Wilderness Reserve

Wilderness Reserve is a private estate of 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) in Suffolk's Yox Valley assembled by Jon Hunt since 1995 incorporating estates of Sibton Park, 4,500 acres (1,800 ha), Heveningham Hall, 467 acres (189 ha), Cockfield Hall, 40 acres (16 ha) and other land acquisitions within the catchments of the River Yox and Blyth Valley. The estate, which offers high-end holiday accommodation within an un-fenced landscape developed for wildlife and leisure activities includes a recently completed design for parkland and lakes by celebrated landscape architect Capability Brown (1716–1783).

History

The land and buildings for Wilderness Reserve have been assembled over time with various land purchases by Hunt.

The first purchase was Heveningham Hall in 1994 of 467 acres (189 ha), however but it was the later purchase of the nearby 4,500 acres (1,800 ha) Sibton Park estate that marked the start of the main Wilderness Reserve project. Various other acquisitions of land and buildings have also been made, including Cockfield Hall.

Capability Brown design realised

Designs for the grounds of Heveningham Hall commissioned from Capability Brown in 1782 by Gerard Vanneck, the then owner of hall, were only partly implemented following the death of the client the following year.

Hunt set about restoring Brown's original design, soon after purchasing hall in 1994 and sought the help of landscape architect Kim Wilkie. During the restoration of Brown's vision required the removal of modern features inconsistent with an 18th-century design including concrete roads, car parks, telegraph poles and farm outbuildings were either demolished or buried. and Wilkie says that "98 per cent" of Brown's original 600-acre design at Heveningham were now in place.

Wider areas have been developed according to principles that Brown would recognise as consistent with an Arcadian pleasure ground including lakes, parkland and woods and various historic manor houses.