National Trust and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Forge Groundbreaking Partnership to Transform Great Chalfield

Major R.F Fuller gave Great Chalfield Manor, Garden and part of the estate to the NT in 1943. It has been home to the family for generations, including one of WWT’s founder Chairman, Charles Floyd FLS (Fellow Linnean Society), father of current family tenant Robert Floyd. Robert has also been the Chair of WWT in the past and is our current Patron. This partnership is not only positive for the future of Great Chalfield it also celebrates the connection between the two charities through the Floyd family. In partnership we will demonstrate farming with nature in the future and explain that story in relation to Great Chalfield, the wider landscapes and county of Wiltshire.

The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust actively welcomes volunteers to participate in various projects. Volunteering opportunities are currently limited whilst the project is in early scoping stage, but you are welcome to register your interest to be notified of any upcoming opportunities. You can register here to find out more and sign up. If you don’t want to volunteer but still want to contribute you can donate here or become a member here . Vital funds from our donors and members help us deliver crucial projects to protect nature just like this one.

The vision is to create a model of regenerative farming that balances the needs of nature's recovery, climate resilience, and food production. It aims to demonstrate how sustainable practices can be profitable and beneficial for both the environment and the local community. It will provide farmers and landowners with the knowledge of how to access and manage successful green finance initiatives.

The mixed farm has been used for arable production as well as livestock grazing and the ambition of WWT is to create a demonstration site for farmers and landholders to learn how to develop a range of nature-based solutions and access new markets for environmental services, integrated alongside agriculture. WWT will develop the land in support of Wiltshire’s emerging Local Nature Recovery Strategy and the new Local Nature Partnership for Wiltshire, engaging visitors with the vision of ’30% of land well-managed for nature by 2030’ and the role of regenerative farming in nature’s recovery and net zero. We will also be planting roughly 11,000 trees under the Trees for Climate programme, including examples of agroforestry, wood pasture and deciduous woodland.

The partnership will provide much-needed ‘green infrastructure’ for the expanding communities of Melksham and Trowbridge – with existing footpaths around the site – and raise awareness of how people can take meaningful action for nature. This will sit alongside the Great Chalfield Manor and Garden visitor experience led by the NT.

The work of WWT is diverse, and working alongside the farming community is essential to nature’s recovery in Wiltshire. The Consensus on Food, Farming and Nature, to which The Wildlife Trusts and the National Trust are signatories, builds on a robust evidence base that demonstrates we can achieve our Nature Recovery, Net Zero and Food Security goals through a regenerative farming and land use transition. To achieve this vision, farmers and land managers need support to find a resilient and profitable pathway to more nature-friendly farming and agroforestry. New income streams from environmental services markets have an important role to play, alongside public money from the emerging Environmental Land Management Scheme; cost savings from reduced input reliance; access to new markets, including for tree products; and diversification for eco-tourism.

In time we plan to establish a Farming and Nature Learning Hub which will give farmers and land managers an opportunity to see and understand the nature-based projects that can contribute to their farm business model and learn about how to take a data-led approach to evidencing and marketing their impact. Farmers learn best from other farmers, and we will make the Learning Hub widely available as a resource for farmer clusters.

Great Chalfield is situated in a priority area for nature’s recovery, both for Wiltshire and the Bristol Avon Catchment. It has excellent connectivity to the wider nature recovery network via ancient hedgerows and the Lenton and Chalfield Brooks. It has strong potential for:

• Increasing populations of many of Wiltshire’s critical species, notably 9 species of bats, including rare Greater Horseshoe Bats, helping to mitigate the impact of Trowbridge’s urban expansion.
• A whole farm tree plan, integrating agroforestry and extending hedgerows and farm woodland alongside existing hedgerows and specimen trees.
• Green infrastructure in a part of Wiltshire earmarked for significant urban extension in the Local Plan.

Great Chalfield Manor and Garden will continue to open as a National Trust visitor attraction under the stewardship of Robert and Patsy Floyd, supported by the NT operational team at Lacock. The Manor and Garden are not part of the lease to WWT. WWT will take over management of the land surrounding Great Chalfield – the land recently acquired in addition to the land already owned by the National Trust. For more information visit the Great Chalfield webpage.