The off-grid, 3,300-acre Elmley estate is a quiet place for reading, painting, wild swimming and Scrabble. Sunbeams puncture broad skies, spotlighting waterlogged plains that stretch in some directions as far as the eye can see. Terns trace lazy flight paths among the wind-blown clouds; red-billed oystercatchers pick careful paths through the shallows. From the tall grasses, pheasants announce their presence with flapping wings and rasping hoots, loud enough to be heard over the rest of the avian choir.