Rothbury Estate purchase fundraiser secures £5m

16 hours ago

Jonny ManningNorth East and Cumbria

News image — An appeal to buy the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland has reached the halfway mark

John Millard Two hikers traversing a path on the Rothbury Estate. They are a man and a woman and are wearing coats and walking trousers. The ground is made of rough grass and dark coloured plants and the sky is very clear. — An appeal to buy the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland has reached the halfway mark

Conservation groups attempting to buy a huge stretch of land in the north east of England have secured £5m towards their goal.

The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust are attempting to raise £30m to buy the 3,800ha (15-sq-m) Rothbury Estate in Northumberland in a bid to boost biodiversity.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the latest organisation to donate to the appeal and its pledge takes the amount amassed so far to £16m, but to unlock the latest grant the appeal must raise the remainder of the funding by the end of September 2026.

The Wildlife Trusts' president Liz Bonnin said the grant was a "major step towards securing the beautiful and historic" estate.

"The opportunity for us to shape the next chapter in its story is incredibly exciting and we are so grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for their backing," she said.

John Millard A group of six cows standing in a field on the Rothbury Estate. Five are brown while one is grey. They all have yellow tags in their ears. — Among the plans for the land, should funding be secured, is a quadrupling of the number of cattle

The groups previously purchased part of the estate, including the Simonside Hills, from the Duke of Northumberland's son, Lord Max Percy, in 2024.

The current fundraising effort gained support from people around the world after Sir David Attenborough backed the appeal last year.

But the plans have not been popular with everyone, including farmer Chris Armstrong, whose farm is close to the site and who said the farming community saw the plans as a folly.

The Wildlife Trusts previously said it wanted to reduce the number of sheep on the estate from 1,500 to 500 and quadruple the number of cattle to 200, while also working to boost wildlife and restore bogs.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust chief executive Mike Pratt said the project aimed to establish "nature-friendly farming".

"With the opportunity to secure the rest of the estate – which we're that bit closer to realising today – we can scale up this work and create a landscape where farming and nature truly thrive together," he said.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund CEO, Eilish McGuinness, said the organisation's donation would help the project deliver nature recovery in a way that would "help reconnect people to the unique natural and cultural heritage of Rothbury".

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