England’s largest nature restoration project under single ownership sets a new benchmark for financing nature recovery
England’s largest landscape restoration project under single ownership is launching following RESTORE’s acquisition of the 7,500-acre Emblehope Estate in Northumberland from the Royal Kennel Club, creating one of the UK’s most ambitious partnerships for nature recovery, climate resilience and community benefit.
The acquisition makes Emblehope England's largest contiguous landholding, under single ownership, dedicated entirely to the restoration of the natural world as its sole and primary purpose. The project brings together RESTORE, 30x30 UK and a coalition of philanthropic, private investment and banking partners to set a new benchmark for financing large-scale nature recovery in England.
Benedict Macdonald, Founder and Director of RESTORE, said: "What has long been missing from the English uplands is a large-scale site dedicated primarily to the most ambitious forms of nature restoration. Whilst many upland estates, farms and forestry benefit from nature as a side-product of commercial activity, Emblehope is destined to become a biosphere-level reserve where nature itself is the driver”.
Nature restoration at Emblehope will focus on reinstating many of natural processes that once defined this landscape: rewetting approximately 800 hectares of degraded peatland, restoring thousands of acres of lost or degraded botany, and creating low-intensity grazing systems, to increase vegetation diversity and habitat structure. The intended 30-year result will not be a single uniform habitat, but a shifting mosaic of open water, bog, scrub, dwarf trees and floral glades, shaped by natural dynamism although overseen by human management.
Despite the Kennel Club’s careful stewardship the Emblehope peatland is currently heavily degraded, with an extensive network of drains creating flash floods and pulses of water downstream. By restoring the peatland and blocking drains, Restore’s ecological delivery team intends to raise the land’s capacity to store water and to slow the flow, turning the landscape into a giant sponge and improving its resilience to climate change and more frequent extreme weather events. Modelling suggests that by the completion of the hydrological restoration programme, the rewetted peat will store in the region of an additional 100,000 m³, equivalent to around 40 Olympic swimming pools, or the annual water consumption of 700 households.
As the restoration progresses, Emblehope is expected to come alive with species returning to a landscape that can once again support them. Curlew, Golden Eagle and Common Crane are among the species that the team hopes will recolonise naturally, as habitat conditions improve. The project aspires in time to achieve UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status, a designation that would recognise it as an internationally significant site for nature. Nestled between Kielder Forest, Northumberland National Park and a network of neighbouring conservation-focused landholdings, Emblehope, ten times the size of the Square Mile in London, is a missing piece in reinstating the connectivity of England's most significant wild landscape complex.
The announcement comes as DEFRA publishes its Environmental Delivery Plan, reinforcing the importance of collaboration between government, landowners, businesses and civil society in delivering England’s commitment to protect and restore 30% of land and sea by 2030.
Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England, said: "The acquisition of Emblehope is an exciting development for Nature recovery in England. Focused on restoring habitats in the headwaters of the North Tyne and creating the wetland conditions for wildlife to thrive, this project builds on important foundation work to heal the landscape.
It is part of an inspiring ambition in the region to bring about the recovery of Nature at huge scale, delivering lasting benefits for local communities, businesses and society as a whole, and Natural England looks forward to working closely with RESTORE and other partners to ensure its success."
The acquisition was made possible through a pioneering tri-capital structure combining philanthropy, private equity and senior debt within a single Special Purpose Vehicle, representing one of the first times that all three of these capital vehicles have been deployed in a single land acquisition in England.
The philanthropic contribution for Emblehope was provided via a Donor Advised Fund. Alongside, a syndicate of impact investors provided private capital; investing on the basis of natural capital returns. Finally, a senior debt facility from Triodos Bank UK, one of Europe's leading ethical banks, completed the capital stack, bringing the total raised to just under £9 million. The RESTORE team completed the fundraise itself in three months, using a combination of vision media and a diversified returns profile for investors to close the capital. The project is expected to generate close to £40 million in natural capital revenues over its lifetime, through a range of voluntary and mandatory mechanisms.
Gil Martin, Commercial and Natural Capital Director of RESTORE, said:
"The Emblehope acquisition brings together three very different kinds of capital into a single structure, which works simultaneously for all the parties involved. As a company less than three years old, equity funded at its inception on less than £500,000, raising close to £9 million to secure this site is something we are genuinely proud of. What matters most for us, however, is that this type of transaction for nature can be scaled and repeated in the future - across the nature business sector”.
Simon Crichton, head of nature, food and resource at Triodos Bank UK, added:
“We’ve been actively financing nature-based solutions for a number of years, and Emblehope builds on this work. Having first provided finance to RESTORE in 2025, we know that together we share a clear, ambitious vision for scaling nature restoration. We’re proud to support the team and look forward to seeing the long-term impact this project delivers for both nature and communities.”
Restoration activity at Emblehope will be supported through 30x30 RESTORE Units, a mechanism developed in partnership with 30x30 UK, in which each unit funds measurable, verified on-the-ground restoration. Businesses purchasing units receive verified impact reporting aligned with recognised reporting frameworks, communications support to transparently share their measurable contribution, opportunities for staff volunteering and site visits, and ongoing engagement with one of England’s most significant restoration projects. Working closely with DEFRA and partners across the conservation, finance and business sectors, 30x30 UK helps mobilise the private investment and cross-sector collaboration needed to turn that national ambition into action.
Nicky O'Malley, CEO of 30x30UK, said: "This couldn’t come at a more important moment. As DEFRA publishes its Environmental Delivery Plan, Emblehope shows what delivery looks like in practice. Progress on the 30 by 30 pledge will require cross-sector collaboration across government, business, investors, landowners and communities coming together behind a shared ambition. That’s exactly what this partnership represents. It’s a blueprint for how we can restore nature at the scale and pace this decade demands. "
For RESTORE, the social benefits of restoring a site of Emblehope’s scale could not be clearer. Northumberland is England's largest and most sparsely populated county, with increasingly low rural employment opportunities especially for younger people. The restoration programme for Emblehope seeks to create new roles in land stewardship and community engagement. RESTORE is committed to working with local businesses and communities throughout Northumberland, to ensure the project delivers lasting economic value for the region, alongside its ecological ambition.
ENDS
Media Enquiries
Agata Rucin
Head of Marketing Communications, RESTORE
07957679305
Benedict Macdonald
Founding Director RESTORE
benedict.macdonald@restoredland.com
07964 798343
About RESTORE:
RESTORE is a nature restoration company with ecological ambition at its heart. Working with landowners, companies and investors, RESTORE delivers large-scale, science-led ecological recovery across the UK. The company provides landowners with upfront funding and end-to-end expertise for genuinely ambitious restoration projects, enables businesses to take credible, high-integrity nature action through UK-based nature credits, and offers investors access to a growing pipeline of impact-driven natural capital opportunities. Founded by a team of lifelong naturalists and guided by nature-first principles, RESTORE was established out of a shared belief that nature recovery in the UK should not remain a niche conservation goal, but a mainstream land use and investment strategy.