83. Jake Fiennes: Land Healer

This week our guest is Jake Fiennes, Ralph’s younger brother and Joseph’s twin, but doing a very different job from his famous siblings as the Director of Conservation at Holkham Hall in north Norfolk.  At the Earl of Leicester’s ancestral 25,000 acre estate, Jake is causing a stir with his radical approach to helping nature recover from intensive farming and letting the hedges he loves run wild. The persuasive new voice on the conservation scene, Jake tells us about his new book, Land Healer: How Farming Can Save Britain’s Countryside, published the day before we talked to him.  He did ask his brother Ralph to do the audio version but ended up doing it himself, a tremendous feat for someone so dyslexic. Increasingly Jake’s being sought out by organisations and individuals alike, from the Prince of Wales to DEFRA, for his radical solutions and his optimistic, upbeat approach. He says he has the best job in the world and with strong opinions on everything from hedge ‘porn’ (all explained in Chapter One of his book) to butterflies, swearing and having famous siblings, he transports us to the heart of Norfolk and gives us a fascinating and entertaining account of what needs to be done if we are to restore the countryside we all yearn for.