Lead organisation
Partner organisations
Bradwell Grove Farms
Trustees of Bradwell Grove Settlement
Project description
Across the Cotswolds, a fragmented limestone landscape is being brought back into connection—field by field, herd by herd, system by system.
The Cotswold Pasture Recovery (CPR) Project works across around 5,000 acres to rebuild a living pastoral landscape where farming and nature are not separated, but working together as one. This is landscape-scale recovery in action: restoring coherence to grasslands, rebuilding ecological function, and reshaping how land is grazed for the long term.
Here, recovery is something you can see and walk through. Species-rich limestone grasslands are being reconnected with diverse pasture, scrub and heath, silvopasture, wet pasture, shelter belts and wild edges—forming a continuous, shifting mosaic. Grazing cattle sit at the heart of it all, shaping structure, moving across the land, building soils, and keeping the system open, resilient and alive.
Beneath it all, the landscape is being rebalanced. Soils are recovering their structure and their ability to hold water. Streams are steadier. Pastures are more resilient. Biodiversity is returning in layers—plants, insects, birds, and the species that depend on them—responding to space being made again.
This is not nature set aside. It is nature working with farming.
Food production continues, strengthened by the land it depends on. Biodiversity grows alongside it. Carbon is stored in rebuilding soils. Water is slowed, held and released more gently across the landscape. Each part reinforces the others.
The ambition is long-term and unapologetically large in scale: a functioning pastoral system restored across the Cotswolds, delivering for nature, farming, water and people together.
This is a 30-year transformation, delivered in clear phases but driven by one consistent direction of travel. In the first two years, the groundwork is laid—surveys, agreements, planning and early on-the-ground works begin to set the foundations. From 2 to 5 years, restoration starts to take hold and grazing systems begin to shift. Between 5 to 15 years, connections return across the landscape and species recovery gathers pace. By 15 to 30 years, a mature, self-sustaining pastoral system is established—functioning, resilient and alive. Early delivery builds momentum, but the long-term recovery of the landscape is the real goal.
Project location
Cotswold National Landscape, on the border of East Gloucestershire and West Oxfordshire, within the wider Big Chalk area.
This is a globally significant limestone landscape, shaped by generations of grazing and stewardship—but increasingly simplified through agricultural intensification, habitat loss and declining ecological connectivity.
Contribution to Big Chalk
CPR reflects the Big Chalk vision in practice: landscapes reconnected through shared action, and recovery delivered at scale.
It brings food, farming and nature back into alignment. It restores limestone grassland systems and strengthens their connections across the landscape. It rebuilds soil health, water function and ecological resilience. And it supports the recovery of priority species through habitat-led and targeted action.
It also keeps people firmly in the picture—supporting working farms that remain viable, while restoring landscapes that are richer, more connected, and more alive.
Do you have a project that could strengthen the future of southern England’s iconic chalk and limestone landscapes?
The Big Chalk programme brings together a dynamic suite of partner-led projects, each unique in its focus, area, and partnerships but sharing a commitment to our collective vision.
If your project contributes to the Big Chalk mission, we invite you to register it as a Big Chalk Project. Registered projects gain access to networking, shared learning, and best practice—alongside the Big Chalk brand, boosting your profile and connecting you to a powerful, growing network of partners.
Together, these projects form a united effort to secure the future of southern England’s chalk and limestone landscapes, making a lasting impact for nature and communities.