The Wildlife Trusts now own the whole 9,500-acre Rothbury Estate, with a loan bridging pledges still to arrive. Sir David Attenborough thanked 25,000 backers.

The whole of the 9,500-acre Rothbury Estate now belongs to The Wildlife Trusts. The charities completed the purchase on Friday 30 October, two years after the appeal began.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust and The Wildlife Trusts announced the completion on Friday. They call it the largest fundraising campaign they have ever run.

The appeal did not have every penny in the bank by the deadline. The charities say they have taken out a low-interest loan “to bridge the short-term funding gap between pledged monies still to be received and the fundraising target”. They have not said how big the loan is.

What Sir David Attenborough said

Sir David, president emeritus of The Wildlife Trusts, backed the appeal and thanked those who gave:

“The Wildlife Trusts called for your support and you answered in your thousands. The appeal to secure the future of The Rothbury Estate in Northumberland has been successful and now the opportunity to bring the vision of a landscape where nature and people thrive side by side can become a reality. This will be a place where nature, community, farming and heritage can combine to create something very special for generations to come.

“Thank you very much.”

The charities say his backing alone brought in more than £1m in donations in a single week.

Where the £30m came from

The release says more than 25,000 people supported the appeal, from the UK and more than 50 other countries. It names these sources:

  • over £17m in gifts from members of the public
  • £5m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, awarded in March 2026
  • £1.94m pledged by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) this month
  • grants and gifts from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Monday Charitable Trust, Samworth Foundation, Ringtons and anonymous philanthropists

Local fundraisers named in the release include the Rothbury WI, the Cycling Cranks cycling club and the Curvy Sounds guitar shop.

The charities have not published a final total or a breakdown of how much is still pledged rather than paid. The online counter on the appeal page read £27,144,067 of the £30m goal on Friday morning. That counter does not include every grant, and the trusts had already said the Defra grant would not be paid until after the deadline.

What the trusts said

Mike Pratt, chief executive of Northumberland Wildlife Trust, said: “What a remarkable achievement. The completion of The Rothbury Estate purchase is a defining moment for Northumberland and the North East.”

He added: “By securing this extraordinary landscape, we’ve the potential to create a flagship for nature recovery supported by sustainable farming, whilst delivering lasting benefits for wildlife, local people and the rural economy for generations to come.”

Eilish McGuinness, chief executive of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, said the project “has the potential to deliver nature recovery at a grand scale”.

What it means for you

The estate stays in one piece. When it went up for sale there were fears it could be split up. A statement from North Northumberland MP David Smith on Friday said the estate includes 12 farms, 23 homes and a village pub. The trusts say they want nature-friendly farming and wildlife to “thrive together” on the land.

You can help survey it from next month. The release says new citizen-science projects start in November:

  • reptile surveys
  • soil health testing
  • an autumn acoustic monitoring survey

Sign-ups are through Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s website. The trust says local people are encouraged to take part.

It is part of a bigger plan. The trusts say the estate will form part of a new 40-mile nature corridor running from the Northumberland coast to Kielder, on the Scottish border. Plans will be published on the Rothbury Estate page.

Cragside is not part of it. The National Trust house and grounds just outside Rothbury were never in the sale.

The trusts bought the first section of the estate, around Simonside, in October 2024. Our earlier reports: the £9m gap in August, the October loan decision and the Defra grant.