It is inspired by the requests they receive from people wanting to learn how to rewild everything from unprofitable farms, landed estates and rivers, to ponds, allotments, churchyards, urban parks, gardens, window boxes and public spaces. The book has grown out of Isabella and Charlie's mission to help rewild Britain, Europe and the rest of the world by sharing knowledge from their pioneering project at Knepp in Sussex. It is ambitious, visionary and pragmatic. This is an edited extract from The Book of Wilding: a Practical Guide to Rewilding, Big and Small by Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell (Bloomsbury, £35), which will be published on 11 May.

For years Charlie Burrell and his wife, Isabella Tree, farmed Knepp Castle Estate and struggled to turn a profit. The Book of Wilding is a handbook for how we can all help restore nature. An inspiring story about what happens when 3,500 acres of land, farmed for centuries, is left to return to the wild, and about the wilder, richer future a natural landscape can bring. And what comes is not just wildlife in super-abundance, but solutions to the other environmental crises we face. Conifers are woody plants that have cones instead of flowers. How can an individual ever make a difference? Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell know firsthand how spectacularly nature can bounce back if you give it the chance. Wilding conifer or wilding pines is the New Zealand term for introduced conifers that are spreading across the landscape through natural regeneration. Buy it, read it, start changing things right now' - JOANNA LUMLEY _ The enormity of climate change and biodiversity loss can leave us feeling overwhelmed. These rugged self-seeding trees and other stray exotics now infest hundreds of thousands of hectares throughout the country. Regional and district councils plans can be more stringent to: manage their unique and sensitive environments such as geothermal areas and drinking water supplies. Wilding pines Pinus contorta, a native conifer of North America, was deliberately seeded through swathes of high country and conservation estate as a counter-measure to erosion. The NES-PF recognises the need for flexibility to protect sensitive local environments.

'Important and empowering' - BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH 'Get this great guide and be inspired' - STEPHEN FRY 'A handbook of hope. Wilding Tree Risk Calculator Flexibility for local environments.

Wilding tree