Conway is one of the stars of a food phenomenon that has been developing in Bristol since the early 2010s. Back in 2009, the city council and a sustainability group, Bristol Green Capital Partnership, commissioned a report on what might happen to the city if the world began to run out of oil. One of the most alarming revelations was that the food supply, utterly dependent on cheap oil and gas for growing and transportation, could be severely depleted, which in turn could lead to a breakdown of law and order. In response, the NHS commissioned a report exploring Bristol’s food system in more depth, and the council helped set up a food policy council to produce a plan based on its findings.

One aim of that plan was “to promote the use of good quality land in and around Bristol for food production”. A number of support organisations – horticulturalists, conservationists and a Bristol chapter of the Incredible Edible “guerilla gardening” movement – worked with the policy council on this. At first, the focus was on straightforward ideas such as reviving allotments or encouraging container farms that used hydroponics and artificial lighting. But after a couple of years, the leaders of the initiative began to notice something else happening. More people than they had expected were contacting the organisations with ideas that combined social good and an interest in nature with growing, and these people seemed to have few problems finding volunteers to help with the schemes.

It was the island which inspired the very foundation of the National Trust: its sale to a private owner frustrating a Lake District admirer so much he vowed never to let it happen again.

More than 120 years later, the charity has finally got its hands on Grasmere Island.

The small island, which is not populated, has been left to the Trust by its former owner in her will, after she learned how much it meant to its founders.

The benefactor, who stipulated she did not want to be recognised for her generosity, is understood to have been familiar with the controversial history of Grasmere Island, and sought to return it to the nation via the Trust.

The Trust has now pledged to the 1,78 hectare land will be “protected for ever, for everyone”.

Australia is selling the largest private non-state and non-monarchical stretch of land in the world – a 39,000 square mile series of cattle stations worth an estimated £175 million. The family-owned estate – bigger than Scotland and three-quarters of the size of England – was founded in 1899 by Sir Sidney Kidman, Australia’s so-called “cattle king”. The infographic map in this article  – ‘how big is the estate and how much is it worth?’ – illustrates the vast scale of the outback compared to the UK.

The sale has attracted interest from more than 30 bidders across the world, including farming families, investment syndicates, meat companies, foreign investors and global pension funds from China, the United States, Britain, Switzerland and Canada. However, the sale has proven controversial in Australia and led to calls by some MPs to ensure the property is not sold to a foreign state-owned investor.