Sir Charles Raymond Burrell, 10th Baronet (born 27 August 1962) is an English landowner, conservationist and founder of the Knepp Wildland, the first large-scale lowland

rewilding Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration aimed at increasing biodiversity and restoring natural processes. It differs from other forms of ecological restoration in that rewilding aspires to reduce human influence on ecosystems. It is also d ...

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 road (Great Bri ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

Personal life

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

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a 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 known as South ...

and then in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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

Millfield Millfield is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day 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 ...

and the

Royal Agricultural College The Royal Agricultural University (RAU), formerly the Royal Agricultural College, is a public university in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. ...

. 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. They have two children.

Knepp Estate management

Burrell lives in

with his family on the ancestral Knepp Wildland estate in a castellated mansion built for the Burrell family around 1808 by John Nash (built near to the ruins of the medieval

). The estate originally came into the family through Sir Charles Raymond, who made his fortune through the East India Company and bought Knepp in 1787. 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 arable farming, crop plants and of Animal husbandry, animals, with higher levels ...

for 17 years before starting to convert it using

principles in 2000.

Awards and 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 * In 2023 Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell received the Zoological Society of London’s Silver Medal for outstanding contributions to the understanding and appreciation of zoology

Appointments

As of January 2023, Burrell is Chair of Foundation Conservation Carpathia, and on the advisory board of The Arcadia Fund, he is on the oversight committee for the Endangered Landscapes and Seascapes Programme. He is chair of The White Stork Project, Knepp Wildland Foundation, and Nattergal Ltd. Vice Chair of rePLANET and Trustee to the Argolic Environment Foundation. He is on the Supervisory Board of Rewilding Europe.

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 Rewilding in the United Kingdom Rewilding advocates

Personal life

Knepp Estate management

Awards and recognition for the Knepp Wildland project

Appointments

See also

References