BY ALLISON LEE
Hannah Dale and her husband, Jack, founded Wrendale Designs in 2012—a giftware brand built around Hannah’s watercolour paintings of wildlife. With a background in zoology, Hannah has long drawn creative inspiration from the natural world. Over the years, the couple have grown Wrendale into a much-loved brand with global reach, winning numerous industry awards and two King’s Awards for International Trade.
The Dales farm 300 acres in the Ancholme Valley, east of Brigg in Lincolnshire. Their land sits on a seam of Kimmeridge clay, making it notoriously difficult to farm profitably—heavy ground that stays waterlogged in winter and bakes hard in summer. Recognising these challenges, they decided to move away from conventional farming and, from around 2018, dedicated the land to nature restoration.
Since then, they have planted 27,000 trees of 13 native species around the farm’s perimeter. This helps replenish a badly depleted seed bank for future natural regeneration and creates a buffer zone with neighbouring farms.
Hannah told me with evident pride: “It has been amazing to see the plant communities diversify and natural regeneration really take hold across the farm—this year we have had willow warblers and whitethroats displaying from the newly established scrub, which is very exciting to see. Orchids have begun to appear, and other interesting plants, such as adder’s tongue fern, as the land changes.”
A major focus has been restoring a more natural hydrology. The land was once part of a vast wetland and marsh complex but has been extensively drained since the 1700s. Hannah and Jack are now working to slow water flow and retain it on the land, which also helps reduce downstream flooding. About four years ago, they dug a network of wildlife ponds across roughly five acres. These have flourished, now supporting 19 recorded species of dragonfly and damselfly, along with frogs, toads, and hunting kingfishers. Wetland birds such as snipe, jack snipe, curlews, greenshanks, and green sandpipers are also regularly seen on the farm throughout the year.
In December 2023, the couple introduced a pair of beavers into a 70‑acre enclosure—the first beavers in Lincolnshire for over 400 years. As keystone species and natural engineers, beavers build dams that create wetlands, benefiting a wide range of wildlife, improving water quality, and aiding flood control. The pair have since had three kits born on the farm.
Hannah explained that they have also brought in traditional-breed pigs (Gillian and Vanessa) to mimic the soil-disturbing role of wild boar, along with a small herd of miniature Herefords to graze a traditional meadow. Over time, they plan to introduce other grazing herbivores to create a more varied landscape.
Reflecting on the project, Hannah said: “For me, the project and my work are closely connected, and the more we see nature thriving on the farm, the more inspiration it provides.”
You can visit Wrendale’s website here:
https://www.wrendaledesigns.co.uk/
Allison Lee is a smallholder from North Yorkshire who has written for the Yorkshire Times and other publications. Her website can be accessed here.