Ten years ago to the day the National Trust took the decision to bid for Snowdon. The campaign ‘Save Snowdon’ which was launched at the National Eisteddfod, holds the record for raising the most amount of public funds in the shortest time, raising more than £5m from an estimated 250,000 people, including £1m from Sir Anthony Hopkins who led the appeal.
By that winter this 4,000 acre estate, rising from the valley floor near Beddgelert to the peak of Snowdon, was owned by the National Trust. On the Trust’s stand at the show this year you’ll be able to taste some of the organic lamb and beef now produced on this famous farm.
Ten years on there have been many improvements - sheep numbers have been halved and a herd of pedigree Welsh black cattle re-introduced. Ten miles of dry stone walls have been built or restored so that the mountainside can be grazed in a controlled manner allowing rare plantlife to flourish – amongst other things the farm is home to ninety percent of all the juniper heath in Wales. Once again this side of Snowdon is blooming with heather and a rich mix of plants.
Early on, the farm was converted to organic status, and now the lamb and Welsh Black beef are sold direct to customers across the country. Up to two hundred and fifty lambs per year have been sold since 2002, beautifully boxed and insulated with sheep’s wool.
Joe Cornish ©National Trust
“The farm is the ideal place for demonstrating the practical application of upland agriculture and conservation. From the beginning we set out to create somewhere for students, environmentalists and farmers to see and discuss what can be achieved and to share ideas that have worked well and ones that are best avoided” said Trystan Edwards, Farming and Countryside Advisor for the National Trust in Wales.
50,000 walkers a year use the Watkin Path, one of the tougher and more ‘breathtaking’ routes to the summit, passing through the heart of the farm. Ten kilometres of new paths have been created to form a farm trail and to connect with paths to and from neighbouring properties. This summer an orientation room has been completed out of an old barn which makes a great place to introduce visiting groups to the work being done on the farm.
Why not visit the National Trust stand at this year’s Royal Welsh? It should be really easy to find, next to the bandstand - just listen out for the music then follow your nose to the roasting lamb.
Information or tasters from other properties will be there including pork from Llanerchaeron, lobsters and crabs from Porth Meudwy on the Llyn Peninsula and mushrooms cultivated in Nantmor, Beddgelert.
60 of the sheep being used in the Royal Welsh Show shearing competition will be loaned for the occasion from the Trust’s Hafod y Llan farm
Amongst the contestants will be Trefor Jones, the shepherd from Hafod y Llan who first started working there in 1968. Trefor is a previous competition winner and has represented Wales as far afield as South Africa and Australia. When asked whether shearing his own sheep gave him a home advantage he replied “it depends which one it is!”
Ten years on and the fundraising to protect Snowdonia’s fragile & special landscape continues.
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