Fallow and red deer have been an important part of Knepp’s rewilding project from the start and helped change our landscape in a multitude of ways. Browsing animals in the landscape forces scrubland plants to harden their defences, quite literary by strengthening their thorns. This creates the perfect protection for small mammals and ground-nesting birds and is exactly what nightingales look for in a nest site at Knepp.

In the absence of disease, starvation and predation we control the large herbivores at Knepp to numbers that allow them to find plenty of forage throughout the winter. You can see them roaming freely through the landscape all year round and hear the stags and bucks roaring from our courtyard at the Wilding Kitchen.

We’ll be celebrating the contribution that our red and fallow deer make to rewilding at Knepp through a spectacular three-course meal.

Each course will be paired with some of the best organic wines in the world, taking you from the Sussex countryside to the arid vineyards of Lebanon to classic regions of French wine.