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A Royal Kennel Club estate used to train gundogs is set to be rewilded after it was sold to new owners.
The Emblehope estate, a 7,550-acre landholding in Northumberland, will be taken over by rewilding business Restore after it was put up for sale last summer.
Emblehope is one of the Royal Kennel Club’s “centres of excellence”, where retrievers and spaniels are trained for use on pheasant and partridge shoots.
Restore plans to turn the land back to nature using a controversial technique known as rewilding, which aims to boost biodiversity by not interfering with the countryside.
Dog trainers and campaigners criticised the move.
Ben Randall, the two-time British cocker spaniel champion, said Emblehope was highly rated by trainers because its woodland and large expanses of moorland made it the ideal environment for gundogs.
“It’s a shame. I judged the last spaniel championships there this year. It’s lovely ground. It’s a beautiful location,” he said.
Tim Bonner, the chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: “Blind adherence to the cult of rewilding is a threat to the future of rural communities.
“Every piece of land needs to be considered individually, but the best solution is in most situations a carefully managed landscape which delivers food, nature and livelihoods. The countryside is nothing without people.”
The Royal Kennel Club, which organises Crufts, is Britain’s oldest dog organisation and was granted a royal prefix by the King in 2023.
It purchased Emblehope in 2016 for a reported £4.5m, but the organisation has flagged the need to raise more money to help its finances, forcing the sale of the site.
Throughout its ownership, the organisation employed gamekeepers at the site and ran shoots for gundog breeds, such as Labradors and spaniels, to work, as well as allowing beef and sheep farming.
Under Restore’s ownership, game shooting will not continue on the estate, but the company is in talks with the long-serving gamekeeper about finding a new role for him.
Ben Macdonald, from Restore, said: “It’ll be 7,500 acres dedicated entirely to the restoration of the natural world to the very fullest extent.”
He said the company was keen to keep people employed while it rewilded the land and that some deer stalking would remain.
“We’ve seen amazing results where deer management has happened. We’ve seen the regeneration in flowers, nightingales and young trees, so that’s definitely something we’re going to be focusing on very heavily at Emblehope,” he said.
Mr Macdonald also said Restore had purchased all the sheep and would explore organic cattle farming in time.
“We would be looking at those you know really prized heritage breeds like Highland cattle,” he said.
Ben Goldsmith, the veteran eco-financier who advised Mr Macdonald on the deal, said the purchase was good for the area.
“I’m so excited about the acquisition of Emblehope by the Restore team. Benedict Macdonald is a nature visionary, and he and his team will create a uniquely, marvellously wild landscape here,” he said.
Mr Macdonald said birds such as curlew, black grouse and lapwings would increase as a result of the rewilding push.
He added that while there are no plans to reintroduce lynx, which became extinct in Britain some 1,300 years ago, he would be receptive to the idea. He said: “My personal view is that it would be well suited – ecologically – to the landscape.”
Restore will make money from the land by selling carbon offset certificates, which are used to help companies cut their carbon footprint.
The Royal Kennel Club was contacted for comment.
