As a group that’s all about nature but which organises via technology, it’s vital to Wild Card that we return to our roots whenever we get together. Hence, our in-person meet-ups prioritise opportunities to get out into the field, (though that field might be a meadow, a moor, a wetland or a woodland). These visits act as inspiration on the potential of rewilding whilst also centring us around our purpose. So it was that earlier this month we made our way to Embercombe. 

Embercombe is a nature retreat centre on the edge of Dartmoor. With a mission of “bringing people to life,” every year the centre plays host to courses in inner work and education. These courses nurture nature-connectedness for humans but, with rewilding playing a vital role at the site, Embercombe also enriches the lives of the more than human too. Wild spaces across the 50-acre estate, from water to woodland, foster a place where life can grow materially as well as spiritually.

Experimenting on the Land

Unlike many rewilding sites which have been immediately preceded by agriculture, Embercombe had spent its post-World War days as an airstrip. Laura, our guide for the day, told us entertaining tales of its previous owner’s experiments with flight, whilst also passing round an image of the site from those times. The photo formed a powerful contrast to the nature-rich site in which we stood. 

Initially the project aimed at land-based learning, incorporating growing food to sustain the community that lived there. Though the agricultural aspects and resident community are no longer a part of Embercombe, education is still central.  Laura Fairs, our guide, leads an incredible 9 month Rewilding Training Course. The course combines practical understanding of rewilding with the theoretical, all informed by guest speakers who are experts in the field. Laura’s own deep knowledge and experience of rewilding also facilitates powerful discussion during the residential aspects of the course, enabling students to delve more into the elements of rewilding that have particularly interested them.

No Pressure

The Wild Cardigans only had a morning to immerse themselves with rewilding at Embercombe, so after learning more about the site’s history, we headed off pretty quickly into the woods at the top of the valley. As well as Laura, we were accompanied along the way by Jen Gardner, Embercombe’s rewilding ranger, and Joanna Hall, the project’s storyteller. As we passed down the path of oak and hazel, we were met with both a fantastic array of fungi and a thriving understory. Unlike many of the UK’s broadleaf woodlands, the woodland here is protected by a deer fence. This has enabled life to emerge without the pressure of overgrazing. The result is the formation of the multi-layered ecosystem needed by native species, particularly insects and songbirds.

Apart from the deer, another pressure which needs to be carefully managed at the site is that caused by humans. It can be a difficult challenge to balance the needs of nature with the need for human connection to nature. Foraging for firewood and wild food may be activities our ancestors once freely enjoyed but we are living in an ecological crisis. So little remains intact, especially here in the UK. Fortunately, at Embercombe, they are aware of what the woods and the beings within it need to survive. One example of a solution they are currently employing is that of zoning the site. This enables parts of the wood to be totally left to do its thing. Deadwood from ash dieback can be left to the enjoyment of woodpeckers, beetles and fungi without concern that it might injure a visitor. Quiet and undisturbed environments provide refuge for shy species. Meanwhile, attendees on the various courses can still take themselves deep into wild places to camp, to meditate and to enjoy the wildlife flourishing around them. Whilst there are no easy answers to how to create a perfect balance, staff at Embercombe are committed to assessing and reassessing the impact of their visitors on the life they are interacting with. There are no hard and fast rules. Zoning is the current solution, but the site is all about our relationship with nature and relationships are fluid – there needs to be nuance.

Relationships with Benefits

On leaving the woodlands and emerging into the light, we were met with a zone more overtly occupied by humans. There was, however, a sensitivity at all times to nature. The hedgerow which bordered the track was thick and full of life and the housing was low impact yurts. There was also a communal space with the chance to make a brew before we headed to a spot outside. Here we could chat about the Embercombe rewilding project whilst surveying the beautiful landscape with lightly cattle-grazed meadow giving way to emerging scrub which in turn gave way to woodlands, golden in the October sunshine.

The first part of our tour had been fairly absent of human intervention. The next demonstrated more interaction. Rows of hedges had been planted to divide spaces when Embercombe had been a project for a community of humans to live off the land. These hedgerows are now gradually being laid to provide a liminal space where nature can live. Hedge laying is, of course, a human intervention. The hedges could be left to grow into trees. One of the difficulties in managing a small-scale rewilding project is that the natural processes available at a landscape scale may be absent. Rewilding rangers therefore must make choices. They need to work out what’s missing and what’s under pressure and then intervene to make the best use of space in order to provide differing habitats. The consequence of conservation hedge laying is a dense refuge and source of food for UK wildlife, as explored in Rewilding Britain’s webinar for small-scale rewilders. 

We walked on from the hedgerow to a traditional orchard restoration project. Here the trees were dripping with fruit and we could pluck a choice of apples for a tasty snack as we reflected on the benefits that nature provides us with and the work that we can do to return that favour and restore the landscape. After all, a relationship should not be all take, take, take – a lesson which it has taken some humans a long time to learn.

The Wisdom of The Children’s Fire.

It would be remiss of me to talk of Embercombe from a purely rewilding standpoint while ignoring the spiritual nature of the project. Mac Macartney, Embercombe’s founder, was informed by a design principle which sits at the heart of everything that is done here. This founding principle, known as The Children’s Fire was passed to him by his indigenous mentors in 1984 and centres around a pledge that “No law, no decision, no action of any kind shall be taken that will harm the children, now or ever.” The way that the land is tended is just one small, but vital part of this.

The construction of a modern stone circle at Embercombe was also informed by indigenous people. For them, the circle is a prayer to the people of the British Isles and Ireland to remember ourselves and the land, to protect all that is sacred. It is a Medicine Wheel, a place for healing, and sacred ceremonies have been held here since it was built in 1999. What fascinated me about this place was that many of the stones had beside them an oak sapling. These had been planted by jays who are known to use landmarks to guide them when storing their acorns. In fact, many of the stone circles that I have previously visited on empty sheep grazed moors would, at one time, have been accompanied by oak trees.  The oaks surrounding the circle at Embercombe can give a sense of the druidic oak groves which were destroyed by the Romans to take away these spaces of connection.  It is even thought that the word ‘druid’ came from a Celtic word meaning ‘knower of the oak tree’.

Embercombe is a smaller site than those Wild Card has previously visited. Its evolution has therefore required a sensitivity to the balance of every creature occupying the space and a mindfulness of what the space might provide for future generations. The wisdom which comes from knowing and understanding nature must be central to this project – be it a druidic oak, a dying ash or a hazel hedge. It is also a knowledge we must apply beyond this little oasis.