Where did you come up with the idea for the group?

“Several years ago, I was chatting to my family about biodiversity issues, and how it would be nice to get a bit of land and help improve the biodiversity. Then in 2019, 42 acres of land came up for sale in in Penygarnedd, making this dream become possible. The farmer was happy to sell it to the community group, and waited patiently whilst the group raised the funds to buy the land.”

How did you raise funds for the land?

“10 acres were bought by friends who wanted more land, but who were also interested in managing it for wildlife. A few generous people donated large amounts of money to help the cause. In February 2021, the sale finally went through.” A competition was held to name the land, and the winning entry was Dolydd Gobaith (Meadows of Hope).

Bridget explained that it’s important to make all financial contributors feel included throughout the process. “We have a future plans for a “friends of” group to say thank you to these people who donated large amounts of money. Setting up a “friends of” group at the beginning may help with finding sponsors.”

What was the site like before it was bought by the CIC?

“Previously, the land had been grazed for decades by sheep. Some of the land is very steep, far too steep for tractors, so from a conservation point of view, this is good as no machinery has been on it. Sheep no longer graze the land, and since buying the land, it has been interesting to see wildflowers and a range of habitats grow over the spring and summer months. The land is mostly grass and the hedges are fairly species poor. The group want to improve the hedges to act as wildlife corridors.”

What have you been up to so far?

“Since buying the land, a major task has been fencing as we want to keep the grassland of a high quality so will graze if for part of the year. The hedges have been fenced in, and corners of the fields have been fenced off to plant coppices over winter”.

“Quite a few surveys have been undertaken on the site such as wildflower, pollinators and fungi. There have been several workshops to train volunteers in wildlife identification as eventually we would like to use volunteers to do surveys each year.”

Since I spoke to Bridget, 1,000’s of trees have been planted so far over the winter thanks to help from wonderful volunteers. They’ve run volunteer days and workshops such as mulching, fungi identification and a scything day. Contractors have created two ponds to help increase biodiversity on the land and provide habitat for more aquatic wildlife.

In September 2021, they held their first open day, which was a great success with over 100 people attending. The day sounded like great fun, with a BBQ, bar and activities such as willow weaving and a guided walk.

What plans do you have for the future?

“There will be lots of planting over winter, and hopefully we will have lots of volunteers. We only have 5 months to do this as it is all grant funded we have to do it by March, which is the end of planting season anyway.” I can confirm, lots has planting has been done so far, and there is still more to be done!

“Everything is a learning curve for me, I found out that you shouldn’t put a pond in a wetland area, it should be next to a wetland area. Several small ponds are better than one big one, than you can manage them each slightly different for different wildlife”.

“We would like to run more volunteer sessions and training such a hedge laying workshops. Once the hedges are big enough, we want to lay them. There needs to be work on footpaths, they are a big rugged and we want to make them safer for people to walk on. We plan to have interpretation boards, including two large ones (one at each entrance) with different walks, then smaller ones about different habitats and species found there.”

“More children’s events- we have been in contact with people to look at setting up a forest school. We’ve been in touch with the local primary and high school too. We just want to get as many people from the community involved as possible.”

“Eventually, we want to open up to the public/community so they can visit whenever they like, so we hope to create a car park in the future.”

What funding have you received and applied for?

“I put in a big application to National Lottery Heritage Fund (Community Woodland Grant) for woodland creation in March 2021. We received £150,000, helping us to pay for hedging and trees. The funding also pays for a part-time volunteer coordinator but only until March 2022. Unfortunately this funding couldn’t be spent on physical facilities we needs for volunteers and visitors such as toilets.”

“We received a grant from Powys County Council to help us fund 3 training workshops for volunteers: pollinators; Winter Tree ID; and Bumblebees.”

When I interviewed Bridget, she had just applied for The Woodland Investment Grant and was in the process of applying for a grant from Hafren Dyfrdwy. Both applications were successful and the money is being put towards more trees as well as facilities such as car parking, compost toilets and a gazebo.

How have you got the community involved?

“Initially due to Covid-19 and restrictions, we just asked people we knew (10-15 at a time) to help with things like planting. And that’s how we started out really. We set-up a website and Facebook page to open up to a wider audience. They advertised their Open Day locally where they had information for people about Dolydd Gobaith and recruited more volunteers and interest.

 “The volunteer coordinator has been contacting primary schools with the idea of schools/classes adopting an area. They could even grow their own seeds then plant them on site, and follow their bit of land as it matures. We have started talking to some groups such as Derwen College and Llanfyllin Men’s Shed.”

“Word of mouth certainly helps. It is important to use local people for work, e.g. our contractors for the fencing, as they will then go and chat about what they are doing to their friends/family/colleagues. We talk to people about Dolydd Gobaith as much as we can, and make contact with people and show our interest.”

“You have to make an income from the land, so we are going to try different things. Some may be better than others. We hope that local landowners/communities see what ideas we try and think they might try that too but maybe on a bigger scale. This income will help us become self-sustaining.”

How has Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust supported you/helped you through this process?

“The Trust has been very supportive, both Ceri and Tammy have come along and done surveys and volunteer training. Tammy in particularly, I know she’s very busy but if I have a question she’s always happy to answer it. We have a good relationship going now, especially with the Green Connections Powys project set-up.”

Do you have any advice for people looking at setting up something similar in their community?

“There are lots of things I didn’t think about but if I knew beforehand would have helped. Don’t take too much on straight away e.g. when we first applied for the big grant, we put lots in, but now we have to do all of it by March 2022, and it has been quite stressful trying to complete everything.”

“Don’t be too ambitious. Spread out wishes over several years. It is very tempting when you see a grant worth lots of money to put in for lots of things, but this makes it much harder. We don’t want to have to give leftover money back.”

“Find people ahead of time that may have skills or knowledge that could be directors or advisors e.g. people good with money, solicitors. Someone may not want responsibility of director by may be happy to advise when you contact them about their skill/area of knowledge.”

“Spread the word before you start so you know you have good support. If no one is going to be supportive, unless you are willing to do it all, it won’t work. It’s important that the community knows what is going on. Join local groups and go to each other’s events, there is help out there and you have to find it. “

“Make it fun. We planted an orchard with a few volunteers in spring 2021 and we had tea and cake afterwards. This makes people feel part of the group and want to stay involved.”

Any final words?

“I’m happy we have got the project off the ground, it’s daunting but also exciting. People are interested so hopefully it’ll be the start of more things like this happening in the area. I like to see other people involved, it’s not just my project. That is the exciting part.”

If this has inspired you to start your own community group, please contact lottie@montwt.co.uk. Visit our Green Connections Powys webpage to find out more details about the project and how you can get involved, whether you’re a landowner, councillor, community or business.

If you would like to find out more about Dolydd Gobaith, visit their website or Facebook page. They have several volunteer days coming up soon!