Tucked away on an island simply 50 miles south of London is Elmley Nature Reserve, a 3200-acre expanse of marshland on the low-lying Isle of Sheppey in Kent. 9 years in the past, Georgina and Gareth Fulton took over the reserve from Georgina’s father. He had managed the property for many years, reworking what was as soon as intensive farmland into an internationally essential wetland web site that draws 12,000 guests a 12 months, most of whom are available winter when the shallow scrapes and ponds are full of uncommon migratory birds.
Wishing to broaden the enchantment of the reserve, the Fultons invested in a handful of secluded shepherds’ huts, giving guests the chance to remain in a single day on the reserve and develop into totally immersed within the languorous rhythm of the panorama. On the similar time, they transformed the cavernous, mid-Nineteenth century grain retailer on the centre of the location right into a communal occasion and eating house. A couple of years later, the neighboring derelict Victorian farmhouse was meticulously restored. Immediately, Elmley retains that end-of-the-world environment, albeit—fairly actually—with added creature comforts.
Let’s take a tour.
The primary hub at Elmley—the café, barn and farmhouse—is on the finish of a two-mile observe. As you strategy, the business on the shores of the river Swale recedes and unfamiliar shapes seem each on land and within the sky. It’s commonplace to identify the resident barn owl gliding between fence posts, alert hares hunkered within the grass, and lapwings bouncing round on the breeze.