Merlin Hanbury-Tenison in conversation with Nick Bruce-White - Our Oaken Bones

About

Our Oaken Bones: Reviving a Family, a Farm and Britains Ancient Rainforests,
Reeling from the pain of devastating miscarriages and suffering from PTSD after military service in Afghanistan, Merlin and his wife Lizzie decide to leave the bustle of London and return to Merlins childhood home, a Cornish hill farm called Cabilla in the heart of Bodmin Moor. There, they are met by unexpected challenges: a farm slipping ever further into debt, the discovery that the overgrazed and damaged woods running throughout the valley are in fact one of the UKs last remaining fragments of Atlantic temperate rainforest, and the sudden and near catastrophic strickening by Covid of Merlins father, the explorer Robin. As they fall more in love with the rainforest that Merlin had adventured in as a child, so begins a fight to save not only themselves and their farm, but also one of the worlds most endangered habitats.
Our Oaken Bonesis an honest and intimate true story about renewal, the astonishing healing power of nature, and our duty to heal it in return.

Merlin Hanbury-Tenison is a Cornish conservationist and veteran who founded The Thousand Year Trust, Britains rainforest charity. The charitys mission is to catalyse the movement to triple Britains rainforest cover to one million acres in the next thirty years. His work has been featured in National Geographic, the Guardian and on the BBC. Merlin lives in a rainforest in Cornwall with his wife Lizzie, an entrepreneur and business advisor, and their two young daughters.

Nick Bruce-White joined Devon Wildlife Trust as CEO in September 2023. For the 22 years prior to that, Nick worked for the RSPB in a variety of operational roles. After beginning his career on the Dorset heaths, Nick established the RSPBs flagship Rainham Marshes nature reserve alongside the Thames in East London. He then went on to manage the RSPBs nature reserve estate in Northern England, before moving to Devon in 2015 as Regional Director for the South West and then Southern England. Immediately prior to joining DWT, Nick was acting Director for RSPB England.Nick lives in Exeter with his wife & daughter.