England
Swindale
England's first rewilded valley — a straightened river set free to meander again.
The river meanders where it was once forced straight, and the valley has been handed back to the water, the trees, and the silence. Swindale in the Lake District is England's first rewilded valley — a place where the landscape is being allowed to remember what it was before drainage and grazing reshaped it.
In 2016, the RSPB and United Utilities restored Swindale Beck to its natural course, removing the 19th-century straightening that had been imposed for agricultural drainage. The river was allowed to meander again, creating pools, riffles, and bankside habitats for salmon, trout, and freshwater invertebrates. The valley, six miles south of Penrith, sits between the eastern fells and the Haweswater reservoir — itself the site of the drowned village of Mardale Green. The rewilding project has allowed native woodland to regenerate on the valley floor, replacing intensive sheep grazing with a mix of birch, oak, and alder. Red squirrels, curlews, and ring ouzels have returned to the valley. Access is on foot from the Haweswater road, and the walk through the valley follows the restored river beneath the fells of Selside Pike and Harter Fell.
Solo
Walk Swindale alone and the rewilding becomes visible — the meandering river, the young trees, the returning birds. It is a valley in recovery, and its quietness is the sound of healing.
Couple
The valley walk is gentle and the story it tells is hopeful. Share the river's new meanders, watch for red squirrels in the regenerating woodland, and leave knowing one valley has been given back.
Friends
Combine Swindale with Haweswater and the Mardale Horseshoe for a day that contrasts rewilding with serious fell walking. The valley provides the gentleness; the ridges above provide the challenge.
- England's first rewilded valley — the straightened river was set free in 2016 to meander again through flood-plain meadows.
- The walk in from Bampton follows a quiet lane into a valley where the only sounds are water, wind, and birdsong.
- Red squirrels have returned to the valley's edges, and the rewilded river corridor is attracting species absent for decades.
- No visitor centre, no cafe, no interpretation boards — the landscape tells its own story to those willing to walk in and listen.
Fell-bred lamb from the Howtown Hotel, overlooking Ullswater a valley away.
Packed lunch from the George and Dragon in Clifton, local cheeses and chutney.
La Amistad International Park
Panama
A binational cloud forest so dense and remote that vast sections remain unmapped.
La Amistad International Park
Costa Rica
A binational wilderness so vast and unexplored that scientists still discover new species inside it.
Sete Cidades
Brazil
Rock formations so orderly that scientists once debated whether a lost civilisation built them.
Great Sand Sea
Egypt
Sand ridges higher than buildings stretching to the Libyan border, hiding shards of cosmic glass.
Rye
England
Cobblestoned lanes so steep and crooked even the houses lean in to listen.
Wistman's Wood
England
Twisted ancient oaks dripping with moss in a silence so deep it hums.
St Ives
England
Light so luminous it lured a century of painters to this harbour of turquoise shallows.
Whitstable
England
Pastel beach huts and oyster beds where the tide retreats to the horizon.