Rothbury estate sold to Wildlife trust

It's coming to something when a member of the Percy family is selling their land to those who will ban field sports on it.
 
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Ive just been reading about it online, In the article it says the land comes with a Grouse moor and Pheasant and Partridge shoot, I somehow don't think this will be the case anymore
 
It will be interesting to see how the direction this is going in turns out in future years.. eco tourism may mean thousands of people making trips every year along the roads and lanes... the landscape will change for sure... for better or worse :-|
 
Rothbury estate sold to Wildlife trust. Sad day when another estate has gone and shooting stopped.


A shame, but better than seeing it all broken up into little bits.

Money talks unfortunately and the Trustees of the Estate will have a duty to get the best value.
Indeed.
It's not really for us to judge who a private individual chooses to sell their property to.
 
A could be wrong but a think the local council kinda said they will involve the community in any discussions on the future of the hills hopefully the status quo remains only time will tell
 
I noted that the Trusts have only purchased a small part of the Estate and will be doing the usual begging bowl stuff to get sufficient funds for the whole Lot. Up here we have had similar rubbish with "Community Buy-outs" (funded by the tax payer via the Scottish Land Fund), buying the land hasn't been the problem - paying for the upkeep and management has been!
It will be interesting to see how the tenant farmers are treated in the area and how the incredible diversity of wildlife fares after a couple of years of "re-wilding".......
 
Ive just been reading about it online, In the article it says the land comes with a Grouse moor and Pheasant and Partridge shoot, I somehow don't think this will be the case anymore
In the article the new owners already stated there will be no shooting on the ground
 
Shoots would not be allowed on the estate and the farming would be regenerative only, Bennett said. “Obviously [allowing shoots] would not be appropriate for the Wildlife Trusts.
 
In the article the new owners already stated there will be no shooting on the ground
Ah OK, The article I read was in our local rag and it mentioned shooting ground but that was it, It never said there will not be any shooting although deep down I knew there would not be
 
Rewilding is good in theory. Except that the swathes of city dwellers clogging up roads and tramping all over creation really won't happen to any great degree. There's only so much in the ways of trees, grass, hills and open air the average city dweller wants. And the likes of the Lake District pretty much caters to them. In reality, all the wildlife will, by their very nature, not be very noticeable anyway. Foxes, deer, even squirrels and rabbits don't normally hang around for the great unwashed to gawp at them. Of course if there's some gastro pubs, outlet shops and suchlike, you would get more visitors. Always good for a dirty weekend. But the foxes mooching around the bins of such establishments in the night won't be a great draw I feel.

The days of big estates managed by Earls and their like employing dozens of people to keep their land full of deer, pheasants, grouse and big houses draws nearer to extinction. And I, for one will mourn their passing. Another facet of England (and Scotland) will fade into history.
 
The ongoing socio-economic benefits to those involved with the estate will be set aside, in favour of some nebulous 'positive outcomes', but bottom line is that activity is the missing ingredient for ongoing generation of value to the community. Walking the pooch along a country lane or mountain bike trails add rather little by way of income to them.
Follow the (lack of) money being generated, and find the end community 'value' point.
 
They'd do everyone a favour, proclaiming their acceptance of necessity, rather than being ashamed and embarrassed.
 
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