Wilder Connections at the Doddington Estate

Project Dates: Trial phase 2022

Funder: The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Project overview

Made possible by National Lottery players, the Wilder Connections project aims to develop a wide range of programmes designed to broaden access to and deepen engagement with nature. It will create opportunities for young people to gain skills to help them find fulfilling nature-based jobs and take advantage of new career opportunities arising from changing agriculture and environmental policy.

It is based at the Doddington Estate in Lincolnshire. The Field Studies Council are excited to be a partner in the project.

As part of the project the Field Studies Council will:

• Research and deliver a programme of visits from local primary and secondary schools
• Offer adult education provision with natural history courses
• Engage with young people through our Young Darwin Scholarship: Doddington
• Co-create relevant new wildlife identification guides

Wilder Connections

Wilder Connections aims to realise the huge opportunities to build nature-based social, educational and wider economic benefits on the back of the nature recovery at Wilder Doddington by working in partnership with local and national community and educational organisations.

It will offer opportunities for all ages, especially for those who do not necessarily have access to nature. It will give people the chance to not only develop green skills and, increase their environmental knowledge but to also get involved as a citizen scientist.

The Doddington Estate

The Doddington Estate stretches over 770 hectares west of Lincoln. At its centre stands the Elizabethan Doddington Hall, a lived-in historic house, open to the public and surrounded by converted farm and outbuildings which support a wide variety of diversified enterprises including a busy farm shop, two cafes, weddings and accommodation.

For three generations the conservation of wildlife and sustainability have been at the heart of activity at Doddington. The estate is peppered with a mosaic of habitats including hedges, ancient woodland, lowland heath and wetlands.

Wilder Doddington

In 2021, the Doddington Estate embarked on Wilder Doddington, a 100-year nature recovery project supported by a Natural England Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

The largest nature restoration project in the East Midlands, Wilder Doddington seeks to contribute towards the Government and Natural England’s ambition for a new Nature Recovery Network. It will create larger and better-connected wildlife rich areas, benefitting nature and people, as well as providing many ecological services such as increased biodiversity, carbon sequestration, cleaner water and reduced flooding.

The project also aims to deliver: 

• The development of a wide range of volunteering opportunities enabling people from diverse backgrounds to benefit from the social, mental and physical well-being of outdoor, nature-based work. 
• Programmes to build resilience and improve mental and physical health through connection to nature such as green and social prescribing. 
• A programme of community visits aimed at people who do not readily access green spaces. 
• A working partnership with CIC Hill Holt Wood to develop nature-based, outdoor learning and qualifications at Doddington for young learners with special educational needs or are at risk of exclusion from school. 
• The creation of a detailed plan for new trails around Wilder Doddington, with citizen science and interpretation to encourage more diverse casual onsite visitors and help deepen engagement of all visitors to Wilder Doddington. 

• Plans for construction of the ‘Wild House’, a cutting-edge exemplar of sustainable building techniques as a base for educational and community activities. 
• Plans to rewet part of the estate to increase aquatic biodiversity, clean water and provide natural flood management for Lincoln. 
• A wide range of opportunities for farmers, land managers and professionals to learn about nature recovery, carbon and soil health, and natural flood management. 

The educational partnerships and aims of this project hope to create a resilient future for education and outreach at Doddington and in turn, will create opportunities for all to visit Wilder Connections to learn, develop skills and promise a healthy future for people and the planet. 

Wilder Doddington will provide a stimulating backdrop and raison d’etre for Wilder Connections. The benefits and outcomes of Wilder Connections will support the continued development of Wilder Doddington.