Wilderness is an area of restored natural lakes, parkland and woods situated in Suffolk's Yox Valley that flows into Minsmere nature reserve on the Heritage Coast. The estate is part of a recently implemented design in the nearby Blyth Valley by the landscape architectLancelot 'Capability' Brown.
History
Wilderness surrounds Heveningham Hall, a former National Trust house, now in use as a private residence. In 1782, a Capability Brown design for Heveningham's grounds was commissioned by Sir Gerard Vanneck, 2nd Baron of Huntingfield and then owner of Heveningham, but, following Brown's death in 1783, the plans were only partly implemented. In 1994, Heveningham was purchased by British entrepreneur Jon Hunt, who set about restoring Brown's original design, using his original plans. Hunt sought the help of landscape architect Kim Wilkie. At first Wilkie refused; as he told the Financial Times: "When I realised that Jon was property developer I didn't want to go anywhere near it". Wilkie was persuaded to join the project after visiting Heveningham with Hunt, studying the original Brown plans and taking inspiration from the landform. Work began in 1995, with parts of the estate opened for private hire in 2013.
Development work
To develop the estate, Hunt has purchased a total of 5000 acres of adjacent land, pieced together in numerous property transactions. Restoring Brown's vision required Wilkie and Hunt to remove modern features inconsistent with an 18th-century design. Numerous concrete roads, car parks, telegraph poles and farm outbuildings were either demolished or buried. Referring to this programme of re-wilding the estate, Hunt told Country life Magazine that he "...didn't like the human bits." A large area of arable farmland was left to return to the wild. As Country Life magazine reported: "…sharp-leaved fluellen, field madder, heartsease, corn mint – these and other plants that an arable farmer would regard as weeds flourish unsprayed". Returning this farmland to the wild over two decades has allowed significant numbers of animal species, flora and fauna to settle in the area. Wilkie says that "98 per cent" of Brown's original 600-acre design at Heveningham is now in place, and that the wider area has been developed according to principles that Brown would recognise as consistent with an Arcadian pleasure ground, including lakes, parkland and woods and a variety of historic manor houses. In developing the estate, Hunt has said he has been inspired by the work of entrepreneur conservationists Doug and Susie Tompkins and by his childhood spent roaming moors in Otterburn.
Wildlife
After the planting of 800,000 trees and the installation of 2,000 nest boxes, significant animal populations have flourished in the area. Breeding populations of raptors, barn owls, buzzards and other at-risk species have settled, as have mammal, amphibian, moth and butterfly populations, the latter being supported by the development of pines, lakes and meadows. Country Life reports that the estate supports 13 pairs of breeding owls and is visited by bitterns. In 2013, Hunt announced that 72,000 ash trees under the threat of European chalara disease would need to be removed from the estate, to be replaced by hornbeam and oak. Hunt describes the choice of ash as "…an £850,000 mistake".
Buildings
The estate retains a notable collection of period buildings, principally Sibton Park, an 1827 Georgian Grade II listedmanor house. Sibton's Greek ionic columns have been compared to William and Henry Inwood's All Saints' Church in Camden Town, London. The real architect is unknown, although Country Life magazine speculates that the architect is possibly Decimus Burton, known for buildings at London Zoo and Kew Gardens. Other restored buildings include The Clockhouse, Hex Cottage and various farmhouses, lodges and barns. Hunt's private residence is adjacent to the estate, but some buildings within the estate have been made available for holiday accommodation, including a clockhouse, barn and a gate lodge, as well as a farmhouse said to have been visited by Alexa Chung. In 2013, Hunt told the Financial Times: "Farming alone won't pay for a modern estate to survive. Real estate will." In 2016 the New York Times covered the opening of The Walled Garden, an eight-bedroom resort building on the estate based around an 18th-century walled kitchen garden.
