We like to think of Nature’s Rest as a never ending story that will be constantly evolving, just as nature does.
The ‘collective’ element of the title covers the many different aspects on offer from nature friendly food production in the Gourmet Garden, pastured chickens for eggs and meat, our small flock of Jacob sheep, wildlife care, land management, educational insights, walk & talk therapies, wild camping and private hire. It is hoped through being totally transparent in the running practices of Nature’s Rest a greater and more demonstrative insight to the importance of biodiversity and our ecosystems will be achieved.
We bought Natures Rest in 2020 and is a privately owned nature reserve set within 11 1/2 acres of culm grassland, overgrown hedges and woodland near Halwill in Devon. Having not been intensively farmed since the second world war, the land has been allowed to naturally re-wild over the years but this has lead to an influx of rushes which are slowly being brought under control to allow the native grasses and wild flowers which inhabit these rare grasslands a better chance to survive, nature sometimes needs a helping hand too!
The site is divided into small meadows with deep hedges and occasional sporadic small self set woodland. What is known as Ravens Wood runs along the boundary and has a stream border joining the nearby River Carey, a tributary to the River Tamar. Its a real joy to follow one of the cut pathways carved through the wilderness and sit on one of the strategically placed benches to see what comes to you or simply just to sit and ’be’ allowing all the senses to be heightened.
Land Management
The land at Natures Rest hasn't been commercially farmed for may years and has to a certain degree been allowed to re-wild itself. The fields are predominantly old culm grassland which is specific to North Devon and becoming quite rare. Please click on the link to find out more about culm grassland.
What is Culm Grassland? - Devon culm
Current Condition of the Land
Although the land has received some light grazing up until recently, most of the fields haven't been cut for hay for many years which has allowed the spread of rushes and growth of saplings. The rushes being rough and clump forming have damaged machinery and has in part caused the decline in cutting. These rushes are the wrong type of species and are non beneficial to culm grassland, which, with less management have been allowed to take hold and spread extensively throughout much of the site. Through a combination of mechanical cutting and grazing we are slowly claiming the ground back from the over population of rush's. This will take time as we don't want to use chemicals or upset the soil structure by ploughing and re-seeding.
The site is made up of 5 primary fields with a small woodland plot adjacent to a small stream on the far boundary. The fields all vary in size and nature and are bordered by over grown hedges of mixed native species of trees. There has also been some spread of trees from self sown saplings into open areas as well as sapling encroachment from the hedge line. Some of these have now become established as medium sized trees, mainly of willow, poplar, hazel and some oak. In some places the hedges are now 30 - 40 feet deep!
The soil is a heavy clay which retains water well during the winter and prevents vehicle access until it dries up as the warmer weather of summer arrives. This makes work during the winter more difficult or impossible without causing damage to soil structure through compaction or rutting.
The fields also contain a good mix of wild flowers, grasses, thistles etc along with the dreaded rushes which left unchecked out compete most other species. The flowers are an important part of the grass meadows and will further spread and increase with good management.
Wildlife on site
There is an healthy abundance of thriving wildlife that call Nature’s Rest ‘home’ - Tawny Owls, Barn owls, Little Owls and many other species of bird including the summer migratory Grass Hopper Warbler, Ravens, Nuthatch, Tits, Chaffinch, Woodpecker, Snipe and Woodcock in the winter as well as many other species. Insects include Dragonfly, Damselfly, many species of butterfly, glow-worms, grasshoppers and spiders and also snakes, toads, frogs, lizards, badgers, foxes, rabbits, rats, mice and bats. These all signal a healthy eco system and food supply chain which is why they are there to start with. Site management will need to balance the needs of all levels of species found on site so as to enhance the general makeup but not to the determent of any particular species.
This also needs to balance out in the way we utilise the site and it's farming practices so they work in harmony. Grazing of livestock is beneficial to the grassland although this needs to be done in a way so as not to over graze or heavily poach the soil in wet conditions.
The long grass and thick sword at the base is good for small mammals which become food for species like Barn Owls, Grass Snakes and other hunting mammals. The mix of flowers provide food for insects which in turn feed many bird species and hunting insects like dragon flies.
We are fully committed to working with good organic and regenerative practices in all that we do and this can also create additional challenges for our ventures when working on such a diversely nature packed site.
Field Management
We will strive to always have areas of uncut grassland to provide hunting grounds for Barn Owls. In doing so we will rotate the fields which are cut so there is always room for species to move into other areas. We will allow some trees to grow ad hock within the fields but not allow these to grow to large. We will use a coppice and re-grow system to manage the size of trees within the fields and not allow further expansion of the hedges. No additional drainage will be installed other than that of around areas such as gateways where allowing these areas to collect water would inhibit access for necessary maintenance and fieldwork.
Hedges and trees
Hedges will be maintained at their existing spread and not be allowed to continue to take over the fields. This will be done predominantly by hand and with small hand and powered tools. Cut material will be utilised for making woodchip, biochar and wood fuel for use on site. Large trees which die off will be let standing for the benefit of the wildlife.
Natures Rest is a perfect example of Silvopasture (a system of planting trees for forage and shelter) with Alder, poplar and willow as main species used, which grow in abundance at Natures Rest. That's not to say these are the only species that can be used or that grow on site. The sheep love to browse and especially love the abundance of willow.
The principal of our management system is to create a closed system where we utilise everything produced on site. There should not be any waste and growing everything to organic standards means no chemicals too. Livestock will be reared in a silvopasture system, keeping livestock outdoors for as long as possible but depending on ground conditions, and then brought in doors when required to protect the meadows from poaching which would have a negative outcome to the site. Stock will be housed when necessary on old traditional deep bed systems, which produce very little effluent. In some instances such as poultry and pigs that are reared for meat, we may avoid over wintering with careful timing on rearing times to avoid the need to keep them during this time.
Stock numbers will start off small and grow slowly, being governed by what the land needs to maintain the meadows and not the other way round. Our livestock systems will exceed all common husbandry standards where ever possible. Overstocking is bad for nature, erosion, pollution run off and animal health (the land is in a nitrogen vulnerable zone) and we includes animal housing in this as well.
Many modern intensive farming systems suffer from overproduction of liquid waste, which is getting increasingly difficult to both store and use without pollution incidents. Manure will be utilised for making compost and used on the no dig market garden system. This cuts out the need to bring in either commercial or communal compost (which is of a lesser quality) and involve a greater carbon footprint. Should there be any liquid waste it will be collected and firstly used to infuse/preload our own biochar and then secondly added to boost our own nettle and comfrey plant feed to be used on the market garden. Building up a good level of organic matter in the no dig system, as well as adding biochar, helps both with water retention, prevents loss of important nutrients and helps provide safe haven for important soil born micro organisms. The no dig system also means no tilling and greatly reduces the risk of soil erosion.
No manures will be added to the pastures other than by natural distribution from pastured livestock, as this is counter productive to enhancing/restoring the nature of the culm grass meadows. Traditional meadow hay will be made where ever possible so again removing another major pollutant from silage effluent.
Sheep
We have now fully fencing around the perimeter of the land and whilst there is still more to complete we have enough completed which has enabled us to purchase a small flock of sheep in 2024. We chose Jacob’s, being a traditional breed known for their quality and lean meat and beautiful brown and white fleeces. We will gradually build numbers alongside other livestock until we know how many the land can support without over grazing.
Chickens
In 2023 we built our first chicken tractor and produced a small batch of free range willow fed meat birds. Supplementing their diet with produce from the gourmet garden and also fresh willow leaves they are without doubt the tastiest chickens we’ve ever had! Whilst currently we buy in commercial chicks to raise, we feed them a lower protein diet including ground fermented whet and barley, to slow their growing time and typically take 14 - 16 weeks to mature (unlike factory farmed supermarket chickens which only take 6-8 weeks!) but producing very large table birds (4-5kg) suitable for Christmas, without all the negatives of the commercial system and chickens going off their legs.
We now also have a small flock of 50 (ish) laying birds made up of a mix from our pet chickens from home along with a number of rescue hens from commercial egg producers and me young commercial hens.
The chickens are protected from Mr fox and Mr Badger with a 5 foot perimeter fence with mesh base and electric fence on the top powered by solar. The houses benefit from automatic doors, also powered along with lighting and timers by solar and also rainwater harvesting for their water. The automatic lighting helps getting the birds to go inside at night as despite the fox fencing they would still be vulnerable to predation by smaller hunting animals such as Mink, Stoats, Pine Martins and even Rats. To aid their defence during the day we have added a cockerel which will be an extra warning system and protector from overhead predators such as buzzards which we have plenty of in the area. Our cockerel is called Lenin (for those of you who can remember the Good Life on tv) wo is a Light Sussex breed and not particularly friendly to anyone who enters his domain!
Pigs
In 2024 we took on our first two pigs in the form of two pedigree Welsh white weaners. Two guilts which spent the summer in long pen next to one of the hedges to provide both shade in the summer and acorns in the autumn. They got their nose in the ground within minutes of being released! They have a traditional curved tin pig sty to sleep and shelter from the weather when they want to. We have also been experimenting with an automated feeder we have cobbled together using a pheasant feeder, drum, pipes and an old pair of leggings! It works well and with the addition of some wire netting connected to the electric fencer has so far evaded the intelligence of the local squirrel hooligan's! We didn't do pigs in 2025 to give the ground time to recover but will probably do more again in 2026.
Gourmet Garden
We set up the garden and put up a poly tunnel to help extend the growing season but its been a somewhat challenging start! Growing food in the middle of a nature reserve was never going to be easy! We had to go into overkill mode on the fencing, the deer had a ball in there when they found a gap in the fence! We now have an influx of bunnies that are so tame you trip over them, so more fencing has been added! The wet conditions have also added additional challenges as well as making it a wonderful home to slugs and snails! The squirrels love the apples, rats love the compost heap and anything they can eat along with a mass of hungry mice too! We refuse to use poisons so have been developing systems and coping strategies to deal with the different issues as they have arisen. We also built a big fruit cage (its massive!) as the birds were loving the strawberries! Then the weeds! With plenty of water and warmth of the summer the weeds do go mad, and with a mass of creeping buttercup and little competition the have gone crazy too!
We only use organic fertilizer, some of which is made by us on site and we are gradually moving over to ‘no dig’, using a ridge system to get out of the water! We don’t use pesticides and adopt more of an organic/permaculture approach although we are not registered as so. We capture and store the flood water run off and use a pump powered by solar to water the garden. We have mains water as a back up but so far we haven’t had to use it and keep adding more storage a required.
The aim of the Gourmet Garden is to provide seasonal food grown with nature in mind, no nasty chemicals. A great variety of tomatoes in all different shapes, sizes and colours along with cucumbers have been growing in the polytunnels and providing a fantastic feast for the eyes! They had a good start in compost conditioned with baked egg shells, biochar, a dash of manure and wood ash, topped up with a liquid feed made from Comfrey & Nettles. Also looking good are the Romanesco, corn, peas, beans and some fruits safely tucked away in the fruit cage.
