In and Around Wilderness

At Smissenbroek, the landscape is a living bridge between history and the future. The estate is home to the Hettingen forest and Smissenbroek woodlands, both protected as classified heritage.

A Forest with History

First planted in the 18th century, our woodland is dominated by majestic beech and oak, including trees around 200 years old. Today, these mature woods provide an extraordinary habitat for plants, fungi, insects, birds and mammals, while inspiring much of the way we farm.

A Forest in the Water

One of Smissenbroek’s most unusual habitats lies within the forest itself. Around one hectare of our 30 hectares of woodland is permanently under water. Twenty-five years ago, Isabelle’s father planted thousands of black alders (Alnus glutinosa) directly into this wetland.

Today, their trunks rise from the water to form a remarkable flooded forest—a secluded habitat where birds can nest and shelter, with the surrounding water offering additional protection from terrestrial predators such as foxes.

A Symbiotic Ecosystem

The relationship between our forests and our agricultural landscape is at the heart of Smissenbroek. We take inspiration from the forest—where soil is never bare, diversity creates resilience and organic matter is continuously recycled—and apply these principles throughout our gardens and fields.

Our kitchen garden benefits from the sheltered microclimate created by the surrounding woodland, while compost, plant material and other organic matter are returned to the soil.

By protecting these historic and evolving ecosystems alongside productive gardens and farmland, we want to show that nature, heritage and food production can flourish together.