you have the knepp in the middle.box, your roadside verges. all of us have a part to play in restoring nature across the landscape, and we have to connect, too. you've just written a new book, a sort of practical guide to rewilding. it's upset some people because your message is that everybody sort of has a responsibility to engage in this notion of rewilding, of sort of rebuilding ecosystems. and some who garden, who love gardening, who think that the human intervention in their little green space is what makes it beautiful, have said that your notion of letting it all go wild runs contrary to everything that the spirit of gardening represents. what's your message to them? well, i would say that we need to really understand how ecosystems work. we really need to put nature at the forefront of our minds, even when we're gardening. so, if you understand how a system works, if you look at the wider countryside and you see how dysfunctional and unstable and at risk it is from collapse, you can't consider it beautiful any

my guest is isabella tree, the co—owner of this knepp estate.her passion for re— wildling represent an indulgence or a pathway to a healthier planet? isabella tree, welcome to hardtalk and thank you so much for inviting us to your estate here in sussex.— here in sussex. pleasure. absolute _ here in sussex. pleasure. absolute pleasure - here in sussex. pleasure. absolute pleasure to - here in sussex. pleasure. | absolute pleasure to have here in sussex. pleasure. - absolute pleasure to have you. i'm sorry it's a better weather. it i'm sorry it's a better weather.— i'm sorry it's a better weather. . , , weather. it is actually still for me very _ weather. it is actually still for me very exciting - weather. it is actually still for me very exciting to - weather. it is actually still for me very exciting to be | for me very exciting to be here. but i am trying to understand what has happened to this land of yours. because when you arrived here, this was an intensively farmed land, wasn't it? it an intensively farmed land, wasn't it?— an intensively

. >> reporter: for over 200 years, charlie burrell's family lived in knepp castle. >> about an hour fromth baronet. >> reporter: does that carry certain rights and responsibilities? >> not really, no. i mean, in -- >> reporter: he was responsible for the estate and farm when he inherited them in 1983. >> it's so hard to -- >> reporter: for 17 years he and his wife isabella tree tried everything to compete with modern industrial farms, the spraying, new technologies, new crops coming on. >> reporter: the wet, heavy clay and the soil made efficient farming impossible. >> we were 1.5 million pounds in debt by then. so it was really looking desperate. >> reporter: and then, in 2000, they learned about a new idea in land management called rewilding. that's where you give away your land to nature. you stop plowing, irrigating, mowing, applying chemicals, and you let wilderness return. >> what has been absolutely astonishing is how quickly nature bounced back. from being one of the most depleted, sort of pieces of land you can imagine, to being one of the most important biodiversity hot spots i

my guest is isabella tree, the co—owner of this knepp estate.planet? isabella tree, welcome to hardtalk and thank you so much for inviting us to your estate here in sussex. pleasure. absolute pleasure to have you. i'm sorry it's not better weather. ah, well, it's actually still, for me, very exciting to be here.

my guest is isabella tree, the co—owner of this knepp estate.hier planet? isabella tree, welcome to hardtalk and thank you so much for inviting us to your estate here in sussex.— here in sussex. pleasure. absolute _ here in sussex. pleasure. absolute pleasure - here in sussex. pleasure. absolute pleasure to - here in sussex. pleasure. | absolute pleasure to have here in sussex. pleasure. - absolute pleasure to have you. i'm sorry it's a better weather. it i'm sorry it's a better weather.— i'm sorry it's a better weather. . , , weather. it is actually still for