19th-century painting inspires vision for estate’s landscape
A HISTORIC painting is helping to inspire a 50-year vision for the landscape of a Devon estate.
The National Trust is taking inspiration from a 19th-century painting of the Killerton Estate in Devon to expand the habitat and create areas rich in wildlife.
The painting, believed to be by the 11th Baronet Sir Thomas Dyke Acland whose family donated Killerton to the National Trust in 1944, depicts a diverse landscape rich in mature trees and hedgerows with areas of scrub with roaming highland cattle.
The conservation charity is now launching a 15-month project to reconnect the river with its floodplain to reduce flooding; to restore and plant 4km of new hedgerows, and to plant and establish 18 hectares of new woodland, five hectares of agro-forestry, 40 hectares of wood pasture and planting 200 trees in hedgerows.
Paul Hawkins, National Trust project manager, said: “Nurturing what we have has got to be the first step of a green recovery.
“Our plans involve thinking about what we’ll need the landscape to deliver in 50 years, and how we can make that happen.
“Nature is incredibly powerful but sometimes we need to give it a helping hand.
“We want to ensure the estate now evolves to capture more carbon and to help the land, wildlife and livestock cope with more extreme weather events.
“Currently just under 10 per cent of the
Killerton Estate is priority habitat – and the combination of work we are doing to protect and enhance these areas together with changes in management should boost nature on the estate.”