Come and see our new plans for the Wittenham Clumps
The Wittenham Clumps have been part of Oxfordshire life for generations. Now, as Earth Trust launches its new strategy for 2026–2030, we’re inviting more people to discover the extraordinary working landscape around them, and see how nature and people can thrive together.
Perhaps you know the Clumps well. You might come for a Sunday walk, bring the children to climb the hills, walk the dog or simply stop at the top and take in the view.
But there’s much more to this place than those two familiar hills.
Around them are 1,300 acres of farmland, woodland, wetland and meadows cared for by Earth Trust. For more than 40 years, this has been a place where farming, wildlife and people have shared the same landscape.
And over the next few years, there will be much more to discover.
More reasons to come to the Clumps
We’re creating a new gateway into the landscape, with a café and farm shop, better access, nature-based play and new trails leading out into our fields, woods and wetlands.
We want to make it easier for more people to come here, spend time outdoors and explore. But we also want people to discover what is happening in the landscape around them.
Because the changes at Earth Trust are about much more than a better day out.
A real landscape, with a bigger purpose
Across the land we care for, we’re exploring how productive farming can work alongside nature recovery.
That means trying practical approaches to nature-friendly farming, including regenerative farming and agroforestry, improving habitats and supporting the recovery of wildlife.
We won’t pretend to have all the answers.
We want to understand what works and what doesn’t, and invite people in to see for themselves.
That simple idea is at the heart of our new 2026–2030 strategy, Thriving Together: Showing what’s possible for nature and people in real working landscapes.
And while the strategy is new, the idea behind it isn’t.
Building on more than 40 years
When Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood helped found Earth Trust, there was a pioneering idea at its heart: that ordinary English farmland and woodland could be productive, make space for nature and be opened up so that people could experience the countryside for themselves, especially young people who might otherwise miss out.
That idea has shaped this place for more than 40 years. Today, we’re building on it for a different time and a different set of challenges.
We want children to discover nature here. We want families to explore. We want farmers and land managers to see different approaches being used on real, productive land. And we want people who have perhaps known the Clumps all their lives to discover something new about the landscape around them.
This is a new chapter for Earth Trust, but one with deep roots.
What we want to achieve by 2030
Our new strategy brings together two things that have always been closely connected at Earth Trust: how we care for the land, and how people experience it. By 2030 we will:
- Demonstrate practical nature-friendly farming, including regenerative farming and agroforestry.
- Improve habitats and support species recovery across our landscapes and community nature reserves.
- Connect 100,000 people each year with nature through our transformed visitor centre.
- Grow attendance at our events from around 9,000 to more than 20,000 a year.
- Increase participation in landscape-based learning from more than 7,000 children to over 10,000 a year.
- Build on a volunteer community that has grown from 55 active volunteers in 2020 to more than 300 today.
From Oxfordshire to the wider countryside
What happens here matters beyond the boundaries of Earth Trust.
Farmland makes up a large part of the British countryside. If nature is going to recover, we need practical ways for wildlife and productive farming to thrive alongside each other.
Earth Trust has something unusual to offer: a real landscape where those ideas can be tried, understood and seen by others.
If something works here, we want to share it. We want farmers and landowners to see approaches in practice, understand the realities behind them and take useful ideas back to their own land.
So whether you’ve been visiting the Wittenham Clumps for decades, haven’t been for a while, or have never set foot here before, come and see for yourself.
There is much more to discover.
