Stephen Richardson grew up on Grange Farm in Ashwellthorpe, but spent 25 years growing grapes and making wine in the renowned Paarl region, near Cape Town.

The 67-year-old returned to his Norfolk farm in 2021 and sold the vineyard - seeking to focus on a single business, to limit his risk and spend more time closer to his family in "semi-retirement".

But amid a changing climate, volatile arable returns and dwindling EU-era subsidies, he wanted to restructure the farm and safeguard its future income.

So he has embarked on an ambitious project to transform 55 acres of marginal land into a mosaic of wildlife habitats, in a long-term plan to generate revenue under new Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) rules.

Norfolk farmer Stephen Richardson is working with Environment Bank on a fen habitat restoration project on his land near Wymondham (Image: Sonya Duncan)

The Wymondham Habitat Bank is part of a rapidly-growing national network established in partnership with BNG provider Environment Bank - creating nature recovery sites on low-yielding farmland while selling biodiversity units to developers seeking to offset their own ecological footprint.

Developers are now required to replace habitats and biodiversity lost during building projects - plus a net gain of at least 10pc - either by ringfencing wildlife areas on site, or by paying other landowners to........

© Eastern Daily Press