Biodiversity goes full throttle as Stowe Gardens and Silverstone Circuit announce joint campaign for people and nature
22 May 2025The National Trust’s historic landscape gardens and parkland at Stowe has teamed up with its neighbours at Silverstone Circuit on a project to create a nature superhighway.
The three-year campaign aims to fast-track nature conservation and boost biodiversity in the area.
Silverstone and Stowe Gardens plan to work together to generate funds to upgrade the four-mile parkland trail at Stowe, which is approximately the same length as Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit. Silverstone has kick started the fundraising efforts with a generous donation of £50k which will help get the project up and running this June. This nature superhighway will create new habitats, increase biodiversity, improve access and create sustainable visitor facilities along its route. Eventually the two organisations want to enable green and active travel between their respective sites.
Silverstone is only three miles from Stowe Gardens and was once part of the 18th century estate belonging to Stowe House. During the Second World War, the site belonged to RAF Silverstone. The airfield was first used for motorsport in September 1947 when a group of friends organised an impromptu race. The following year, the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) hosted the first British Grand Prix at Silverstone when an estimated 100,000 people flocked to the course marked by haybales, ropes and canvas barriers.
Stowe Gardens and Parkland is a Grade 1 listed landscape of international significance and was placed in the care of the National Trust in 1989. With over 40 scheduled monuments and temples, the gardens host a quarter of a million visitors every year. The 1,000 acres of parkland and 245 acres of landscape gardens are home to lakes and ponds, vast wildflower meadows and rolling wood pasture – it’s a haven for wildlife and for people.
The three-year collaboration begins in June 2025. National Trust Stowe Gardens will have a presence at Silverstone during the F1 British Grand Prix, Silverstone Festival and MotoGP weekends over the next three years. Members of the public will have the opportunity to help increase biodiversity through sponsorship of elements in the landscape such as a metre of footpath at Stowe, saplings and wildflowers, a bat box, beehive, or swift brick.
Head of ESG, Stephane Bazire, says: “Our ambition is to be connected to the ecosystem of the wider Silverstone community, working collaboratively with our neighbours to make Silverstone a sustainable business and leisure destination where visitors and employees benefit from green and active travel options all year round. We want to have a positive social and environmental impact whilst growing our business and we see an opportunity to do this by working with our neighbours at National Trust Stowe who share our carbon emission reduction targets. The vision is for visitors, staff, volunteers and members of our local community to be able to walk, run, cycle or wheel safely between Silverstone and Stowe along a green corridor.”
General Manager at National Trust Stowe, Tanya Brittain, says: “We’re partnering with Silverstone in our quest to improve access, enhance biodiversity, create green corridors and new homes for nature and improve connectivity by enabling green travel and active lifestyles. Together we aim to raise the funds necessary to create a three-mile nature superhighway connecting the two sites. Upgrading the Parkland Trail at Stowe puts us firmly on track to achieve this and will be the focus of our combined fundraising efforts. The National Trust wants to ensure people and nature can thrive, and we know we can have more impact by working together.”
Stowe Gardens and Silverstone share strategic priorities to improve biodiversity, increase sustainability and create new homes for nature. The local fundraising relationship will provide new access for cyclists, walkers and people with mobility aids and connect communities with green travel opportunities, steering both Stowe Gardens and Silverstone towards net zero.
