Triodos Bank UK has provided senior debt finance backing the purchase of the 7,500-acre Emblehope & Burngrange Estate in Northumberland by nature restoration company RESTORE. The deal, structured through a blended finance vehicle combining philanthropy, private equity and senior debt, is believed to be one of the first integrated applications of its kind used for land acquisition and nature restoration in England. At the heart of the project is a plan to rewet around 800 hectares of degraded peatland, an effort expected to store roughly 100,000 cubic metres of additional water, the equivalent of some 40 Olympic swimming pools. RESTORE intends the landscape to become a biosphere-level reserve shaped almost entirely by natural processes rather than commercial land use.

A Landscape Built for Nature First

The Emblehope site sits apart from much of the English uplands, where nature recovery is typically a secondary benefit of farming, forestry or shooting estates. RESTORE’s plans call for restoring degraded vegetation, blocking historic drainage channels and introducing low-intensity grazing systems designed to build habitat diversity over time. The ambition is for the estate to evolve into a mosaic of open water, bog, scrub, dwarf trees and floral glades, with species such as curlew, golden eagle and common crane expected to return naturally as conditions improve. Where ecological evidence and permissions allow, RESTORE will also examine future reintroductions of red-backed shrike, black grouse and wildcat.

Benedict Macdonald, founder and director of RESTORE, said:

“What has long been missing from the English uplands is a large-scale site dedicated primarily to the most ambitious forms of nature restoration. Whilst many upland estates, farms and forestry benefit from nature as a side-product of commercial activity, Emblehope is destined to become a biosphere-level reserve where nature itself is the driver.”

Blending Capital for Land Recovery

The financing structure brought together philanthropic funding, private equity and senior debt within a single Special Purpose Vehicle, a model that has rarely, if ever, been applied to land purchase and restoration in England at this scale. Triodos Bank UK has built a track record financing nature-based recovery projects across the country through its dedicated nature finance team, and the bank first provided finance to RESTORE in 2025, giving the Emblehope deal roots in an existing relationship.

Simon Crichton, head of nature, food and resource at Triodos Bank UK, added:

“Financing Emblehope marks an important step in unlocking investment at scale for nature recovery. This project demonstrates how different forms of capital can come together in partnership to back ambitious, high-integrity projects that restore and protect nature.

“We’ve been actively financing nature-based solutions for a number of years, and Emblehope builds on this work. Having first provided finance to RESTORE in 2025, we know that together we share a clear, ambitious vision for scaling nature restoration in the UK. We’re proud to support the team and look forward to seeing the long-term impact this project delivers for both nature and communities.”

Proving the Model Can Scale

For RESTORE, a company less than three years old that started with equity funding of under £500,000, raising close to £9 million to secure Emblehope represents a marked step up in ambition. Gil Martin, the company’s Commercial and Natural Capital Director, framed the acquisition as a proof point for the wider nature business sector rather than a one-off transaction.

Gil Martin, Commercial and Natural Capital Director of RESTORE, said:

“The Emblehope acquisition brings together three very different kinds of capital into a single structure, which works simultaneously for all the parties involved.

“As a company less than three years old, equity funded at its inception on less than £500,000, raising close to £9 million to secure this site is something we are genuinely proud of. What matters most for us, however, is that this type of transaction for nature can be scaled and repeated in the future, across the nature business sector.”

Beyond Ecology: Community and Economy

RESTORE has been clear that the project’s ambitions are not limited to habitat and hydrology. Plans include new land stewardship and community engagement roles, alongside collaboration with local businesses aimed at generating long-term economic value for the surrounding region, rather than treating restoration as isolated from the communities that live alongside it.

A Test Case for Nature Finance

Emblehope now stands as a marker for how blended capital structures might be replicated elsewhere in England’s restoration economy. With peatland rewetting, habitat mosaics and species recolonisation planned over the coming years, the project offers a working example of philanthropic, private and debt finance operating together at meaningful scale, one that both Triodos Bank UK and RESTORE clearly hope others in the sector will look to repeat.