One of Yorkshire’s best-known regenerative tourism destinations, Broughton Sanctuary, is set to accelerate its ambitious landscape restoration programme after securing major long-term investment from natural capital manager Rebalance Earth.

The investment will fully fund and accelerate the restoration of 607 hectares at Broughton Sanctuary, near Skipton on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, helping transform former farmland into thriving woodland, wetlands and wildlife habitat. The project has also become the first site in the UK to be registered as an Environmental Account under the internationally recognised Accounting for Nature Standard, providing independent verification of the environmental improvements being delivered.

Visitors to Broughton Sanctuary are already able to experience the landscape’s transformation through stays, wellbeing retreats and guided nature experiences, with the latest investment enabling restoration work to progress at an even greater scale while delivering lasting benefits for wildlife, local communities and the wider Yorkshire landscape.

All ecological recovery is independently measured and verified by nature fintech CreditNature, working alongside ecological design firm Ecosulis and the Broughton estate. Broughton’s ecological condition was baselined at 23 out of 100 in December 2025, using CreditNature’s accredited Ecosystem Condition Index, and is forecast to reach 47 over the first ten-year phase of restoration. That verified uplift is expected to generate approximately 150,000 Nature Credits, while tree cover across the estate rises from around 6 per cent to over 20 per cent.

Alongside habitat recovery, wetland creation and leaky dams are slowing water run-off to support natural flood mitigation for downstream communities, including Leeds. Credits are issued only after recovery has been independently measured and certified, giving corporate buyers evidence that feeds directly into disclosure under the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

The investment backs an established, seven-year rewilding programme already under way at Broughton. Rather than starting from scratch, the new capital scales work that is already delivering measurable change, including the managed reintroduction of beavers, invasive species management and the use of hardy grazing animals such as pigs and cattle to restore natural ecological processes and diversify soil and vegetation.

James Hurrell, Head of Investments, Rebalance Earth, said: “Broughton shows exactly why nature should be treated as essential infrastructure. This is not about protecting isolated pockets of land, it is about restoration at a landscape scale, so habitats can deliver measurable benefits for biodiversity, water, carbon and communities. Private capital has a vital role to play, but only where projects are properly designed, monitored and independently verified. Broughton brings together a long-term landowner, credible ecological design and independent verification, which is the model needed if nature restoration is going to scale.”

Kelly Hollick, Nature Recovery Lead, Broughton Sanctuary, said: “Broughton has been in the Tempest family for nearly 1,000 years, and every generation has had a responsibility to care for this landscape for those who come next. This investment, together with the monitoring and verification provided by CreditNature, allows us to accelerate that change across a much larger area, and to show how long-term stewardship, private investment and nature recovery can come together to create thriving landscapes for wildlife, people and future generations.”

Cain Blythe, CEO, CreditNature, said: “Nature recovery has long been held back not by a shortage of ambition, but by a shortage of infrastructure to make it investable. Broughton is what that infrastructure looks like in practice. By measuring ecological change against a baseline and independently verifying the outcomes, we are giving buyers of nature credits clear evidence of what is happening on the ground.”

The investment comes as landowners, investors and companies look for credible models to finance nature recovery at scale, at a point where public funding alone cannot meet the UK’s nature and climate challenges.

Each Broughton partner is accountable for a distinct link in the chain: the estate provides the land and long-term stewardship, Ecosulis leads ecological design and data, CreditNature measures and certifies recovery independently, and Rebalance Earth commits the working capital as primary investment partner. That separation of measurement from delivery is designed to give the outcomes their credibility, and the model to be repeated across other landscapes.

As restoration continues, guests will be able to see the changes unfolding, from expanding woodland and wetlands to the return of native wildlife. Alongside its accommodation, wellbeing retreats and events, Broughton Sanctuary offers visitors the opportunity to engage directly with one of the UK’s most ambitious nature recovery projects.

Broughton Sanctuary offers stays in 23 self-catering holiday homes and the Grade I-listed Broughton Hall, with accommodation starting from £200 per night*. www.broughtonsanctuary.co.uk.