Restoring Rainforest

Available for over a year

When Merlin Hanbury-Tenison took over the reins of his family's farm, on the edge of Bodmin Moor, it was making a loss. An ancient woodland, a rare Temperate Rainforest, inspired a new vision for the farm. The rainforest also became a place of healing for Merlin and his family, as they began restoring the farm's habitats. Merlin had been an Army officer, and suffered PTSD following a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. His wife, Lizzie, found solace in the woods following a difficult journey into parenthood and Post Natal Anxiety. Meanwhile, Merlin's father, the explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, used walks among the trees to rebuild his strength after Covid bought him close to death in 2020. He tells Antonia there's a certain irony that he led expeditions to tropical rainforests in Borneo, which helped kickstart the movement to save them, whilst all along he had a rainforest on his doorstep without realising.