Fox in a rewilded natural habitat at Gift a Tree in Devon

Turning Farmland Back Into a Home for Nature

Gift a Tree began with a simple idea:

What if planting one tree could become part of something much bigger?

Our story is one of tree planting and rewilding – giving nature the space it needs to recover, while creating habitats that can support wildlife for generations.

From rewilding our own land here in Devon to supporting large-scale tree planting in Tanzania, we’re creating habitats, helping wildlife and giving people the opportunity to leave something meaningful behind.

Something that could outlive us all.

PLANT A TREE

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Gift a Tree founder Andy Fields beside the wildlife pond at Bradford Farm

I Never Set Out to Start an Environmental Organisation

When we first came to Bradford Farm, I didn’t have some grand plan to create a nature reserve.

It was simply our home and a piece of Devon countryside.

But over the years, I began to notice what happened when we stopped trying to make every corner of the land neat and tidy.

My outlook on life also changed profoundly after I was given just six months to live in 2019. Thankfully, I recovered, but an experience like that changes the way you look at the world.

I became much more conscious of how precious life is, and of wanting to leave something positive behind. For me, giving nature a little space to recover became part of that.

We planted trees. We created ponds. We allowed areas of grass to grow. We planted wildflower meadows and left some places almost entirely to nature.

And gradually, things started coming back.

More birds. More butterflies and bees. Frogs and other amphibians. Grass snakes. Kestrels. And species I’d rarely, if ever, seen before.

The transformation fascinated me.

It made me realise something remarkably simple:

If you give nature a little help and somewhere to live, it has an extraordinary ability to look after the rest.

That idea eventually became Gift a Tree.

I wanted other people to become part of what we were creating—to plant a real tree, dedicate it to someone they love and know that it would become part of a living landscape.

Today our work has grown beyond Bradford Farm, but the principle hasn’t changed:

Plant something today. Care for it. Give nature a chance. And leave something behind that may still be growing long after we’re gone.

Andy Fields
Founder, Gift a Tree

 

And Then Nature Started Coming Back

The changes at Bradford Farm have been remarkable.

As trees established, wildflowers returned and new habitats developed, so did the wildlife.

Today the reserve is home to an extraordinary variety of birds, insects, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Every new arrival reminds us why creating and protecting habitat matters.

Grass snake found at Gift a Tree nature reserve in Devon
Kestrel flying over the nature reserve at Bradford Farm
Otter representing the wildlife returning to Gift a Tree
Kingfisher representing birdlife around the ponds at Bradford Farm
Puss moth caterpillar found feeding on willow and poplar trees at Bradford Farm
Young owls representing the birdlife supported at Bradford Farm
DISCOVER HOW WE'RE REWILDING BRADFORD FARM →

WHAT DRIVES US

What We Believe

Gift a Tree isn’t simply about planting trees. It’s about what those trees can become.

PLANTING IS ONLY THE BEGINNING

We believe a tree should be more than a certificate. Planting it is the beginning of a much longer story.

GIVE NATURE A CHANCE

Nature doesn’t always need controlling. Sometimes it simply needs somewhere to live and the opportunity to recover.

THINK BEYOND OUR LIFETIME

Some of the greatest things we create are things we’ll never live long enough to see fully grown.

Andy Fields beneath the 500-year-old English oak at Bradford Farm in Devon

A LIVING LEGACY

What Will Your Tree Look Like in 500 Years?

This magnificent English oak at Bradford Farm is believed to be at least 500 years old.

Someone may have stood beside it when it was little more than a sapling around the year 1526.

We don’t know their name. We don’t know why the tree was allowed to grow.

But I’m standing underneath the result today.

For five centuries it has provided food, shelter and habitat for generation after generation of wildlife.

And standing beneath it makes you think:

If you plant a tree today, who might be standing beneath it 500 years from now?

We may never sit beneath the shade of the great trees we’re planting today.

But somebody else might.

PLANT YOUR LEGACY