Sir Charles Raymond Burrell, 10th Baronet (born 27 August 1962) is an English landowner, conservationist and founder of the

Knepp Wildland Knepp Wildland is the first major lowland rewilding project in England. It comprises of former arable and dairy farmland in the grounds of Knepp Castle, in West Sussex, England. Since 2000 when the conversion from intensive agriculture start ...

, the first large-scale lowland

rewilding Rewilding may refer to: *Rewilding (conservation biology), the return of habitats to a natural state **Rewilding Europe, a programme to do so in Europe *** Pleistocene rewilding, a form of species reintroduction **Rewilding Institute, an organiz ...

project in England, which was created in the early 2000s when he stopped conventional farming on of land surrounding the ancestral family home at

Knepp Castle The medieval Knepp Castle (sometimes referred to as 'Old Knepp Castle', to distinguish it from the nearby 19th-century mansion) is to the west of the village of West Grinstead, West Sussex, England near the River Adur and the A24 (). The castle ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

Personal life

Burrell spent his early years on his parents' farm in the British colony of

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

and then in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

but returned to England for secondary education. He was educated at

Millfield Millfield is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding schoo ...

and the

Royal Agricultural College ;(from Virgil's Georgics)"Caring for the Fieldsand the Beasts" , established = 2013 - University status – College , type = Public , president = King Charles , vice_chancellor = Peter McCaffery , students ...

. He succeeded to the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

upon the death of his father, Sir John Raymond Burrell, 9th Baronet, on 29 May 2008. He married the travel writer Isabella Elizabeth Nancy Tree on 2 December 1993. They have two children, Nancy (born 29 May 1995) and Edward (born 10 October 1996).

Knepp Estate management

Burrell lives in

with his family on the ancestral

estate in a castellated mansion built for the Burrell family around 1808 by John Nash (built next to the ruins of the medieval

). Burrell inherited the estate at the age of 21 and managed it using conventional

intensive farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ag ...

for 17 years before starting to convert it using

principles in 2000.

Awards & recognition for the Knepp Wildland project

* 2015 People Environment Achievement (PEA) award for Nature * 2015 Innovative & Novel Project award in the UK River Prize for th
River Adur restoration project
* 2017 Anders Wall Award for special contribution to the rural environment in the European Union * 2017 Gold, Best Guided Tour of the Year, Beautiful South Awards

Appointments

As of January 2021, Burrell is Chair of the Beaver Advisory Committee for England and Foundation Conservation Carpathia, vice-chair for

Rewilding Britain Rewilding Britain is an organisation founded in 2015 that aims to promote the rewilding of Great Britain. It is a registered charity in England and Wales, and also in Scotland. History One of the people involved in setting up the charity was Guar ...

and on the board of The Arcadia Fund, Ingleby Farms Environment Committee, the Endangered Landscapes Programme and the Bronze Oak Project.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrell, Charles Raymond 1962 births Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Charles Raymond 21st-century English farmers Living people People educated at Millfield Alumni of the Royal Agricultural University