Capturing the and Dee Valley One of Britain’s most beautiful landscapes

Special issue We celebrate as AONB gets bigger

Fancy a pint? Something’s brewing on Scorched earth Why our moorland is going up in smoke 10 of the best Days out that don’t cost a penny

Plus: follow our food trail, push our buttons and join our day of the triffids 02 www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk

Welcome

Room with a view Our Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty has page 4 just got a lot bigger. In November 2011, the protected landscape of the Clwydian Range AONB was extended to include much of the Dee Valley.

This includes the towns of Corwen and A taste of heather Llangollen, major historical landmarks such page 6 as , Castle and Valle Crucis Abbey and stunning natural features including the Eglwyseg Escarpment, Horseshoe Pass and Mountain.

It adds a further 230 square kilometres to the 160 square kilometres of heather, Burning ambition hillforts and limestone cliffs that make up the Clwydian Range. It’s the first new page 8 area of land in to be awarded AONB status for 26 years.

This means that it’s officially recognised as one of the nation’s most important landscapes. But this isn’t just about walls, hedges and heather moorland. It’s about all the people who live and work here – the farmers, tourism operators 10 free days out and small businesses that help their communities to thrive. page 10 We don’t want to make it more difficult for these people. We want to help. And being in the newly titled Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB means access to funding and support that can make a real difference.

In this special issue of our magazine, we want to welcome new partners such as County Borough Council into the AONB. And we want to The missing link page 12 showcase some of the work we’re already doing in the north to give people in the south ideas of how we may be able to help.

Working with graziers on heather management, for instance. Helping food producers to develop a food trail that’s bringing them new customers. Supporting local projects through the Sustainable Development Fund.

Revenge on the triffids Over the next few months we’ll be talking to people in the Dee Valley, finding page 14 out what their priorities are and asking them to get involved in running the AONB. We hope to see you at one of our consultation events. Or you could just call in at our office in Y Capel, Llangollen for a chat.

Carolyn Thomas Chair of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB Stroll your way to fitness page 16 Cover shot Castell Dinas Brân, Llangollen © Orange Imaging 03

Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB 04 www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk

Room with a view

Inside the new audio-visual room State-of-the-art technology is bringing the at Loggerheads history of the Clwydian Range to life at the Country Park © Eye Imagery touch of a button. 05

Some people call it a self-guided interactive Talking to farmers at home and in local table with a dual projection system. But livestock markets, author Lorna Jenner staff at Loggerheads Country Park refer to collected many wonderful old photographs it simply as “the room with a view”. and stories from the times when milking, shearing, haymaking and harvesting were Housed in a little stone building next to the all done by hand. From top Shire stallion in restored water mill is an audio-visual 1920s Denbigh (courtesy experience that brings together everything Vincent Vaughn of recalls tying Dilys Jones) / threshing in from the evocative cine films shot by WH string round the bottom of his trousers to the 1950s (courtesy Ken Crawford in the 1940s and 1950s to the stop rats running up his legs during Lewis) / demonstration of a latest flyover footage from the Heather and threshing. And he tells the tale of Robin Ferguson Tractor (courtesy Hillforts project. Hood VII, a stallion from the White Horse Bryn Jones). All from “100 pub, who once served 390 mares in a years of Farming in and Just wander in, seven days a week, use season – and was given a bottle of around the Clwydian Range”. the huge touch screen to navigate the film Guinness after each one. archive, hit the play button and watch your clip materialise on the wall in front of you. “I’ve tried to catch the essence of farming in the Clwydian Range and to document It’s so simple a child could do it. Even some of the changes that have taken technophobic adults will find it hard to go place over the past century,” says Lorna. wrong. And when you’re outside again you’ll see the world around you with fresh “I have been overwhelmed by the warm understanding. reception from the farming community. My only regret is that I had to be so selective “This is a small room that packs a big and so much good material has been punch,” says Carolyn Thomas, Chair of the missed out.” Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB. “It provides a window on the landscape and Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story. communities that make this area so special. There are plans for a major oral history project to build up a digital archive of “Visitors to Loggerheads will be able to farming in the area within living memory. get a real flavour of its biodiversity, its history and its culture. We’re getting people Schools and colleges will get involved in reconnected with the landscape and with memory gathering and a “museum in a their own heritage.” box” will tour venues showing photos and playing sound recordings. The AONB has The project has been funded by the Heather already backed the project and hopes are and Hillforts Landscape Partnership high that the Heritage Lottery Fund will Scheme and the Countryside Council for approve the bid. Wales’ Communities and Nature Project.

It draws on just a small part of the AONB’s “100 Years of Farming rich archive – much of which underlines the importance of farming in conserving in and around the the special landscape of the Clwydian Clwydian Range” is Range and Dee Valley. available from the And while touch screens can be very exciting, Clwydian Range Centre sometimes there’s no substitute for curling up with a good book. “100 Years of at Loggerheads, Farming in and around the Clwydian all local bookshops and Range”, for example, published with help from the AONB’s Sustainable Development by mail order from Fund. www.moldbookshop.co.uk 06 www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk

A taste of heather In the world of food and drink, provenance is everything. No wonder the Clwydian Range is becoming a trusted brand.

Phill Blanchard at Natural Beauty in a glass. A beer, in short, Hafod Brewery that tasted of heather.

Phill was given a few armfuls of it from the slopes of Moel Famau and asked to work his magic. So he retreated to his new Hafod Brewery, just a stone’s throw from Loggerheads Country Park, and began to experiment.

He thought about an infusion in the old Scottish ale style but decided that would have to wait for the three-week window Phill Blanchard is a resourceful man. And he likes when the heather was in flower. Then he a challenge. Not many people considering had a brainwave. He set fire to the heather. a career change would have decided to start their own brewery – and then built all the The idea was to produce a smoked beer – equipment themselves from scratch. a Welsh version of a German rauchbier. “I soon discovered,” says Phill ruefully, “how So problem-solving Phill was the perfect flammable heather is. It’s packed with oils. man for the job when Heather and Hillforts project officer Erin Robinson was looking I nearly lost my beard.” for someone to brew a beer with a difference. He rigged up a combustion chamber which allowed him to smoke both the A beer that captured all the appeal of the malted barley and the hops. He tried Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding different parts of the heather and found 07

that young leaves imparted a fresh, piney, fragrant quality to the beer.

“I didn’t want it to be like drinking a pint of bonfire,” says Phill. “I wanted to produce a beer that would sell, a very subtle smoked beer that would appeal to a lot of people.”

The result is Moel Famau Ale. A dark beer that conjures up the purple-clad hills of the Clwydian Range and even, with its smoky tang, the regular burning that’s needed to keep the heather moorland in tip-top shape.

You might have thought it was a niche taste. Not a bit of it. Moel Famau Ale has Food miles become Hafod Brewery’s bestseller. A quality landscape produces quality food. That’s the logic behind the launch of the Clwydian Range Food Trail. Now Phill’s considering what other components of the local landscape he can It takes you through some of the most spectacular views in the employ. Gorse, for instance, which tastes Range, from Loggerheads through to , Denbigh and beyond. of coconut. Or maybe Clwydian Range Along the way you’ll meet producers of delicious foods, all using honey, produced by 30 hives under the local ingredients wherever possible. care of bee keeper Richard Jones. People like master chef Andreas Brunzel of Leonardo’s Delicatessen, whose chicken, leek and laverbread pie came out on top at the In the spring and early summer his bees British Pie Awards. feed on the mixed flowers of the Vale of . Then at the end of July he moves The aim, according to Chair of the Food Trail Group David Jones, them to the foothills of Moel Famau, within is not just to encourage visitors to explore this beautiful and productive reach of the abundant flowering heather. landscape. It’s to let residents know what’s on their doorstep. And to get local businesses trading with each other. And once they start producing sumptuous heather honey, not even Phill would think of So when you spend the night in a hotel or B&B, you might find making beer from it. sausages from Rhesgoed Farm Shop on the breakfast menu. Or smoked fish from Old Forge Trout Farm in your packed lunch. Because this honey is for connoisseurs. And if you’re not driving, you could wash it down with a bottle of Most of it will be sold as cut comb, the Rosies Triple D Cider, pressed, fermented and matured on a farm most highly-prized of all honey. From 1,000 feet above sea level. October onwards, look out for it in local The Food Trail is raising awareness of the importance of farm shops and in Caffi Florence and the farmers and producers in shaping one of the finest Clwydian Range Centre at Loggerheads landscapes in Wales. That’s why it’s backed by Country Park. the AONB through the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Development Fund.

Hafod Brewing Company Clwydian Range Food Trail 07901 386638 01824 705802 www.welshbeer.com www.foodtrail.co.uk 08 www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk Burning ambition

Graziers and countryside officers are working together to renew our heather Heather management moorland. Which means more black through controlled burning grouse and fatter sheep. 09

Moel y Parc near Bodfari is perhaps best “The knowledge of previous generations of known as the home of the tallest structure graziers was in danger of being lost. It’s in North Wales: a 235 metre-high TV been a very valuable exercise that has transmitting station. opened up big tracts of land, so it’s much easier to manage the sheep and they’re But it’s also part of 1,800 acres of heather coming off the hills in better condition.” moorland that carpet the Clwydian Range and Mountains, much of it Right across the Clwydian Range and designated common land and farmed by Llantysilio Mountains, Nick Critchley and generations of graziers. countryside officers such as Llangollen- based Rhun Jones are working with farmers Three-quarters of the world’s remaining to manage up to 120 acres of heather and heather is here in the UK. But this bilberry every year by cutting or burning. internationally important habitat for species such as black and red grouse, merlin and They’re also working hard to repair the hen harriers, skylarks, meadow pipits and damage caused by drivers of motorbikes bilberry bumblebees hasn’t happened by and 4x4s who think an Area of Outstanding accident. Natural Beauty is a suitable place for an illegal racetrack. It’s the result of thousands of years of human activity. And right now it’s down to people “We are down to the bedrock in places,” like Gwyn Rowlands. says Nick. “It’s devastating for the habitat and for grazing – sheep don’t eat mud. So Left to itself, the heather would grow leggy, far we have repaired about seven acres of Above from top Up to 120 collapse and die. It would be ousted by damage and helped to remove another one acres of heather are cut or invasive species such as rowan, bracken of the barriers that are preventing people burned every year / black and European gorse. And slowly the putting stock on the mountains.” grouse habital doesn’t landscape would revert to woodland. happen by accident / the Nick Critchley AONB contains 1,800 acres of heather moorland. No use for conservationists. And no use for Moorland Field Officer – Heather and Hillforts Project graziers like Gwyn. Because his stock would 01352 810614 Below The sheep come off get lost in the tick-ridden bracken and there nick.critchley@.gov.uk the hills in better condition would be no young heather shoots to fatten up the sheep.

So for the last few years Gwyn and his fellow graziers have been heather burning to encourage vigorous new growth. They’ve been cutting down gorse and spraying bracken. And they’ve been doing it with the help of Nick Critchley, Moorland Field Officer for the Heather and Hillforts Project, and a team of volunteers.

“They helped us with manpower and expertise to begin with and after the first couple of years we had the confidence and experience to do it for ourselves, although we still borrow equipment such as fire beaters,” says Gwyn. 10 www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk 10 free days out

In these days of austerity, you may be relieved to discover so many activities in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley that won’t cost you a penny.

Far too many to tell you about here – you’ll have to visit our website for the latest list. But in the meantime here are 10 things you could try without putting your hand in your pocket.

All of them should keep you busy for a few hours at least. And if you sample several together, you could be up with the lark and back home after sunset.

go bilberrying

They’re fat, purple and delicious. And they tell you that the moorland is in good condition. Join a Bilberry Hunt at Moel Famau – and whatever you do, don’t forget a container for your berries.

get the grin factor visit a country park

Our mountain biking is some of the Loggerheads, with its steep limestone best in Wales with challenging cliffs and riverside walks, is the climbs, technical singletrack and gateway to the Clwydian Range. swooping descents. It’s all part Moel Famau attracts 200,000 visitors of a new Cycling Centre of a year to its dramatic heather-clad Excellence designed to deliver slopes. And Tyˆ Mawr has donkeys, what aficionados call the grin factor. pigs, sheep, rabbits, chicken, See www.ridenorthwales.co.uk ducks – and llamas. With dramatic views of viaduct thrown in. 11 watch a meteorite

Take a two-mile guided walk to Caer Drewyn hillfort to see (weather permitting) the annual Perseids meteor shower. We’ll even provide soup and a roll in case it’s chilly.

walk across an aqueduct

Not just any aqueduct, mind. Thomas Telford’s Pontcysyllte Aqueduct at see a hillfort Trefor is the crowing glory of a World Heritage Site that comprises view the range It will be a bit of climb but it’s worth 11 miles of the Llangollen Canal. from a beach it. There’s a spectacular chain of Just make sure you have a head for six Iron Age hillforts stretching from heights – it’s 126 feet tall. You can And while you’re at it, you could Moel Hiraddug in the north to Caer recover yourself in the search for mermaid’s purses (the Drewyn in the south. The Heather revamped visitor centre. egg cases of sharks and rays) at and Hillforts project has brought Dunes or help us improve one of Wales’s mo st important the habitat for sand lizards or little historic landscapes to life. terns. You could even take Offa’s Dyke Path National Trail back along the Clwydian Range. go orienteering Not sure what the Ladies of detect a bat Llangollen would have made of it but there’s a new orienteering Explore Coed or course in the garden of their Loggerheads Country Park at famous home at Plas Newydd. night. With luck you’ll encounter Sir Walter Scott and Wordsworth nightjars, bats, owls and moths. have wandered the grounds and Bring a torch and some insect now it’s your turn. hunt some bugs repellent. We’ll provide the bat detectors. They probably won’t mind. Learn how to find creepy crawlies at Loggerheads Country Park, go river dipping at Plas Newydd or make a home for the little creatures in your own garden.

For more ideas and events, pick up a copy of Denbighshire Countryside Service’s “Out and About” booklet or visit www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk/news-and-events 12 www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk

Main picture The 1876 The missing link Chain Bridge Below left to right The original 1817 structure / the 1930 suspension Sold for just £1, this survivor of the Industrial bridge / the bridge today, sold for £1. Revolution is in a sorry state. But its finest hour Courtesy Llangollen Museum and could still be to come if an ambitious restoration Llangollen Town Council. gets the green light. 13

The Chain Bridge at Berwyn near Llangollen Llantysilio Community Council. “I have lived must surely be one of the most remarkable here most of my life and, like many other locations in Britain. people, I remember using the bridge. It was a big part of local life.” The River Dee rushing below is just one of four great arteries that virtually touch here. The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded a On the opposite bank is Berwyn Halt railway development grant so the councils can submit station, stopping point on the famous Llangollen a detailed bid. If approved the £325,000 Steam Railway. Just beyond that is the A5, project could be finished by the end of 2013. Thomas Telford’s monumental London- Holyhead road. No one is counting their chickens but Jennifer Stewart, Head of the Heritage And behind you is Llangollen Canal, hand-cut Lottery Fund in Wales, can see the potential: through solid rock, with the Horseshoe Falls “We were impressed with the proposals to just a little way along the towpath. restore this significant landmark, which is of historical engineering importance,” You’re standing at the gateway of a World she said. Heritage Site that stretches all the way to mighty Pontcysyllte Aqueduct at Trefor and “The project will provide great opportunities beyond. It’s the Spaghetti Junction of the for local people to get involved and play Industrial Revolution. their part in saving a piece of their local heritage for future generations.” But this part of the Dee Valley is also astonishingly beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, The Chain Bridge has had three lives already. that it’s within the newly designated Area of Entrepreneur Exuperius Pickering built the Outstanding Natural Beauty. original structure in 1817 – linking the canal and the A5, bypassing the tolls at Llangollen The Chain Bridge itself, however, has seen and enabling him to corner the local coal better days. It’s so dilapidated and unsafe market. that it’s been closed since the 1980s. And it From top Llangollen Steam was recently sold by the owner of the His bridge always looks a little flimsy in Railway / Horseshoe Falls / adjacent Chainbridge Hotel for £1. old photographs but the strength of its Pontcysyllte Aqueduct wrought-iron chains enabled it to hang on The buyers were Llangollen Town Council, until it was replaced in 1876 by Sir Henry whose patch includes the south bank of the Robertson using iron from the river, and Llantysilio Community Council, works. who look after the north side. They paid 50p each. This second bridge succumbed to the worst floods in living memory in 1928 and was Small change, perhaps, but they have big completely swept away. Some of the pieces plans. With the help of the Heritage Lottery ended up as far downstream as . Fund, they want to restore the bridge, reopen it to the public and improve the path It was rebuilt in 1930 by Robertson’s son up to Berwyn Halt railway station to make it along the lines of the Menai Suspension wheelchair-friendly. Bridge with six chains supporting the bridge deck and two chains below. Almost certainly This means that people could travel from the latter were Pickering’s original chains, Llangollen by horse-drawn boat, cross the reused more than 100 years later. Chain Bridge and return on the steam railway – or vice-versa. That could make them the oldest working part of any bridge in the UK. Not to mention The reopened bridge would not only create the oldest suspension bridge chains still in a major tourist attraction. It would also restore place anywhere in the world. a vital local landmark and, through a lively programme of education and interpretation, Llangollen Town Council allow the community to reconnect with its 01978 861345 own history. www.llangollentowncouncil.co.uk

“It’s such a missing link that needs to be Llantysilio Community Council replaced,” says David Walton, Chair of 01978 861451 14 www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk

Revenge on the triffids

Himalayan balsam is an invasive plant species from a faraway land that’s taking over our waterways. But an army of volunteers is fighting back.

It doesn’t look much like a triffid. In fact It even has exploding pods that can shoot Himalayan balsam with its sweet-smelling out seeds to a distance of seven metres. pink flowers looks rather attractive swaying Seeds that can begin to germinate gently on a riverbank. underwater. So once established it spreads downstream like wildfire. The Victorians certainly thought so. They brought it back from trips to the east and Unless you do something about it, that is. planted it in their gardens. But they should have left it in the Himalayas where it Which is where the Alyn Valley Himalayan belonged. Balsam Project comes in.

Because this ornamental plant, otherwise Since 2008 this project has mobilised local known as policeman’s helmet, is an invasive councils, statutory agencies, conservation Main picture species that’s doing untold damage along bodies, community groups and an army of Himalayan balsam our watercourses. volunteers to eradicate the invading plants Right Volunteering in all the way along the from the Clwydian Range It forms dense stands up to three metres to Mold. and Dee Valley high that choke native vegetation, provide little or no food for our wildlife and stop frustrated anglers getting to the water. Then And what’s the best way to kill a triffid? Well, it dies back, leaving great bare patches of you can do it with a strimmer. You can try a riverbank that are prone to erosion. flail. Or you can use chemical control. 15

But if you’ve got the people power at your used to be a sea of pink there are only a few disposal, the best way is to pull up the plants left. shallow-rooted plant by hand, break the stem and leave it well back from the river “The seeds are only viable for two or three to compost. years so, once we have eradicated all the plants and eliminated the source, the It’s vital to do this when the Himalayan riverbank should stay clear.” balsam is in flower but before it goes to seed – otherwise you’re likely to do more Graham Harvey was one of the first harm than good. June is the best time. volunteers to get active. He and his friends have been tugging out Himalayan balsam That’s when you’ll see volunteers in wellies clogging a tributary of the river Alyn near and gloves yanking up armfuls of balsam all his house. along the Alyn Valley. Some will be in ones and twos, doing their own thing, while others will be part of big organised groups. His motivation is simple: “It’s on my doorstep and it shouldn’t be there,” he says. “This is a “The volunteers have been really committed lovely area and I’d like to pass on as much and their work is already starting to pay as possible to the next generation in the dividends,” said Denbighshire’s biodiversity state we found it. I suppose it’s a question officer, Lizzie Webster. “In some places that of being public-spirited.”

We need your help

It’s not just balsam bashing. Each year countryside volunteers in Denbighshire alone put in about 5,000 hours of work.

They get to do everything from drystone walling, hedge laying and heather burning to counting natterjack toads or listening for black grouse.

Volunteering is good fun, gets you out in the fresh air and teaches you new skills that look good on your CV. And it means you’re putting something back into the landscape.

Because an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty doesn’t just happen. It needs constant work.

Denbighshire Countryside Service 01352 810614 www.clwydianrangeaonb.org.uk/volunteering

Flintshire Countryside Service 01244 814931

Wrexham Countryside Service 01978 763140 16 www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk

Stroll your way to fitness

Walking doesn’t have to mean slogging “We want to get more people out in the through the countryside for hour after hour. countryside by improving existing rights of way,” Sometimes all you want is a quiet stroll and explains Denbighshire Countryside Service’s a nice view. Access Officer, Hannah Salisbury-Arndt. “The Community Miles routes only take an hour or Two new Community Miles routes around so but they are still very rewarding with Llangollen and Tremeirchion could fit wonderful views.” the bill. Like the existing walks in Llandyrnog, Denbigh and Clywedog, Community Miles is part of the Rights of Way they take routes that people are already Improvement Plan funded by the Welsh using, improve them with new stiles, gates Government and the European Agricultural and bridges – and waymark them so you Fund for Rural Development, and administered don’t get lost. by the Countryside Council for Wales.

The result is a series of short walks Look out for the leaflets – and for new Community designed to get people fitter (there’s a calorie Miles routes in Llandrillo and Graigfechan that counter for every walk), boost local businesses should be ready by the end of 2012. and promote public transport.

Mon 27 August, Cilcain Show Events 2012 www.cilcainshow.org.uk

There’s always plenty happening around Sat 1-Sun 2 September, Corwen Walking Festival the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley. www.corwenwalkingfestival.co.uk Here are just a few of the highlights for Sat 22-Sun 23 September, Mold Food and 2012. Drink Festival www.moldfoodfestival.co.uk Wed 1-Sun 12 August, Ranger Wooley’s Mission countryside theatre tour September, Open Doors Denbighshire www.denbighshirecountryside.org.uk www.opendoorsdenbighshire.org.uk

Thurs 16 August, Denbigh and Flint County Show Sat 20-Sun 21 October, Llangollen Food Festival www.denbighandflintshow.com www.llangollenfoodfestival.com

Fri 24-Mon 27 August, Gwˆ yl Gobaith Music Mon 17 December-Wed 2 January, Christmas at Festival, Loggerheads www.gwylgobaith.org www.caffiflorence.co.uk

Partneriaeth Cynllun Datblygiad Gwledig Sir Ddinbych Denbighshire Rural Development Plan Partnership

Funded through the Rural Development Plan (financed through the European Union and the Welsh Government) and the Sustainable Development Fund.

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Published by Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB in July 2012. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the publishers can accept no liability for any errors, inaccuracies or omissions or for any matter in any way connected with or arising out of the publication of the information.

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