Thank you to everyone who attended our inaugural Restoring Nature festival. It was wonderful to see so many people there, and hearing from such brilliant authors. The location was beautiful, the food was amazing, and the band was fantastic - we hope it’s the first of many!
The River Dart and Lower Sharpham Farm
Restoring Nature: a rewilding and regenerative farming, literary festival at Lower Sharpham Farm on Saturday 14th May
The East Gate Bookshop and Ambios have teamed up to host a one-day family-friendly festival at Lower Sharpham Farm. There will be: talks, walks, books, authors, discussions, live music, a fully licensed bar and delicious locally sourced food.
Discover how rewilding and regenerative farming practices are restoring nature: improving food security, reducing the use of chemicals, rebuilding soil fertility, employing more people on the land and creating places that benefit us all.
How to get there
Address: Lower Sharpham Barton Farm, Ashprington TQ9 7DX
Please note parking at the farm is only available to Blue Badge holders and people speaking at and organising the festival.
Walk from Totnes:
Walk or cycle to the farm along the beautiful River Dart. It’s a 35-minute walk to Lower Sharpham Farm from Totnes. If you would like company, a group will be setting off from The Plains in Totnes by The Curator Café at 9:00am.
Bob the Bus:
Bob the Bus, part of the non-profit Totnes Community Bus Group will be running a shuttle service to and from the farm on the day. This service will depart from outside The Bull Inn on the Rotherford and will run between 9 and 10 am, providing three opportunities to ride to the farm. There will be another three trips starting from 6:00 pm. Transport by Bob the Bus is included in the ticket price.
A precis of the schedule is below: for more detailed information pleasee keep scrolling…
Meet the authors
Derek Gow
Bringing Back the Beaver: One Man’s Quest to Rewild Britain’s Waterways
Derek is no shrinking violet when it comes to direct action and challenging bureaucracy. He is also an extremely knowledgeable and engaging storyteller with plenty of stories to tell
Marina O'Connell
Designing Regenerative Food Systems: Why We Need Them Now
In 2015 Marina took on the tenancy at Huxhams Cross Farm in Dartington. Her book is a ‘tool kit’ for anyone looking to implement resilient food production systems.
Lee Schofield
Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill Farm
This is not only a story of nature in recovery, but also the story of Lee's personal connection to place, and the highs and lows of working for nature amid fierce opposition.
Sarah Gibson
Swifts and Us: The Life of the Bird That Sleeps in the Sky
Sarah’s tribute to these incredible birds is full of awe, passion and hope. Hope, that after years of decline we can do much to keep these amazing summer visitors screaming across our skies.
We are also delighted that author Sally Vincent will be with us on the day. Sally isn’t formally presenting, but she will be at the festival and happy to talk about her book Rain Sideways, a personal account of her rural adventures from townie to fully-fledged Dartmoor farmer, braving extreme weather and the massive impact on farming that the supermarkets, and the food production industry has.
We are really pleased that British Wildlife will be joining us at the festival. Since its launch in 1989, British Wildlife has established its position as the leading natural history magazine in the UK, providing essential reading for both enthusiast and professional naturalists and wildlife conservationists. There is no other publication that offers such high-quality, authoritative, well-researched and accessible articles on such a wide range of subjects. Britsh Wildlife rightly claims to be ‘The Magazine for the Modern Naturalist’
Belted galloways grazing on the farm
Holly Ebony and her band
There will be a fully licensed bar
Its a beautiful walk above the river Dart from Totnes to Lower Sharpham Farm
The barn provides the perfect venue for author talks and enjoying locally sourced and freshly cooked food.
So, save the date: Saturday 14th May for a brilliant day out in nature and on the farm.
What to expect on the day.
The day will be filled with talks, walks, books, authors, discussions, family activities and delicious locally sourced food.
Please aim to arrive at the farm between 9 and 10 am. The day will begins with and a chance to grab a delicous snack from our cafe and settling down for our first author to be introduced. Authors will read and present from their books either outside around the farm or inside the barn (weather dependent)! There will be Q&A sessions after each talk giving people a chance to find out more.
The day will be split with two authors before and two after lunch. Lunch will be served in the barn and for children, we have forest school activities throughout the day. After the fourth author we will hold a panel discussion, providing lively and stimulating chat around the festival’s themes . This will be followed by our delicious barbeque and live music from Holly Ebony and her band to keep everyone’s toes tapping. Our fuly licensed bar will open at lunchtime.
For more details click on the arrows next to the session splits.
The day will officially end at 8pm and people are very welcome to stay and enjoy the sunset with a drink from our bar before making their way home. The late evening light over the River Dart is a beautiful sight and will provide a fitting end to the day.
For people who have travelled by Bob the Bus and need to travel back to Totnes the same way; there will be a bus travelling back to Totnes at 13:00 and another three more trips starting at 17:30. If anyone needs to leave the event at any other time, we can call for a taxi to pick them up (we regret, this taxi service is not included in the ticket cost)
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Make your way to the farm between 9 and 10 in time for a quick breakfast and our first author: Sarah Gibson at 10:30 will be talking about her book, Swifts and Us: The Life of the Bird That Sleeps in the Sky. We will be hoping to spot recent arrivals over the river and the farm. Last year the farm recorded their first breeding pair.
The forest school area will be open from 10:00 with fully qualified forest schol leaders in attendence. At 11:00 we have children’s author Clare Helen Welsh reading from her book, How Messy encouraging the children to make natural scultures from natural materials. Clare has led many sessions with us in the bookshop and we are delighted she can be with us during the festival
At 12:00 we have Derek Gow and his book Bringing Back the Beaver: One Man’s Quest to Rewild Britain’s Waterways, Derek is an avocate of beaver reintoduction - maybe one day they will be on the Dart.. Derek gave a fascinating talk at our bookshop which was standing room only. Beavers are a fascinating animal from an ecological and historical view-point and Derek will be happy to answer any questions. The talk will lead us into lunch at 13:00
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We will break for a lite lunch (leaving room for the evening BBQ) at 13:00, which will be served in the barn.
The break will be an hour giving people chance to relax and explore parts of the farm,For those wanting to quench their thirst, the fully licensed bar will open at lunch.
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at 14:00 our third author, Marina O’ Connell will be talking about Huxhams Cross Farm and her book Designing Regenerative Food Systems: Why We Need Them Now. There will be a chance to ask Marina some questions about the joys and challenges of running a biodynamic farm
At 15:00 Holly Ebony will be leading her family group singing session, Wild Birds Singing in our forest school area. Holly is a brillaint performer and this will be a great chance to meet her before her and the band’s evening performances.
At 15:30 our final author Lee Schofield will be talking about his book Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill Farm
Lee is RSBP Site Manager for Haweswater in the Lake District.
This is not only a story of nature in recovery, but also the story of Lee's personal connection to place, and the highs and lows of working for nature amid fierce opposition. -
Our BBQ will be lit – there will be vegetarian options and food will be still available after the discussion panel and into the evening, so there is no need to hurry.
After all these fantastic author have shared their stories with us, from 17:00 we are hoping to gather them all together for a panel discussion to dicuss and debate many of the topics, ambitions and visions they have for the future of wildlife and farming. This will be a great platform for finding common ground and develop a strong voice and narrative around one of the most important issues facing us: land management, food security and it’s part in mitigating recent catestrophic biodiversity loss and the effects of climate change.
After our panel discuss ends around 18:00 the bar and our BBQ will still be open. And to get things really rolling Holly Ebony will be performing the first of their two sets taking us to the end of the day and (hopefully) a glorious sunset over the River Dart
Last light and a fond farewell over the River Dart