Julia Galbenu, Heal Rewilding
23rd September 2026
You might have heard of Heal Rewilding — the UK charity behind Heal Somerset, their 460-acre flagship rewilding site. With ambitions to establish a rewilding site in every county across the UK, Heal is now turning its attention to Yorkshire for what would be only their second site. Here, Julia Galbenu, Heal’s Community Engagement Manager, explains why Yorkshire has caught their eye, what they’re looking for, and how you might be able to help.
Heal Rewilding is a UK charity that raises funds to acquire land and rewild it for the benefit of nature, climate and people. Our flagship site, Heal Somerset is a 460-acre former dairy farm. Since acquiring the land in 2022, we have been restoring nature while creating opportunities for education, connection, wellbeing, volunteering and access.
We are now actively looking in Yorkshire for a future site, a place where we can deliver significant nature recovery alongside meaningful opportunities for communities. One of the reasons we pinpointed Yorkshire is because of the strong rewilding community that exists. It has been a pleasure talking to like-minded people and organisations, who have already been an enormous help to understanding the landscape.
What are we looking for? To maximise impact for nature recovery and climate resilience, we are looking for degraded agricultural land between 300 and 500 acres, ideally with rivers or streams and native trees on site. To maximise social impact, the land will ideally be located near communities with limited opportunities of experiencing the benefits that nature can bring. We are interested in both land with modest and functioning buildings and land only where we can build basic facilities to provide access, participation and educational programmes.
If you know of a potential site or local connection, please contact Heal’s Community Engagement Manager: julia.galbenu@healrewilding.org.uk
Further information
To read more about Heal, visit the following websites:
[Image Credits: Heal]