Gweni will spend four weeks in Elan Valley and four weeks in Aberystwyth building links between both locations. She will receive support from Aberystwyth Art Centre’s Curator Ffion Rhys and Artist and Project Manager Richard Powell. The residency is offering an opportunity to create a discourse between these very different locations framed through the lens of water as resource, land use and the climate emergency.

Gweni Llwyd said “In my recent projects, I’ve been examining the symbiotic relationships between human-made infrastructures and the natural world, exploring industrial pasts, and imagining their futures. What might they look, sound, and feel like? Who might live there? I frequently use sites – such as rivers, quarries, and experiences with land and people as starting points, so I’m looking forward to seeing where Cwm Elan and Aberystwyth take me and my making. I usually work with sound, drawing, video, computer animation and installation, so I’m really excited to strip my making back to basics while on the residency, leave the confines of some of the technologies I work with a lot, and see what happens while immersed in fascinating locations. I hope to develop a body of work in Cwm Elan and Aberystwyth that directly relates to my time getting to know the land, human and more-than-human inhabitants of these places.”

Would you like to experience the magic of the night sky at Elan? Here are five sites you can visit on the Elan Estate.

Scheme Manager: Esther Wakeling

esther@elanvalley.org.uk

Esther Wakeling is the Assistant Scheme Manager for the Elan Links Scheme and took up this role at the beginning of 2022.  Esther spent the last 5 years working for the Cambrian Mountains Initiative and grew up on a farm in rural Ceredigion.

Esther is enjoying this new challenge and is pleased to have the opportunity to put her BSc in Rural Resources Management and MA in Local Economic Development to good use.  She is enjoying working in this dynamic team on such an exciting and beneficial project.

Natural Heritage Officer: Fiona Gomersall

fiona.gomersall@elanvalley.org.uk

Fiona Gomersall joined Elan Links as Natural Heritage Officer in December 2020.  She will be responsible for managing projects related to enhancing nature and wildlife. 

Fiona worked for Shropshire Wildlife Trust as their Conservation Officer for 15 years and more recently as a Farm Adviser for Severn Rivers Trust.  She has a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Environmental Science.  She lives in Felindre, near Newtown.  Fiona is looking forward to carrying on with the range of nature and farming projects which her predecessors set up and to working with the people who helped to create this wonderful landscape.

Volunteering and Training Officer: Gayle Atherfold-Dudley

elanlinks@tircoed.org.uk

Gayle Atherfold-Dudley is the Volunteering and Training Officer for Tir Coed, based within the Elan Links team.  Gayle will be delivering the training projects within the scheme, as well as overseeing volunteers.

Before starting at Tir Coed, she predominately worked in third sector, with families undergoing change.  Gayle has also worked for the NHS and Police, as well as working as a freelance photographer. 

Engagement, Education & Events Officer for Archaeology and Heritage: Gary Ball

gary.ball@elanvalley.org.uk

Gary Ball joined the team in 2022 and is responsible for the delivery of heritage projects that engage and educate, alongside the creation of events that tell the stories of Elan Valley’s past.

Gary has worked in the third sector for over 20 years combining his passion for archaeology, historical reenactment and community engagement.  A recent MSc graduate in Sustainable Heritage practice, he has worked on projects from searching for lost medieval battlegrounds to recording quarries and wells, involving volunteers from around the globe.

Engagement, Education & Events Officer for Arts: Rosie Slay

rosie.slay@elanvalley.org.uk

Rosie joined the team in 2022 and is responsible for the delivery of arts, education and community engagement projects for Elan Links. 

Rosie loves to build unusual partnerships, and is interested in finding ways in which art can engage people with places and issues. In the past she has facilitated public sculpture projects, heritage trails and youth-led media campaigns. She lives just outside of Machynlleth.

Finance Officer: Michelle Thomas

finance@elanvalley.org.uk

Michelle joined the team in 2022, and lives in Llandrindod Wells. She does
accounting tasks for the Elan Links Scheme, and helps everything stay on track
financially. She has worked in accounts since 1986, so she has a broad range of
experience and knowledge to bring to the team.

Outside of work, Michelle is a keen amateur geologist, and organises several events
each year for 2 geology groups. She also hosts a French Conversation Group, and
has been trying to learn Welsh since 2018!

Powys Mentor: Ben Flynn

powysmentor@tircoed.org.uk

Ben is the mentor covering Powys, working with the Elan Valley Links project for Tir Coed.  His role is to help and support all attendees prior, during and after attending the Tir Coed Courses, to enable them to get the most out of their experience.

Project Archivist: Matt Rose

matt.rose@elanvalley.org.uk

Matt Rose is the Project Archivist with responsibility for assessing, recording and making accessible heritage material relating to the Elan Valley. 

Wethers – castrated male sheep – were once traditionally kept as a key part of the mountain flock in the Elan Valley area. Wethers are tougher than ewes and are able to guide the flock to safety or to find food in the hard winter months. For this reason, they are known locally as ‘the kings of the mountain’.

Recently, the lack of a defined market for wethers has seen the loss of this type of animal from our hills. However, wether meat is delicious and in this project we will pilot its promotion through local outlets such as Elan Valley’s Visitor Centre and local hotels. The project will see if sustainably produced wether meat could become a component of local farming systems once again.

In addition, the Woodland Project has identified a need to re-introduce grazing in a number of broadleaved woodlands to help control ground vegetation.  It is proposed that wethers, as stronger animals, could have a role to play without becoming entangled in briars.  

Over the next five years, the aim is to achieve:

Market development and testing for wether lamb meat, including roll-out to catering outlets on a trial basis

• More effective woodland management at minimal cost with positive benefits.

Download the project plan.

Over the next five years, the project aims to achieve:

At least five farm holdings supported to reintroduce and/or increase cattle numbers

Development of an Elan Links ‘cattle group’ for interested farmers to share best practice

45 secured cows grazing the Elan Links area

All Elan Links farmers informed about the project

• End of project report with recommendations for future activity

• Interpretation to a wider audience

Download the project plan.

The testing scheme will be open to all farmers in the Elan Links area.  A total of 200 ram lambs will be selected per year. They will be sent away on grass tack for the winter.  In the spring, the ram lambs will be returned to a central location in the Elan Links area.

Over the five years of the scheme, the aim is to have:

a co-operative sheep breeding scheme for Elan farmers

Annual records of ‘location of origin’ ram usage by participating farmers

20 people trained in ram breeding skills

10 stakeholder days

All Elan Links farmers informed about the project

Interpretation to a wider audience

Download the project plan.

Rhos (or ‘moor’) hay production is a traditional practice to the Elan Valley area. In times gone by rhos hay has been cut in August / September on the open hill, and used as feed and / or bedding for cattle and sheep during the winter months. Only one or two farmers still continue this tradition. However, the practice is beneficial for nature by ensuring greater diversity of management on the open hill and can also have economic benefits for the farmer where there is a suitable use for the cut hay.

This project will encourage rhos hay production by farmers and deliver farm-scale investigations into the best ways of making and using the hay in order to generate a more economic and sustainable product. In so doing, we will reinvigorate this practice which is so important to our cultural and natural heritage.  

Rhos hay is a strongly localised, culturally significant, agricultural activity, traditional to some hill areas of Mid-Wales. The practice involves cutting excess and less palatable (largely overgrown molinia) forage on suitable areas of open hill and using this to make hay for feed or bedding.  Cut areas are typically not re-harvested for three to five years to allow the sward to recover.

This project aims to rejuvenate this distinctive management system through a three-pronged approach:

financial support for better management of existing rhos hay areas along with the creation of additional areas

farm-scale trials to establish best-practice systems for cutting and harvesting as well as for using the product as feed and bedding, and any other potential uses

capital support for purchasing temporary trackway to reduce soil compaction and damage by machinery in boggy areas thereby removing a major barrier to uptake

Download the project plan.

Across the UK, 97% of our traditional wildflower meadows have been lost. Elan Valley, however, is home to many upland hay meadows – including a coronation meadow – all of which are a wonderful sight in full bloom and are of enormous benefit in pollination. Elan Valley’s meadows retain fantastic floristic diversity and insect life but scientific studies have shown that appropriate management such as liming and occasional applications of farmyard manure are needed to keep these meadows thriving.

This project will work with farmers to make sure our hay meadows continue to thrive in the future.

The scientific study examining management of Elan’s hay meadows has identified clear evidence that our meadows, in general, are becoming progressively more infertile and acidic.  

Over the next five years, this project aims to deliver:

12 hectares of hay meadow under favourable management

In-by field management plan

10 people trained in hay meadow management skills

Two stakeholder days and five demonstrating and volunteering days

End of project report with recommendations for future management

Interpretation to a wider audience

Download the project plan.