Shropshire Farming Talk: Why landowners are going with the flow of wild swimming

There has been a marked increase in wild swimming, referred to as the top wellness trend of 2022 at a global wellness summit media event in New York.

In the face of constant pressure and uncertainty over future income streams, the case for farms and rural estates to channel resources into innovative diversification ventures has become more and more important.

The Savills publication titled ‘Spotlight on Rural Tourism and Leisure’ highlights that one of the main macro themes driving consumer demand is wellbeing – and wild swimming could provide a growing opportunity for landowners to diversify their income and connect visitors with the natural beauty of their surroundings.

Despite the considerable outlay – installation starts at about £150,000 – the few specialist swimming pond (as they are known) companies that exist in the UK are currently rushed off their feet.

As the concept is still fairly new here, rare are the houses that come up for sale with a swimming pond already in situ.

However, it is a trend that is on the rise and a natural swimming pond may well soon join the wish list for buyers.

On a larger scale, there are already examples of rural estates across the UK embracing the wild swimming trend.

One example is Elmore Court Estate in Gloucestershire, which featured in the above mentioned rural tourism and leisure spotlight. The estate has recognised that people crave experiences revolving around wellbeing, and in a bid to diversify further it has opened its gates to a wild swim club.

A holistic experience has been created to provide an outdoor yoga session, an invigorating swim in the spring-fed lake, and relaxation in the lakeside sauna followed by a stay in the six new treehouses within the canopy of the woodlands.

For the owner, Anselm Guise, wild swimming aligns with the estate’s ethos of sustainability and wellbeing while being a great way to engage with the local community. And for rural estates in general, the importance of creating a positive social impact – or social value, as explored in another recent Savills spotlight – is gaining significant momentum and provides landowners with another diversification opportunity.

As part of the Future Farming Resilience Fund (FFRF) landowners can now apply for free business advice including around diversification and tourism to understand the potential impact on their business and to identify options to adapt. As part of the current stage of the FFRF, the free business advice which runs across England until March 2025 is available to anyone registered with the RPA who has an SBI number. For further information, contact me at Savills in Shropshire on 01952 239537.

Will Davies, food and farming consultant at Savills based in the West Midlands