We are just thrilled to be featured in @Gardens Illustrated this month! Our project to breathe new life into the Bishops Park & Gardens at Abergwili, including two beautiful new garden areas, a new café and learning centre is well underway – and it’s featured on page 103 of ‘The Vogue’ of gardening magazines this April!
The new gardens were designed by our Head Gardener Piers Lunt with TACP UK Ltd, and the landscaping is being carried out by Afan Group. We are so grateful to them and to all who volunteer in the park and gardens and keep it looking so beautiful
Our contractors TAD are now on site and have started redeveloping the 1830s Bishop’s Palace outbuildings to create a café, toilets and learning space in the places which originally housed a laundry, dairy and brew house where the servants of the Bishops’ households worked. The building work is now on tight schedule and due to be completed in Autumn 2021.
When finished, the learning centre will enable visitors of all ages to enjoy, to learn, to socialise and to engage with history, culture, gardening and wildlife of this exceptional place – a real community asset with wellbeing at its heart.
In the first in a new series of blogs from our Head Gardener, Piers Lunt, we explore the changes that are taking place in the Park and Gardens this March.
March is living up to the first half of the old saying ‘comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb’; let’s hope the second half also holds true!
We’ve had some furious weather over the last few weeks, but despite the best efforts of gales, floods and frosts to take the upper hand spring has sprung in the Bishop’s Park, and we’ve finally turned our backs on a hard winter, if not quite yet for good.
Wildflowers that have been making sporadic appearance since late January are taking advantage of longer days, lifting themselves up in hope of discovery by early pollinators braving the still muted temperatures. Look out in particular for celandine, open when the sky is bright and closing against the rain; and primroses that are virtually untroubled by any inclement weather, somehow maintaining their poise even when faced by the full-throated lion’s roar. The snowdrops came a little later this year than last, and true to their ephemeral nature are nearly over, but if quick you’ll catch the last of them down on top of the HaHa and under the ancient common-lime in the Park, nodding their little white heads quietly among glaucous foliage.
The more perceptive among us might notice subtle changes in the trees too. April is the month of most obvious growth, as buds en masse begin to break and leaf out, but for now you’ll notice them swell and sometimes change colour too, a development that never fails to instil the excitement of expectation in me. It’s this pause before the new season really blooms that quickens the blood or, better perhaps, raises the sap.
We are also witnessing changes in the wildlife too. Love is undeniably in the air for our feathered friends…
Some, like the collared dove above my office door at the Lodge, are already incubating eggs in fresh nests, with others still gathering materials and building with purpose. I’ve seen my first honeybees of the year too, taking advantage of the increased warmth of the Walled Garden, adding daffodil to the bulging pollen baskets on their legs while drinking deeply of its nectar.
If you regularly spend time in the Park you cannot fail to have noticed significant development over the last month. Afan Landscapes are back on site, starting with development of the Jenkinson Garden, our homage to its namesake and the formal design he constructed in the area in the 1830s. Our redesign not only mimics his circular garden, but also primarily uses plants that would have been available to his gardeners. Inspiration was taken from John Claudius Loudon’s Encyclopaedia of Plants from 1843. Incidentally, it appears Loudon was a contemporaneous inspiration to Bishop Jenkinson too; so we are bringing things full circle in more ways than one.
Once complete Afan will be moving around the east and south of the museum, converting the old tarmac path to our new hoggin surface, knitting it together with the sections improved last year. I know this is something many people have been waiting for – it’s just a few short weeks away now! Thereafter we’ll have a fully restored and integrated, vastly improved, major path network; it even, by and large, survives the floods.
But let’s hope we’ve seen the back of those for a while.
Thank you Caryl Thomas for sending in this photograph!
New wildlife-friendly gardens take shape this month at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili, Carmarthenshire
Two new gardens are being created at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili this month, thanks to a grant of £22,900 from Welsh Government and the National Lottery Heritage Fund ‘Local Places for Nature’ fund. The Park surrounds the old palace of the Bishops of St David’s, now home to Carmarthenshire Museum, and the new gardens form part of the wider restoration and conservation of the site, including the transformation of derelict outbuildings to house a new café and learning and interpretation centre. Historic plant varieties are being used to create attractive new planting displays beneficial for wildlife, as well as providing educational opportunities and activities for visitors and children. Educational resources and lesson plans showcasing the planting and installation of the garden are being created in partnership with local primary schools.
Andrew White, Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund in Wales said:
“Nature is our oldest form of heritage and it has never been more important to look after nature and help people to understand its importance. Nature can also boost our mood; reduce stress; help us to relax; improve our physical and mental health and it should be accessible to everyone.
“Funding nature and landscapes is one of The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s key strategic funding priorities in Wales and we are very happy to be working in partnership with the Welsh Government to award this ‘Local Places for Nature’ grant to the Tywi Gateway Trust so that people of the area can learn more about and benefit from their own natural heritage.”
The new Bishop Jenkinson’s Garden
The new Bishop Jenkinson Garden under construction.
The entrance area which currently greets visitors to the site is being transformed to provide a new garden for year-round interest, taking its design inspiration from the time of Bishop John Jenkinson (1825 to 1840). It will be circular in design, with attractive planting including espalier Welsh heritage apple and pear trees, and a large range of culinary and medicinal herbs and plants available in the mid-19th century. The garden is designed to provide a combination of native and ornamental plants providing nectar and pollen sources for insects, reflecting both the sustainable aims of the project and the rich history of the site.
New Woodland Area
The new woodland garden area lies at the edge of the main woodland at the Bishop’s Park and was first opened up 5 years ago when a mature beech tree had to be felled due to fungus making the tree unstable. This now forms an attractive sheltered open area in a natural bowl, looking out across the flood plain meadow where visitors will be able to sit and enjoy the plantings with the backdrop of the Tywi Valley and enjoy the wellbeing benefits of being in woodland. New ornamental shrubs, small trees and spring-flowering bulbs and the introduction of bird and bat boxes will enhance the native flora and fauna and benefit woodland wildlife. The new woodland garden area will be planted up with the help of two apprentices from the Dyffryn Tywi project, Dan and Ossian.
Dan and Ossian from the Dyffryn Tywi Project.
Louise Austin, Trust Manager, said “We are thrilled to receive this Welsh Government and National Lottery grant which is enabling us to create attractive new garden and woodland areas, using heritage plant varieties and benefitting pollinating insects and other wildlife. We are greatly looking forward to working with more local schools and community groups to develop a wide range of educational activities and materials for visitors, children and the local community.“
Community Focus
The Tywi Gateway Trust are keen to ensure the park is accessible for and enjoyed by all. The project will enable local young people to work with the Tywi Gateway Trust’s Head Gardener Piers Lunt learning how to prepare, plant and care for the garden areas, including planting traditional Welsh varieties of apple trees such as Tinyrwydd and Bardsey.
The installation of the new gardens are part of the wider programme of restoration and enhancement of the Bishop’s Park managed by the Tywi Gateway Trust to conserve and restore the park and gardens to the period of their last major re-design in the 1840s. This includes bringing the attractive walled kitchen garden back into production and improving public access to the adjacent Great Meadow, which will be managed to benefit the rare flood plain meadow habitat. The project will also conserve the Bishop’s Pond ox-bow lake which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and restore the outbuildings of the Old Bishop’s Palace for use as a learning and interpretation centre with café, which will open in Autumn 2021.
Notes to editors
About the Tywi Gateway Trust
The Trust was set up in 2016 to: “promote for the benefit of the public at the Bishop’s Park and its cultural setting in Abergwili the conservation, protection, improvement and understanding of the built and natural environments.”
The Tywi Gateway Trust are currently delivering the Tywi Gateway Project at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili, a £2.4m Parks for People project funded with a £1.2m grant by the National Lottery.
The Trust are a tiny charity with the equivalent of just 3 full time staff, relying on the generosity of volunteers and supporters to continue our work.
‘Local Places for Nature’ is a Welsh Government grant scheme intended to enable communities in Wales to restore and enhance nature. The National Lottery Heritage Fund provides a financial contribution to the scheme and manages the scheme on behalf of Welsh Government.
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk. Follow @HeritageFundCYM on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund
Further information
For further information, images and interviews please contact Louise Austin at the Tywi Gateway Trust on 07399 265237, email: louiseaustin@tywigateway.org.uk
In March 2021 the entrance area which currently greets visitors to the site is being transformed to provide a new garden for year-round interest. It takes its design inspiration from the time of Bishop John Jenkinson (1825 to 1840), and is circular in plan, with attractive planting including espalier Welsh heritage apple and pear trees, and a large range of culinary and medicinal herbs and plants available in the mid-19th century. The garden is designed to provide a combination of native and ornamental plants providing nectar and pollen sources for insects – beautiful and beneficial! We hope it will really help put the Park on the map and connect visitors with the rich history of the site.
The new woodland garden areawill also be planted up this month, with the help of two apprentices from the Dyfryn Tywi project. This area lies at the edge of the main woodland at the Bishop’s Park and was first opened up 5 years ago when a mature beech tree had to be felled due to fungus making the tree unstable. It now forms an attractive sheltered open area in a natural bowl, looking out across the flood plain meadow where visitors will be able to sit and enjoy the plantings with the backdrop of the beautiful Tywi Valley. New ornamental shrubs, small trees and spring-flowering bulbs and the introduction of bird and bat boxes will support native flora and fauna and wildlife.
Spring is on its way and the longer days are great news for visitors and gardeners alike. This month in the Park look out for Primroses which are starting to flower in various areas, as well as those cheerful little Lesser Celandines with lots of fresh new foliage and some sporadic flowering – but only on bright days! Daffodil and Snowdrop foliage are pushing their way through the leaf litter all around the park – the ‘haha’ edge (the gap between the main park and the Great Meadow / Waun Fawr) is the perfect place to spot snowdrops – but beware the drop into the ditch there! Hazel catkins are dangling from some of the larger hazels now and you can easily lose half an hour watching the mallards on the Bishop’s Pond; they are very meditative to watch, if you have the time!
At the moment too we are blessed with some really beautiful sunrises and sunsets – looking particularly stunning over the Great Meadow, with the sun silhouetting the bare branches of the mature trees. We’ve been busy too – you’ll see Piers out and about with chainsaw as lots of Cherry Laurel is being coppiced and cleared to improve conditions for native tree and ground flora species.
Copyright Caryl Thomas 2020 – The Great Meadow at Bishops Park, Abergwili
PRESS RELEASE 18-12-2020
New wildlife-friendly gardens at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili made possible by Welsh Government and National Lottery support
The Tywi Gateway Trust has received a grant of £22,900 from Welsh Government and the National Lottery Heritage Fund ‘Local Places for Nature’ to create two new garden areas at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili, as part of wider restoration and conservation of the site. The Park surrounds the old palace of the Bishops of St David’s, now home to Carmarthenshire Museum, where outbuildings will also be converted to house a new café and learning and interpretation centre. The award will enable the purchase of historic plant varieties to create attractive new planting displays beneficial for wildlife, as well as providing educational opportunities and activities for visitors and children.
Andrew White, Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund in Wales said:
“Nature is our oldest form of heritage and it has never been more important to look after nature and help people to understand its importance. Nature can also boost our mood; reduce stress; help us to relax; improve our physical and mental health and it should be accessible to everyone.
“Funding nature and landscapes is one of The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s key strategic funding priorities in Wales and we are very happy to be working in partnership with the Welsh Government to award this ‘Local Places for Nature’ grant to the Tywi Gateway Trust so that people of the area can learn more about and benefit from their own natural heritage.”
The entrance area which currently greets visitors to the site will be transformed to provide a new garden for year-round interest taking its design inspiration from the time of Bishop John Jenkinson (1825 to 1840). It will be circular in design, with attractive planting including espalier Welsh heritage apple and pear trees, and a large range of culinary and medicinal herbs and plants available in the mid-19th century. The garden is designed to provide a combination of native and ornamental plants providing nectar and pollen sources for insects, reflecting both the sustainable aims of the project and the rich history of the site.
The new woodland garden area lies at the edge of the main woodland at the Bishop’s Park and was first opened up 5 years ago when a mature beech tree had to be felled due to fungus making the tree unstable. This now forms an attractive sheltered open area in a natural bowl, looking out across the flood plain meadow where visitors will be able to sit and enjoy the plantings with the backdrop of the Tywi Valley and enjoy the wellbeing benefits of being in woodland. New ornamental shrubs, small trees and spring-flowering bulbs and the introduction of bird and bat boxes will enhance the native flora and fauna and benefit woodland wildlife.
Louise Austin, Trust Manager, said “We are thrilled to receive this Welsh Government and National Lottery grant which will enable us to create attractive new garden and woodland areas, using heritage plant varieties and benefitting pollinating insects and other wildlife. We are greatly looking forward to working with local schools and community groups to develop a wide range of educational activities and materials for visitors, children and the local community.“
The Tywi Gateway Trust are keen to ensure the park is accessible for and enjoyed by all. The project will enable local young people to work with the Tywi Gateway Trust’s Head Gardener Piers Lunt learning how to prepare, plant and care for the garden areas, including planting traditional Welsh varieties of apple trees such as Tinyrwydd and Bardsey.
The installation of the new gardens are part of the wider programme of restoration and enhancement of the Bishop’s Park managed by the Tywi Gateway Trust to conserve and restore the park and gardens to the period of their last major re-design in the 1840s. This includes bringing the attractive walled kitchen garden back into production and improving public access to the adjacent Great Meadow, which will be managed to benefit the rare flood plain meadow habitat. The project will also conserve the Bishop’s Pond ox-bow lake which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and restore the outbuildings of the Old Bishop’s Palace for use as a learning and interpretation centre with café, which will open in Autumn 2021.
Copyright Caryl Thomas 2020 – The Great Meadow at Bishops Park, Abergwili[/caption]
Caroline and Ffiona with Piers and colleagues from Carmarthen Museum on a tour of the Walled Garden
The Tywi Gateway Trust are delighted to announce that we have now appointed our Community Engagement and Learning officer. In fact we have appointed two great new members to our team as a job share in the post. Ffiona Jones who started in September and Caroline Welch who will be joining us in November.
Ffiona Jones comes from a farming background, having studied agriculture at The Welsh Agricultural College, Aberystwyth in the late 1980’s. In 2008, she studied at the University of Wales Trinity St David, Carmarthen, where she gained her BA Primary Education with QTS in 2011. She has spent the following years working mainly as a supply teacher across Carmarthenshire. She is also currently studying for her MA in Local History at UWTSD.
Having grown up on a dairy farm in the Kidwelly area, Ffiona farms in the Tywi Valley at Pontargothi with her husband and 3 grown-up children, where they have a small herd of prize-winning pedigree Jersey cattle. It has been farmed by the family for over a hundred and twenty years.
Ffiona is a fluent Welsh speaker and has been involved with numerous organizations since moving to the area in the 1990’s, including YFC, local agricultural shows and cattle breed societies, the Urdd, Llanegwad Parish Church, Ysgol Nantgaredig and Ysgol Gyfun Bro Myrddin to name but a few.
Ffiona hopes that her role will enable her to engage with all that she loves about the Tywi Valley – the ecology, the history, heritage and culture and of course, the people.
If you are passionate about heritage and the environment, excited by the prospect of developing a new site-specific community engagement and learning programme – then this is a unique opportunity to lead a team of volunteers and others in creating a truly special, enjoyable, rewarding and safe learning experience for visitors, staff and volunteers alike.
This two year post will encourage and increase visitors of all ages to the Bishop’s Park as a place to enjoy and learn in. It will bring together and build links between the community, the park, the Old Bishops Palace and Carmarthenshire County Museum and its collections.
The Trust is delighted to announce the continued support by Abergwili Community Council for the restoration of the Bishops Park.
The Community Council have donated a further £2,000 towards the creation of a Community Engagement and Learning Officer post. Starting in September 2020 this post will encourage and develop a network of park users from across Carmarthenshire. The post will work with groups, clubs, societies and interest groups, as well as schools and colleges developing learning opportunities and creating activities to explore what makes the Bishops Park, the Old Bishops Palace and the Museum’s collections special.
Trust Chair, Betsan Caldwell, said “We are delighted that the Community Council is continuing to support our work to conserve and protect what makes the Bishops park special. The project, due to be completed in September 2021, will also create a café and learning space encouraging more people to come and explore the amazing history, ecology and horticulture here at the Bishops Park.
“There are already many members of the Abergwili community actively taking part in the park’s restoration as Trustees and volunteers, all helping to bring back the Bishops Park to its former glory and we hope that more will continue to get involved.”
Posted: 08/04/2021 by Caroline Welch
We’re in Gardens Illustrated this month!
We are just thrilled to be featured in @Gardens Illustrated this month! Our project to breathe new life into the Bishops Park & Gardens at Abergwili, including two beautiful new garden areas, a new café and learning centre is well underway – and it’s featured on page 103 of ‘The Vogue’ of gardening magazines this April!
The new gardens were designed by our Head Gardener Piers Lunt with TACP UK Ltd, and the landscaping is being carried out by Afan Group. We are so grateful to them and to all who volunteer in the park and gardens and keep it looking so beautiful
Read more about the work taking place in our press release here.
Posted: 23/03/2021 by Caroline Welch
Work begins on the new Café and Learning Centre!
When finished, the learning centre will enable visitors of all ages to enjoy, to learn, to socialise and to engage with history, culture, gardening and wildlife of this exceptional place – a real community asset with wellbeing at its heart.
Posted: 18/03/2021 by Caroline Welch
What to See Now: March
In the first in a new series of blogs from our Head Gardener, Piers Lunt, we explore the changes that are taking place in the Park and Gardens this March.
March is living up to the first half of the old saying ‘comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb’; let’s hope the second half also holds true!
We’ve had some furious weather over the last few weeks, but despite the best efforts of gales, floods and frosts to take the upper hand spring has sprung in the Bishop’s Park, and we’ve finally turned our backs on a hard winter, if not quite yet for good.
Wildflowers that have been making sporadic appearance since late January are taking advantage of longer days, lifting themselves up in hope of discovery by early pollinators braving the still muted temperatures. Look out in particular for celandine, open when the sky is bright and closing against the rain; and primroses that are virtually untroubled by any inclement weather, somehow maintaining their poise even when faced by the full-throated lion’s roar. The snowdrops came a little later this year than last, and
true to their ephemeral nature are nearly over, but if quick you’ll catch the last of them down on top of the HaHa and under the ancient common-lime in the Park, nodding their little white heads quietly among glaucous foliage.
The more perceptive among us might notice subtle changes in the trees too. April is the month of most obvious growth, as buds en masse begin to break and leaf out, but for now you’ll notice them swell and sometimes change colour too, a development that never fails to instil the excitement of expectation in me. It’s this pause before the new season really blooms that quickens the blood or, better perhaps, raises the sap.
We are also witnessing changes in the wildlife too. Love is undeniably in the air for our feathered friends…
Some, like the collared dove above my office door at the Lodge, are already incubating eggs in fresh nests, with others still gathering materials and building with purpose. I’ve seen my first honeybees of the year too, taking advantage of the increased warmth of the Walled Garden, adding daffodil to the bulging pollen baskets on their legs while drinking deeply of its nectar.
noticed significant development over the last month. Afan Landscapes are back on site, starting with development of the Jenkinson Garden, our homage to its namesake and the formal design he constructed in the area in the 1830s. Our redesign not only mimics his circular garden, but also primarily uses plants that would have been available to his gardeners. Inspiration was taken from John Claudius Loudon’s Encyclopaedia of Plants from 1843. Incidentally, it appears Loudon was a contemporaneous inspiration to Bishop Jenkinson too; so we are bringing things full circle in more ways than one.
If you regularly spend time in the Park you cannot fail to have
Once complete Afan will be moving around the east and south of the museum, converting the old tarmac path to our new hoggin surface, knitting it together with the sections improved last year. I know this is something many people have been waiting for – it’s just a few short weeks away now! Thereafter we’ll have a fully restored and integrated, vastly improved, major path network; it even, by and large, survives the floods.
But let’s hope we’ve seen the back of those for a while.
Posted: 09/03/2021 by Caroline Welch
New wildlife-friendly gardens take shape this month at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili, Carmarthenshire
PRESS RELEASE 09-03-21
New wildlife-friendly gardens take shape this month at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili, Carmarthenshire
Two new gardens are being created at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili this month, thanks to a grant of £22,900 from Welsh Government and the National Lottery Heritage Fund ‘Local Places for Nature’ fund. The Park surrounds the old palace of the Bishops of St David’s, now home to Carmarthenshire Museum, and the new gardens form part of the wider restoration and conservation of the site, including the transformation of derelict outbuildings to house a new café and learning and interpretation centre. Historic plant varieties are being used to create attractive new planting displays beneficial for wildlife, as well as providing educational opportunities and activities for visitors and children. Educational resources and lesson plans showcasing the planting and installation of the garden are being created in partnership with local primary schools.
Andrew White, Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund in Wales said:
“Nature is our oldest form of heritage and it has never been more important to look after nature and help people to understand its importance. Nature can also boost our mood; reduce stress; help us to relax; improve our physical and mental health and it should be accessible to everyone.
“Funding nature and landscapes is one of The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s key strategic funding priorities in Wales and we are very happy to be working in partnership with the Welsh Government to award this ‘Local Places for Nature’ grant to the Tywi Gateway Trust so that people of the area can learn more about and benefit from their own natural heritage.”
The new Bishop Jenkinson’s Garden
The entrance area which currently greets visitors to the site is being transformed to provide a new garden for year-round interest, taking its design inspiration from the time of Bishop John Jenkinson (1825 to 1840). It will be circular in design, with attractive planting including espalier Welsh heritage apple and pear trees, and a large range of culinary and medicinal herbs and plants available in the mid-19th century. The garden is designed to provide a combination of native and ornamental plants providing nectar and pollen sources for insects, reflecting both the sustainable aims of the project and the rich history of the site.
New Woodland Area
The new woodland garden area lies at the edge of the main woodland at the Bishop’s Park and was first opened up 5 years ago when a mature beech tree had to be felled due to fungus making the tree unstable. This now forms an attractive sheltered open area in a natural bowl, looking out across the flood plain meadow where visitors will be able to sit and enjoy the plantings with the backdrop of the Tywi Valley and enjoy the wellbeing benefits of being in woodland. New ornamental shrubs, small trees and spring-flowering bulbs and the introduction of bird and bat boxes will enhance the native flora and fauna and benefit woodland wildlife. The new woodland garden area will be planted up with the help of two apprentices from the Dyffryn Tywi project, Dan and Ossian.
Louise Austin, Trust Manager, said “We are thrilled to receive this Welsh Government and National Lottery grant which is enabling us to create attractive new garden and woodland areas, using heritage plant varieties and benefitting pollinating insects and other wildlife. We are greatly looking forward to working with more local schools and community groups to develop a wide range of educational activities and materials for visitors, children and the local community.“
Community Focus
The Tywi Gateway Trust are keen to ensure the park is accessible for and enjoyed by all. The project will enable local young people to work with the Tywi Gateway Trust’s Head Gardener Piers Lunt learning how to prepare, plant and care for the garden areas, including planting traditional Welsh varieties of apple trees such as Tinyrwydd and Bardsey.
The installation of the new gardens are part of the wider programme of restoration and enhancement of the Bishop’s Park managed by the Tywi Gateway Trust to conserve and restore the park and gardens to the period of their last major re-design in the 1840s. This includes bringing the attractive walled kitchen garden back into production and improving public access to the adjacent Great Meadow, which will be managed to benefit the rare flood plain meadow habitat. The project will also conserve the Bishop’s Pond ox-bow lake which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and restore the outbuildings of the Old Bishop’s Palace for use as a learning and interpretation centre with café, which will open in Autumn 2021.
Notes to editors
About the Tywi Gateway Trust
The Trust was set up in 2016 to: “promote for the benefit of the public at the Bishop’s Park and its cultural setting in Abergwili the conservation, protection, improvement and understanding of the built and natural environments.”
The Tywi Gateway Trust are currently delivering the Tywi Gateway Project at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili, a £2.4m Parks for People project funded with a £1.2m grant by the National Lottery.
The Trust are a tiny charity with the equivalent of just 3 full time staff, relying on the generosity of volunteers and supporters to continue our work.
To give monthly to the Trust visit: https://localgiving.org/charity/the-tywi-gateway-trust/
To find out more about the work of the Trust visit: https://parcyresgob.org.uk/
Follow @ParkYrEsgob on Facebook – Twitter – Instagram – YouTube
About the Grant
‘Local Places for Nature’ is a Welsh Government grant scheme intended to enable communities in Wales to restore and enhance nature. The National Lottery Heritage Fund provides a financial contribution to the scheme and manages the scheme on behalf of Welsh Government.
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk. Follow @HeritageFundCYM on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund
Further information
For further information, images and interviews please contact Louise Austin at the Tywi Gateway Trust on 07399 265237, email: louiseaustin@tywigateway.org.uk
Posted: 04/03/2021 by Caroline Welch
Bishop Jenkinson’s Garden Takes Shape!
Read more Latest News
Posted: 02/02/2021 by Caroline Welch
What to see now: February
Spring is on its way and the longer days are great news for visitors and gardeners alike. This month in the Park look out for Primroses which are starting to flower in various areas, as well as those cheerful little Lesser Celandines with lots of fresh new foliage and some sporadic flowering – but only on bright days! Daffodil and Snowdrop foliage are pushing their way through the leaf litter all around the park – the ‘haha’ edge (the gap between the main park and the Great Meadow / Waun Fawr) is the perfect place to spot snowdrops – but beware the drop into the ditch there! Hazel catkins are dangling from some of the larger hazels now and you can easily lose half an hour watching the mallards on the Bishop’s Pond; they are very meditative to watch, if you have the time!
At the moment too we are blessed with some really beautiful sunrises and sunsets – looking particularly stunning over the Great Meadow, with the sun silhouetting the bare branches of the mature trees. We’ve been busy too – you’ll see Piers out and about with chainsaw as lots of Cherry Laurel is being coppiced and cleared to improve conditions for native tree and ground flora species.
Posted: 18/12/2020 by Admin
Bishop’s Park wins Local Places for Nature Grant
PRESS RELEASE 18-12-2020
New wildlife-friendly gardens at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili made possible by Welsh Government and National Lottery support
The Tywi Gateway Trust has received a grant of £22,900 from Welsh Government and the National Lottery Heritage Fund ‘Local Places for Nature’ to create two new garden areas at the Bishop’s Park, Abergwili, as part of wider restoration and conservation of the site. The Park surrounds the old palace of the Bishops of St David’s, now home to Carmarthenshire Museum, where outbuildings will also be converted to house a new café and learning and interpretation centre. The award will enable the purchase of historic plant varieties to create attractive new planting displays beneficial for wildlife, as well as providing educational opportunities and activities for visitors and children.
Andrew White, Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund in Wales said:
“Nature is our oldest form of heritage and it has never been more important to look after nature and help people to understand its importance. Nature can also boost our mood; reduce stress; help us to relax; improve our physical and mental health and it should be accessible to everyone.
“Funding nature and landscapes is one of The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s key strategic funding priorities in Wales and we are very happy to be working in partnership with the Welsh Government to award this ‘Local Places for Nature’ grant to the Tywi Gateway Trust so that people of the area can learn more about and benefit from their own natural heritage.”
The entrance area which currently greets visitors to the site will be transformed to provide a new garden for year-round interest taking its design inspiration from the time of Bishop John Jenkinson (1825 to 1840). It will be circular in design, with attractive planting including espalier Welsh heritage apple and pear trees, and a large range of culinary and medicinal herbs and plants available in the mid-19th century. The garden is designed to provide a combination of native and ornamental plants providing nectar and pollen sources for insects, reflecting both the sustainable aims of the project and the rich history of the site.
The new woodland garden area lies at the edge of the main woodland at the Bishop’s Park and was first opened up 5 years ago when a mature beech tree had to be felled due to fungus making the tree unstable. This now forms an attractive sheltered open area in a natural bowl, looking out across the flood plain meadow where visitors will be able to sit and enjoy the plantings with the backdrop of the Tywi Valley and enjoy the wellbeing benefits of being in woodland. New ornamental shrubs, small trees and spring-flowering bulbs and the introduction of bird and bat boxes will enhance the native flora and fauna and benefit woodland wildlife.
Louise Austin, Trust Manager, said “We are thrilled to receive this Welsh Government and National Lottery grant which will enable us to create attractive new garden and woodland areas, using heritage plant varieties and benefitting pollinating insects and other wildlife. We are greatly looking forward to working with local schools and community groups to develop a wide range of educational activities and materials for visitors, children and the local community.“
The Tywi Gateway Trust are keen to ensure the park is accessible for and enjoyed by all. The project will enable local young people to work with the Tywi Gateway Trust’s Head Gardener Piers Lunt learning how to prepare, plant and care for the garden areas, including planting traditional Welsh varieties of apple trees such as Tinyrwydd and Bardsey.
The installation of the new gardens are part of the wider programme of restoration and enhancement of the Bishop’s Park managed by the Tywi Gateway Trust to conserve and restore the park and gardens to the period of their last major re-design in the 1840s. This includes bringing the attractive walled kitchen garden back into production and improving public access to the adjacent Great Meadow, which will be managed to benefit the rare flood plain meadow habitat. The project will also conserve the Bishop’s Pond ox-bow lake which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and restore the outbuildings of the Old Bishop’s Palace for use as a learning and interpretation centre with café, which will open in Autumn 2021.
Copyright Caryl Thomas 2020 – The Great Meadow at Bishops Park, Abergwili[/caption]
Posted: 07/10/2020 by Admin
Two New Team Members
Caroline and Ffiona with Piers and colleagues from Carmarthen Museum on a tour of the Walled Garden
The Tywi Gateway Trust are delighted to announce that we have now appointed our Community Engagement and Learning officer. In fact we have appointed two great new members to our team as a job share in the post. Ffiona Jones who started in September and Caroline Welch who will be joining us in November.
Ffiona Jones comes from a farming background, having studied agriculture at The Welsh Agricultural College, Aberystwyth in the late 1980’s. In 2008, she studied at the University of Wales Trinity St David, Carmarthen, where she gained her BA Primary Education with QTS in 2011. She has spent the following years working mainly as a supply teacher across Carmarthenshire. She is also currently studying for her MA in Local History at UWTSD.
Having grown up on a dairy farm in the Kidwelly area, Ffiona farms in the Tywi Valley at Pontargothi with her husband and 3 grown-up children, where they have a small herd of prize-winning pedigree Jersey cattle. It has been farmed by the family for over a hundred and twenty years.
Ffiona is a fluent Welsh speaker and has been involved with numerous organizations since moving to the area in the 1990’s, including YFC, local agricultural shows and cattle breed societies, the Urdd, Llanegwad Parish Church, Ysgol Nantgaredig and Ysgol Gyfun Bro Myrddin to name but a few.
Ffiona hopes that her role will enable her to engage with all that she loves about the Tywi Valley – the ecology, the history, heritage and culture and of course, the people.
Posted: 30/07/2020 by Admin
New Role at the Bishop’s Park – Community Engagement and Learning Officer
If you are passionate about heritage and the environment, excited by the prospect of developing a new site-specific community engagement and learning programme – then this is a unique opportunity to lead a team of volunteers and others in creating a truly special, enjoyable, rewarding and safe learning experience for visitors, staff and volunteers alike.
This two year post will encourage and increase visitors of all ages to the Bishop’s Park as a place to enjoy and learn in. It will bring together and build links between the community, the park, the Old Bishops Palace and Carmarthenshire County Museum and its collections.
Find further information HERE
or contact Louise Austin – Tywi Gateway Trust Manager – louiseaustin@tywigateway.org.uk.
Application deadline 12 noon Friday 21st August.
Posted: 25/06/2020 by Admin
Project Support from Abergwili Community
The Trust is delighted to announce the continued support by Abergwili Community Council for the restoration of the Bishops Park.
The Community Council have donated a further £2,000 towards the creation of a Community Engagement and Learning Officer post. Starting in September 2020 this post will encourage and develop a network of park users from across Carmarthenshire. The post will work with groups, clubs, societies and interest groups, as well as schools and colleges developing learning opportunities and creating activities to explore what makes the Bishops Park, the Old Bishops Palace and the Museum’s collections special.
Trust Chair, Betsan Caldwell, said “We are delighted that the Community Council is continuing to support our work to conserve and protect what makes the Bishops park special. The project, due to be completed in September 2021, will also create a café and learning space encouraging more people to come and explore the amazing history, ecology and horticulture here at the Bishops Park.
“There are already many members of the Abergwili community actively taking part in the park’s restoration as Trustees and volunteers, all helping to bring back the Bishops Park to its former glory and we hope that more will continue to get involved.”