Explore home of Sussex rewilding at CPRE Sussex Countryside Day Out

Join us at the Knepp Estate, Dial Post, West Sussex RH13 8NQ for a celebration of countryside protection and restoration.

CPRE Sussex is hosting a Countryside Day Out at the Knepp Estate, Dial Post, West Sussex on Saturday, 2 September.

Everyone is welcome to attend the event celebrating the Sussex countryside and those working to protect and promote it.

The day is a double celebration of CPRE Sussex’s 50th anniversary and Knepp Estate’s new Wilding Café and Shop.

Paul Steedman, director CPRE Sussex, said: “Come join us and our countryside friends to celebrate our 50th anniversary and the opening of Knepp’s amazing new café and shop. This day out is a chance to meet our dedicated volunteers and find out more about the work being carried out to preserve the Sussex countryside, including the rewilding of the Knepp Estate.”

CPRE Sussex will be joined by a host of other organisations on the day including the Woodland Trust, Sussex Green Living, Sussex Bee Farm and Tree Circles.

There will be the chance to browse fantastic artworks by CHAR and Missy and Boo.

A full programme of talks, tours and entertainment will include tips on how to grow your own ‘Knepp style’, insight into the estate’s fascinating rewilding project and an RSPB-led tour of the birds found at Knepp.

There will also be a kid’s area with activities led by Woods for Learning, dance with Catherine Sleeman, and Archies’ Little Farm.

Lady Isabella Burrell from the Knepp Estate said: “The site where the event will take place is on land that has been utterly transformed over the last 20 years. From depleted, non-profitable dairy and arable farmland, Knepp’s 3,500 acres are now a haven for wildlife, supporting many of the UK’s rarest species. Thanks to our recovering ecosystem we now run a number of profitable nature-friendly businesses, employing more than double the number of people we did under farming. The Knepp Wilding Café and Shop, next to our new organic Market Garden, are our latest enterprises, providing sustainable food and a gateway to the rewilding project and 16 miles of public footpaths.”

The CPRE Sussex Countryside Day Out takes place from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, 2 September, at the Knepp Estate, Dial Post, West Sussex RH13 8NQ.

Entrance is £5 per adult. Kids go free.

You can bring dogs but they must be kept on leads at all times because of the wild animals.

Visit eventbrite.co.uk/e/cpre-sussex-countryside-day-tickets-525450826567 to book or pay at the entrance.

Talks programme:

10.30am Grow Your Own Knepp Style – talk and tour of veg garden, Knepp Head Vegetable Gardener

11.30am Four Legged Friends – what they eat and how they physically feel, Organic Dog Company – Veterinary Physiotherapy

12.30pm Rewilding and the benefits – talk and short tour of Knepp, Tony Whitbread – Sussex Wildlife Trust

1.30pm Digging Sussex clay to transform into pottery, Mike Burrell – Mike B Pottery

2.15pm RSPB talks on birds and short tour to see and hear birds in Knepp, Paul Stillman

2.45pm Woodland Trust – the importance of trees – Lost Woods Partnership, Vicky Bolton

Stallholders:

Art Works by Char

Bulchin Farm

CAGNE

CPRE Sussex

Crawley Chiropractic Centre

Horsham District Council Recycling

Knepp Vegetables and Safari

LDB Plants

Lost Woods of the Low Weald and Downs – Woodland Trust

Mike B Pottery

Mike Rankin – Wood and bone craft

Missy and Boo Clothing

Organic Dog Company

Rewilding Us

Riverford Organic Farmers

RSPB

Save West of Ifield

Sussex Bee Farm

Sussex Green Living

Tree Circles

Woods for Learning

WSCC Waste Prevention Team

Kids Activities

Woods for Learning will be at the Countryside Day Out with a full set of activities that Mum, Dads, Grannies and Grandads can dip in and out of with kids from walking age. The activities will be fun whilst at the same time learning about the countryside, activities that you can get involved with, and so much more. See timetable of activities: Kids Activiites

• Catherine Sleeman joins the kid’s activities area to allow others to celebrate the countryside through dance.
• Archie’s little farm – A young man, Archie, is going to chat to other youngsters about how he rescued hens from unhappy battery hens to free roaming hens on his father’s farm with a few of his sheep with him and his pony Winston to see.

No reservations needed, but parental supervision is required at all times.  Please note uneven ground throughout and wild animals roaming.