Ben Goldsmith reveals his Somerset farm is a love letter to his daughter Iris after she tragically died in a quad bike accident: ‘When I swam in our pond I felt a deep sense of solace’
Ben Goldsmith has detailed how his beloved farm in Somerset is a love letter to his teenage daughter Iris.
The financier, 42, was devastated when Iris was tragically killed in an ATV accident in 2019 when she was just 15.
And speaking to The Sunday Times, Ben explained that after purchasing Cannwood Farm, in Somerset’s Brewham Valley, in 2009, he’s opted to rewild the land in his daughter’s honour.
He added that his farm, and swimming in the nearby pond, brought a ‘deep sense of solace’ in his grief after Iris’ tragic death.
Ben explained: ‘When I swam in our pond I felt a deep sense of solace. It was transient but enough to give me relief from the madness of my grief.
Picturesque: Ben Goldsmith has detailed how his beloved farm in Somerset is a love letter to his teenage daughter Iris after her tragic death
‘There’s a social pressure to farm in a conventional way, but when Iris died, I thought, to hell with it.
‘I want to prioritise the things she loved and I love, which are nature and wildlife. So I set about removing the fences and ditches to allow nature to reclaim the land. In springtime the farm is now awash with colour and birdsong.’
Ben has seven children. He had three with his ex-wife Kate Rothschild: Iris, Frank and Isaac. In 2014, he married restaurateur Jemima Jones and the pair have since had four kids: Eliza, Arlo, Vita and Vincent.
Since Iris’ death, he’s immortalised his daughter’s love of nature in the Iris Project – an initiative that helps fund and support young climate activists around the world.
He previously shared that his kids continue to be inspired by Iris, telling FEMAIL: ‘I think, that they themselves are interested in devoting their lives to environmental work.
‘I think they love the idea that in Iris’s name, we’re helping teenagers around the world to do the kinds of things that Iris will never have the chance to do.
‘In fact, my older son Frankie, is going to go and work with one of our prize winners in Bali…He’s studying engineering, and he’s going to go and be an engineer on the team.’
Ben added that being committed to the project work ‘gives them comfort’.
Changes: The financier explained that he’s rewilded the land in his daughter’s honour, and swimming in the nearby pond, brought a ‘deep sense of solace’ in his grief
Transformed: He said: ‘I set about removing the fences and ditches to allow nature to reclaim the land. In springtime the farm is now awash with colour and birdsong’
However, his ‘little ones’ – ranging in age from less than a year old to around seven – ‘don’t really know about’ the organisation.
Iris, a dazzling 15-year-old and the eldest of Ben’s seven children, died on his 280-acre Cannwood Farm estate in Somerset in July 2019.
She was playing around in an off-road farm vehicle when it lost balance, flipped over and pinned her to the ground.
The friend, who had been riding with her, was unhurt, but the vehicle was too heavy for her to lift.
By the time a distraught Ben, who was playing cricket with friends and family at Charterhouse public school in Surrey, arrived an hour later, Iris had died.
He and Iris’s mother Kate are now separated, but have both established the Iris Project in memory of their daughter, which identifies and helps the most promising young environmentalists around the world.
