Some presents are for keeping. This one's for giving back.
This Christmas, we're donating £50,000, match-funded, to help save the Rothbury Estate, a breathtaking 3,800 hectares of Northumberland moorland, woodland and river valleys.
It’s the largest continuous piece of land to come up for sale in England for 50 years, creating a rare opportunity to protect and restore a huge area of landscape right here in the North East. If secured, the estate could become one of the largest areas dedicated to nature recovery in England, creating more space for wildlife to thrive while keeping this remarkable landscape open for people to enjoy for generations to come.
For us, there’s something particularly meaningful about helping to protect a place so close to home.
Colin Smith, Director and Ringtons family member, said:
"As a family business, we understand better than most that some things are worth protecting for generations to come. The Ringtons Environmental Fund was established specifically to support causes that are good for the planet, and we hope this gift can play a part in protecting and restoring this incredible Northumberland landscape for our grandchildren's grandchildren."
The scale of the opportunity has attracted support from across the country, including Sir David Attenborough. The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust have already secured part of the estate, including the much-loved Simonside Hills, but there is still more to do to protect the wider landscape.
And for our Head of Sustainability, Charlotte, the appeal has become personal too. She believes in it so strongly that when her parents asked what she'd like for Christmas this year, she asked them to donate to the Rothbury appeal instead of buying her a present.
"The natural world has always been somewhere I can escape, switch off and enjoy being outside. We're incredibly lucky to have a landscape like Rothbury on our doorstep, and the opportunity to protect and restore it at this scale is so rare. Knowing it could still be here, thriving and full of wildlife, for generations to come makes it something I really wanted to support personally too."
So this Christmas, alongside the presents we're giving to the people we love, we're giving something back to a place we love too.
Want to support the Rothbury Estate appeal? Find out more or make a donation.
Photography courtesy of Duncan Hutt.