This Saturday 5th June marks ‘World Environment Day’. We wanted to mark this day by sharing an amazing location that is local to us here in Cornwall.
The theme for World Environment Day this year, is “Reimagine, recreate, restore’. It is a prompt for us to think about our own local environment and whether there is anything we can do to help restore and protect it.
Whether you are lucky enough to live by the ocean, farmland, have a garden, a small back yard or a balcony, there is something we can all do to help restore some of our country’s lost wildlife.
Britain and most other European countries are starting to wake up to the fact that they have lost up to half of their native wildlife due to modern farming methods, with billions of insects and birds being wiped out over the last five decades.1
The desire to turn as much countryside into workable farmland to grow crops has seen the destruction of many wild habitats across the globe.
We decided to focus on a local location that has gone above and beyond to try and reverse the damage seen over recent decades. Cabilla is an upland hill farm, located in the middle of Bodmin moor in Cornwall. It has a special combination of ancient woodland, wildflower meadows and an abundance of small mammals and pollinators.
Their aim is to nurture the 80 + acres of ancient woodland, wildflower meadows and rivers with thoughtfulness and care. As guardians of the precious land around them, Merlin and Lizzie Hanbury-Tennison take their responsibilities very seriously and are committed to their ‘Thousand Year Project’ which aims to protect their land for the next 1000 years.
“Our restoration programme is designed to enhance Cabilla’s natural environment by slowly reintroducing exciting ecosystem engineers – such as beavers, bison, wild boar, Eurasian wood cats and pine martens – while respectfully supporting the wild growth of our flora and fauna”.
We are so excited that we have such a haven for the regeneration of wildlife on our doorstep! Back in August 2020, after a lot of hard work and dedication, the team at Cabilla reintroduced a pair of Beavers with the most brilliant of names; “Sigourney Beaver and Jean-Claude Van Dam”!! Beavers are very important animals when it comes to rebuilding an environment, as they act as ‘catalysts; their presence allows other species to thrive.
It’s not just the reintroduction of animals to their native environment that the team have been working on, but a ‘multi-generational restoration project to return the vitality to our soil and make it happy again’.
According to the Cabilla website, the soil at Cabilla Cornwall has only 50% of the carbon-capturing ability it had when the Romans ruled Britain. This is because, over the last 1,000 years, it has slowly degraded and been damaged to a near-critical point. Farmers are encouraged to plough annually, treat with fertilisers and pesticides and grow monoculture crops that leech all the nutrients out of the soil. On the uplands, the land is then overstocked with sheep, who compact the soil with their tiny hooves and tear what little health is left out of the ground.
For the team here at Beauty Kubes, the work that is being done at Cabilla truly epitomises the tag line for this year’s World Environment day; ‘Reimagine, Recreate, Restore’. This is the exact reason why Beauty Kubes has partnered up with One Tribe Global. For every order placed on our website, we work with Tribe to protect an area of rainforest. Safeguarding existing rainforests is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to fight climate change, as every acre safely stores over 100 tonnes of carbon that could otherwise enter the atmosphere as the greenhouse gas CO2.
Perhaps the best part of the Cabilla story is their desire to share their special surroundings with others that are in desperate need of restoration themselves.
During lockdown, many of us have experienced the healing and restorative powers that being outside in nature can give us. The sounds of a trickling stream, the sight of wildflowers growing on a hedgerow or a bumble bee bustling through the flowers in a meadow. A large part of what it means to be a human is sharing a connection with nature, and when we are disconnected from nature, we cannot feel truly human. Read our Mental Health Awareness Week for details on how we use nature to help combat stress.
On the Cabilla website, part of their vision reads: “Imagine a world where nature was our medicine” This is something we at Beauty Kubes would love to imagine! The natural world has so many healing elements to it but now is the time for us to do our bit and for us to help nature heal itself.
If you fancy a spot of forest bathing, tours of the beaver hide, walking tours, a spot of bird watching or you are in need of some restoration, Cabilla farm is certainly a magical place to visit. You can also attend their first ever Summer Solstice retreat, exploring the elements and connecting to each through walking, yoga and meditation.
If you are going on your travels this summer, don't forget to pack your Beauty Kubes summer essentials in our handy travel sizes!
If you are staying at home this summer, you can still do your bit to help your immediate environment thrive. We have been sacrificing as much of our garden as possible to grow pollinator friendly plants and flowers, making sure the wild birds are fed and happy and letting other parts of the garden grow wild. Sowing some flower seeds in a pot or in a balcony can still help to encourage wildlife to thrive. We look forward to sharing pictures of the results later this summer!
Are you planning on getting involved this World Environment Day? We would love to hear what you have planned, so please share your stories with us on social media. You can follow us on Instagram @beautykubes and Cabilla @cabillacornwall
TO CELEBRATE WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY, WE ARE OFFERING A 15% DISCOUNT TO ALL CUSTOMERS. JUST ENTER CODE WILDCORNWALL AT THE CHECKOUT.