Abbots Hall farm is a 283 hectare arable farm with woodlands, hedgerows and 55 hectares of saltmarsh that forms part of an internationally important complex of estuaries in East Anglia.

Essex Wildlife Trust now operate the farm as a wildlife-friendly conservation estate adopting the principles of managed retreat and coastal realignment. As a result of the project, the area of saltmarsh within the Greater Thames estuary has doubled and new farmland habitats for linnets, skylarks and reed buntings have been created. Over 1,200 hectares of wildlife-rich land along a 25km stretch of the Essex coastline is now connected. Public access has been improved with new access routes created for the first time across the farm, including all-ability paths.

Importantly, the project provides a practical demonstration of how the coastline can be managed more sustainably to benefit both natural heritage and people – including visitors and those that live nearby.

After acquisition in 2002, a 3.5km section of the sea wall was deliberately breached in five places along the farm’s southern boundary, allowing seawater to flow back onto the land. This created new saltmarsh, mudflat and coastal grassland and the Wildlife Trust developed a farm-wide plan to establish a profitable, non-intensive conservation farming enterprise at the farm.