Our management of our breathtaking landscape is changing. We are enhancing biodiversity and sequestering carbon by creating habitat banks, transitioning to regenerative farming, and restoring the botanical complexity of our parklands. Join us at our Natural Environment events to find out more.
Join us for a series of informal evening talks about nature and landscapes, every third Tuesday of the month in Castle Howard's Courtyard Cafe. Our Future Landscapes talks explore how we see, interact with and manage our unique local landscapes, with a presentation by a guest speaker followed by an open Q&A.
Doors open at 6.30pm.
17th February - Howardian Hills National Landscape priorities
Nick Burrows, Howardian Hills
Nick Burrows, Farm Conservation Officer at the Howardian Hills National Landscape, will give an overview of the area's key priorities within the National Landscapes 2025-2030 Management Plan and how the ambitious Nature Recovery Strategy and farmer focused funding from Defra will support this work.
17th March - Rewilding in Yorkshire and the work of the Yorkshire Rewilding Network
Jeff Davitt, Yorkshire Rewilding Network
The Yorkshire Rewilding Network is a charity founded in 2020 to bring together anyone in the region with an interest in rewilding. In this talk, Jeff Davitt, Co-Founder and Trustee of YRN, will describe some the rewilding projects happening in Yorkshire, what YRN does, and how everyone can be involved.
21st April - Exploring the woodlands for Castle Howard
Duncan Leckie, Castle Howard
Over the next 5 years the estate will be planting 100 hectares of new woodland, with 30 hectares planted this winter. Duncan Leckie, the estate's Forestry Manager will speak about this ambitious plan, how sites were selected and how the ancient woodlands of tomorrow are being created.
19th May - Cath Bashford, Forestry England
16th June - Practical experience of "No-fence" collars for conservation grazing, challenges and opportunities
Ben Fargher, Tenant farmer
Ben will talk about his experience using No-Fence collars on his families' Aberdeen Angus beef herd which graze the parkland landscapes of Castle Howard. The collars were trialled in 2025 with support from Castle Howard and the Howardian Hills National Landscapes Farming in Protected Landscapes fund.
21st July - Why and how is rewilding being implented across Britain?
Lauren Barnes, University of York
This presentation explores how rewilding is being interpreted and put into practice across Britain. While academic debate often centres on defining rewilding, its real-world application varies wildly depending on each landowner's aims and context. Drawing on conversations with practitioners who identify their projects as rewilding, the talk will highlight their motivations and the management approaches they are using to bring their rewilding visions to life.
17th November - Guy Thallon, Castle Howard
We are thrilled to announce a landmark nature restoration and rewilding project on our historic Estate – designed and delivered in collaboration with Environment Bank.
A 440-acre area of the Estate known as Bog Hall will go under a major project, to transform it from difficult to farm, low-yielding agricultural land into a thriving space for nature. The area, which is greater than the area inside the York City Walls, is a designated as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC), within the Howardian Hills National Landscape, and has been carefully selected for its immense potential to enhance biodiversity. Working with Environment Bank ecologists, our goal is to almost triple the biodiversity over the next 30 years.
Find out more about the project and how to get involved