Tom wants everyone to slow down a little

Timestamps

00:00 - Tom's opening confession

01:31 - What we said on episode 29, and how much has changed

05:44 - The four pillars explained

07:04 - 28,000 listeners, 125 countries, and someone in Cape Town saving for their own rewilding site

07:53 - PILLAR 1: Restoring More Nature

08:12 - 4,000+ trees, dragon's nests, and the saplings finally breaking through

10:43 - Tiny Forest: 98% survival, over six feet tall, future outdoor classroom

13:59 - Hedgerows: planted, lost to drought, replanted

15:36 - Wood Meadow: what it is, why it's rare, and a lot of hand-scything

18:44 - Deer: why culling became unavoidable, and the experiment with over-planting

22:24 - The pond that collapsed - and then gave us house martins, a kestrel and an otter

26:39 - Voles everywhere, and what doubling bird species in one year actually means

27:13 - Pigs: what went wrong, what's coming next, and the ecological case for them

31:21 - The cow debate

33:54 - Welsh Rewilding Alliance: founding members

34:02 - Naturfa Pathway: recognised by the Welsh Government

35:05 - PILLAR 2: Producing More Food

35:37 - How a market garden ended up being run by the people who said they wouldn't run it

37:47 - Ducks, chickens, and the orchard

41:54 - 50-100+ varieties: why growing diversity is also food security

43:29 - From least to most efficient food production on the same land

44:33 - PILLAR 3: Contributing to the Local Economy

44:33 - Wilder Spirits: the distillery, the story, the paper bottle, 2 April

47:13 - Mark, Sandy, and why six people working on site matters

48:18 - Platform Nature: what it is, who's using it, and where it's going

52:31 - The Grange Hub: opened by the Future Generations Commissioner

53:13 - Wilder Away Days: NHS to corporate

55:23 - Why talking about money is part of the project

56:38 - Cabins: off Airbnb, direct only, and why that was the right call

57:34 - Revenue transparency: the real numbers from the first six months

58:39 - PILLAR 4: Connecting More People to Wilder Nature

58:58 - Wilder Connections: what the charity is, and why Chloe built it

01:01:11 - Four schools in one week

01:02:01 - Teenagers, sticks, and what co-design actually looks like

01:04:10 - The oak tree moment

01:05:38 - Open days: what they are, and why April sold out a month early

01:06:35 - Hopes for the rest of 2026

Links and Resources

The Grange Project

grangeproject.co.uk

Wilder Spirits - pre-orders open 2 April 2026

wilderspirits.co.uk

Wilder Connections - Chloe's charity for nature connection in young people

wilderconnections.charity

Wilder Away Days - nature-centred corporate experiences

wilderawaydays.co.uk

Platform Nature - tools for nature restoration projects

platformnature.com

Leave Curious - Rob's rewilding YouTube channel (120,000 subscribers)

https://www.youtube.com/@CuriousLeave

Dayhike Magazine - the magazine Tom said had him turning every page

dayhike.co.uk

Book an open day or open morning at the Grange Project

grangeproject.co.uk

Previous Update Episodes

• Episode 9 - Building the Ultimate Mosaic: A Grange Project Update
• https://www.grangeproject.co.uk/wilder-podcast/ep-009-building-the-ultimate-mosaic-a-grange-projectnbspupdate
• Episode 29 - Failure and Success: 12 Months of Rewilding at the Grange Project
• https://www.grangeproject.co.uk/wilder-podcast/ep-029-failure-and-success-12-months-of-rewilding-at-the-grange-project

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