Rewilding at
Cove Valley
Restoring Devon’s wild heart, one acre at a time
Nine years ago, we made a decision that went against every conventional instinct in land management: we stopped. No grazing, no mowing, no intervention. We simply gave the land back to itself.
What has happened since is nothing short of extraordinary.
Cove Valley is a 300-acre rewilding project in the heart of Devon’s Exe Valley, on the edge of Exmoor National Park. Across three neighbouring landowners working in collaboration, we are restoring habitats, returning lost species, and rebuilding the rich biodiversity that intensive agriculture had quietly erased. When you stay here, you are not just visiting nature — you are helping fund its recovery.
THE LAND
Nine Years in the Making
Rewilding is not a quick process. It asks for patience, trust, and a willingness to let nature lead.
We began by removing all grazing and management from the land, giving degraded pasture the space to rest and recover. Scrub began to grow. Wetlands started to re-emerge. Woodland expanded. What was once uniform agricultural grassland began to transform into a complex mosaic of habitats — each one supporting different species, different insects, different birds.
Today, the results speak for themselves.
WILDLIFE &
BIODIVERSITY
What’s Thriving Here
Nine years of rewilding has created a remarkable breadth of wildlife at Cove Valley. The reserve is now home to:
Over 50 species of birds — including owls, buzzards, night herons, and a growing woodland bird community
Beavers — one of Britain’s most exciting reintroductions, our resident beavers are active on the reserve, building dams, creating wetlands, and engineering habitat that benefits dozens of other species
White Storks — we are part of an active breeding programme supporting the return of this iconic species to British skies
Turtle Doves — one of the UK’s most endangered farmland birds, we are involved in a conservation breeding programme to support their recovery
Dormice — we participate in the National Dormouse Monitoring Scheme, contributing data to the long-term conservation of this much-loved but vulnerable species
Foxes, badgers, hares, and bats are regular sightings across the reserve
THE ANIMALS
Returning the Grazers
A crucial part of rewilding is reintroducing animals that play the role of nature’s engineers — shaping habitats, creating diversity, and allowing other species to follow.
At Cove Valley, we have introduced domesticated versions of wild ancestors to fulfil these ecological roles:
- English Longhorn Cattle — descendants of ancient aurochs, these hardy grazers create varied vegetation structure, benefiting insects and ground-nesting birds
- Iron Age Pigs — rooting and foraging naturally, they disturb the soil and open up space for wildflowers and invertebrates
- Ponies — low-intensity grazers that create the short sward many rare species depend on
- Red Deer — browsers and grazers that help maintain open glades within developing woodland
These animals are not farmed. They live as naturally as possible within the reserve, shaping the landscape the way their ancestors once did across Britain.
Meet the Residents
Some of our animals have grown up with people around them and are genuinely curious about visitors. Our friendly red deer, ponies, and boar will often wander over to say hello — offering guests a rare, unhurried moment of connection with wild-living animals. There are no pens, no feeding stations, no performance. Just an animal deciding it wants to come close.
For many people, this is the moment that changes something. That shift from watching wildlife to meeting it.
WHY IT MATTERS
The Bigger Picture
The UK has lost more of its biodiversity than almost any other country in the developed world. Decades of intensive land management have left habitats fragmented, species populations in freefall, and the natural systems that support all life — including ours — severely weakened.
Rewilding is one of the most powerful responses we have.
By stepping back and letting nature recover, we can restore the ecological processes that regulate water, build soil, store carbon, and support the food webs that everything depends on. It is not about returning to some idealised past — it is about giving nature enough space, and enough wild herbivores, to do what it does best.
At Cove Valley, we are living proof of what is possible. In nine years, degraded farmland has become a haven for some of Britain’s most threatened species. And we are only getting started.
YOUR ROLE
Every Stay Funds the Project
Running a rewilding project of this scale — the monitoring, the animal welfare, the habitat work, the breeding programmes — requires ongoing investment. Cove Valley’s luxury cabins exist, in part, because they make all of this possible.
When you book a stay, you become part of the project. Your visit directly contributes to the conservation work happening around you. You are not just a guest — you are a stakeholder in the recovery of this landscape.
We want you to leave here with more than a sense of rest. We want you to leave reconnected — to nature, to the wild, and to the understanding that it is worth protecting.
