Our inaugural Restoring Nature festival hosted by Ambios at Lower Sharpham was in 2022, and we are almost all set for the Restoring Nature 2024
We don’t plan to change much: same fantastic location, more fantastic authors encouraging discussion and debate, and a friendly convivial festival for like-minded people to get together and celebrate nature.

Restoring Nature 2024

Restoring Nature: a rewilding literary festival at Lower Sharpham Farm on Saturday 18th May 2024

The East Gate Bookshop and Ambios have teamed up again 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 projects are restoring nature and creating places that benefit us all.

The River Dart and Lower Sharpham Farm

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.

View the route map here

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. To get to the festival the service will depart from outside The Bull Inn on the Rotherford and will run between 8:30 and 10 am, providing at least three opportunities to ride to the festival. For the return journey, from 5:30 pm, there will be two buses providing at least four opportunities to travel back to Totnes. Transport by Bob the Bus is included in the ticket price.

Meet the authors

We have brilliant authors speaking on the day; all bringing their own unique expertise, passion and experience to the festival, and we are looking forward to hearing all of them present on the day and contribute to our end-of-day panel discussion.

Derek Gow, Hunt for the Shadow Wolf

Derek is the author of the Bringing Back the Beaver and in his latest book, Hunt for the Shadow Wolf: The lost history of wolves in Britain and the myths and stories that surround them he embarks on an adventure to uncover the mythology, mystery and history of wolves in Britain

Derek is a farmer turned nature conservationist and is in the process of rewilding his 300 acre farm. He has played a significant role in the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver, the water vole and the white stork to England. He is currently working on a reintroduction project for the wildcat. Derek Gow’s dream is that one day we will see the return of the wolf as well.

Fiona Mathews and Tim Kendall, Black Ops & Beaver Bombing: Adventures with Britain's Wild Mammals

Authors of the Wainwright Prize-shortlisted Black Ops & Beaver Bombing, Fiona Mathews and Tim Kendall take us on a safari unlike any other. They travel from Scotland to the Isles of Scilly in search of their elusive subjects. This is a celebration of Britain’s marvellous mammals, and a rallying cry to save them.

Fiona Mathews is professor of environmental biology at the University of Sussex. She is the founding chair of Mammal Conservation Europe and author of the UK government’s official census of British mammals. Tim Kendall is professor of English literature at the University of Exeter and editor of Britain’s Mammals 2018. He and Fiona live together in the wilds of East Devon,

Chantal Lyons, Groundbreakers: The Return of Britain’s wild Boar

Driven to extinction seven hundred years ago; boar are big, messy and tenacious- crossing paths with a wild boar can conjure fear and joy in equal measure. In Groundbreakers, Chantal Lyons moves to the boar’s stronghold of the Forest of Dean to get up close and personal with this complex, intelligent and quirky species.

Join Chantal on a journey of discovery as she reveals what it might take for us to coexist with wild boar.

Sophie Yeo, Nature’s Ghosts: The World We
Lost and How to Bring it Back

Nature’s Ghosts examines how the planet would have looked before humans scrubbed away its diversity: from landscapes carved out by megafauna to primeval forests and the flower-rich farms of more recent centuries.

Sophie is a freelance environmental journalist based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and has been reporting on the environment since 2013. Nature’s Ghosts is her first book.

Throughout the day, there will be a forest school at the festival; and don’t miss Wild Birds Singing, a singing group for families, lead by the amazing Holly Ebony between 15:00 and 15:30.

We are delighted that singer-songwriter, Colin Manson will be onve again be performing his wonderful folk music throughtout the day. Listen to Colin performing Where Do We Go here

It’s 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.

Derek Gow keeping the crowd enthralled at Restoring Nature 2022. We are so pleased Derek can join us again in 2024

There will be a fully licensed bar open from 1:00 pm

Tickets will be available from the East Gate Bookshop and online here
Adult ticket (over 18): £20.00 each
Under 18: £12.00 each
Tickets for under 5s are free of charge, but they will need a ticket

Please note: tickets will gain you entry to the festival and attendence to all the talks, but do not include food and drink. You are welcome to bring your own food to eat, or you can purshase the locally sourced and freshly cooked food that will be available at the festival.

So, save the date: Saturday 18th May for a brilliant day out in nature and on the farm.

Read our blog post looking back at our inaugral Restoring Nature in 2022 here

Well behaved dogs, kept under control will be allowed into the festival site free of charge. We politely remind you that Lower Sharpham Farm is a working farm, and that dogs must not be allowed to roam freely and they must be under supervision at all times. Thank you for your cooperation.

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 begins with and a chance to grab breakfast and settling down for our first author at 10:30. Authors will read and present from inside the barn and there will be Q&A sessions and book signing after each talk to give 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 at 1:00pm,

And for children, we have forest school activities throughout the day. Around 4:30pm, after the fourth author, the barbeque will have been lit ahead of a lively panel discussion, providing stimulating chat around the festival’s themes. After which there will be time to relax and chat at our fully licensed bar. The late evening light over the river Dart is a beautiful sight and will provide a fitting end to the day.

  • Make your way to the farm between 9:15 and 10 in time for a quick breakfast and our first author: Derek Gow

    The forest school area will be open from 10:00 with fully qualified forest schol leaders in attendence.

    At 12:00, Fiona Mathews and Tim Kendall will take the stage taking us into lunch at 13:00

  • 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.

  • at 14:00 our third author Sophie Yoe will be take the stage and after a short break will be followed by Chantal Lyons at 15:30

  • 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 discuss and debate many of the topics, ambitions and visions they have for the future of wildlife. 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 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 will still be open 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