About us
The Ernest Cook Trust has a rich 74-year history and today we are a complex ecosystem of Outdoor Learning, land management, farming tenants and sector partners. So there is plenty to dig into… our latest newsletter is usually a good place to start.
Land is in our nature
The Ernest Cook Trust is, and has always been, rooted in our founder’s love of the countryside.
When Ernest Cook inherited his wealth, he combined this good fortune with his passion for conserving the countryside and rural way of life. The philanthropist bought several country estates, which were eventually given to the educational charity he founded in 1952. The Trust has grown and flourished since then, becoming a major grant giver and Outdoor Learning provider. We still own over 9,000 hectares across the country, and all of our estates now play a vital role in both funding and delivering our charitable purpose.
We continue to work and live by the belief that, from the land enriched, to the land our riches we return.
Our land, mapped out
From the Cumbrian fells to the rolling Dorset downs, use our map to discover where the Ernest Cook Trust is rooted and where new opportunities are budding.
Country Trust
The Outward Bound Trust
Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust
Groundwork UK
Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts
Food, Farming & Countryside Commission
Youth Moves
Emergent Generation
University of Cumbria
Community Forest Trust
Farms For City Children (Gloucestershire)
Farms For City Children (Pembrokeshire)
The Shallowford Trust
Ufton Court
Magdalen Farm
Lambourne End Centre
Jamie’s Farm (Monmouth)
Jamie’s Farm (Lewes)
Jamie’s Farm (Hereford)
Jamie’s Farm (Bath)
Countryside Education Trust
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust
Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
Wessex Rivers Trust
The Junction Foundation
Take A Part
SOS-UK
Somerset Wildlife Trust
RSPB
Ocean Conservation Trust
Northumberland Wildlife Trust
Morecambe Bay Partnership
Mersey Rivers Trust
Lancashire Wildlife Trust
Kent Wildlife Trust
Groundwork – Yorkshire
Groundwork – South
Groundwork – NE and Cumbria
Global Link
Cumbria Development Education Centre
Child Dynamix
Canal and Rivers Trust
Action for Conservation
Wild Garsdale Pike
West Cumbria Rivers Trust
The Boathouse Youth
Susan’s Farm CIO
IMO Charity
Headspace
Cumbria Development Education Centre
Creative Sustainability CIC
Bendrigg Trust
The Country Trust (Leics)
Lancashire Youth Challenge
Riversmeet Community Co-op Ltd
Newground Together
LEAF (Cumbria)
Burnley Leisure & Culture
Windmill Hill City Farm
Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum
Bristol Avon Rivers Trust
Avon Needs Trees
LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming)
Tewkesbury Nature Reserve
Severn Rivers Trust
The Birch Collective
Cotswold Conservation Board
Avon Wildlife Trust
Watchtree Nature Reserve
ParkView4U
LESS Lancaster District
Cumbria Wildlife Trust
Creative Sustainability
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust
Small Woods
Gore Farm
Chatsworth
Forest of Bowland National Landscape
Low Beckside Farm Outdoor Learning Site
Fairford Outdoor Learning Sites
Trent Outdoor Learning Sites
Redwood Outdoor Learning Centre
Low Beckside Farm
Ernest Cook Trust Trent Estate
Ernest Cook Trust Slimbridge Estate
Ernest Cook Trust Barnsley Village Estate (Home Estates)
Ernest Cook Trust Filkins Estate (Home Estates)
Ernest Cook Trust Hatherop Estate (Home Estates)
Ernest Cook Trust Fairford Park Estate (Home Estates)
Ernest Cook Trust Hartwell Estate
Ernest Cook Trust Little Dalby Estate
The Field Notes newsletter
Celebrating our land and its people, in ways both practical and profound, the Field Notes newsletter shares the land’s seasonal changes alongside our own learning and organisational updates. Fill your boots.
