Truly wild areas should be within striking distance of everyone, say conservationists.
Their call comes as part of a growing movement to rewild parts of the UK, showing people just how vibrant and nature-rich the landscape could become.
Isabella Tree, who owns the Knepp estate in West Sussex with her husband Charlie Burrell, is among those championing the idea.
Ms Tree said: "Truly wild areas should be in striking distance of everyone."
Knepp, one of the UK’s most talked-about rewilding projects, has been transformed from a traditional farm into a thriving ecosystem bursting with wildlife.
Longhorn cattle, Exmoor ponies, red and fallow deer, pigs, beavers and even storks now roam the land.
The project has inspired growing public interest in rewilding, which aims to restore natural habitats and processes by allowing land to recover and wildlife to return.
Knepp is now home to rare species and a “feeling everything is alive,” said Ms Tree.
She described the initial transformation as both “profoundly joyful” and “really shocking,” as she realised how much wildlife had quietly disappeared from everyday life.
Elsewhere in the UK, Strawberry Hill in Bedfordshire was rewilded nearly 40 years ago and was saved as a nature reserve in 2024 following a public appeal by the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants (BCN).
Nightingales and cuckoos, as well as red-listed turtle doves and black hairstreak butterflies, are found there.
Brian Eversham, chief executive of the BCN Wildlife Trust, said: "Strawberry Hill is taking me back to my teenage years and beyond, both in terms of insect abundance and birdsong."
Conservationists say sites like Knepp and Strawberry Hill offer more than just a boost for nature—they also inspire the public and improve wellbeing.
Mr Eversham said: "We can bring it back, we know roughly what to do, and for a lot of bird species, we can create the habitat if we have the space and the time."
Ms Tree believes that having more rewilded sites will not only benefit wildlife, but also help shift perceptions of what a nature-rich landscape could look like.
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