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.

Find further information HERE

or contact Louise Austin – Tywi Gateway Trust Manager  – louiseaustin@tywigateway.org.uk.

Application deadline 12 noon Friday 21^st August.

The Trust is now ready to implement the next phase of tree work at the Bishop’s Park. Working again with local arborists Extreme Tree Services we will be continuing the restoration of this nationally significant park and garden, creating better conditions for the fabulous historical and specimen trees across the site; aiding the restoration of our listed structures; providing new planting and habitat opportunities; and maintaining the park as a safe and exciting place to visit.

From September 23^rd Stuart, Dan and Harry will be selectively clearing self-sown scrub trees along the ha-ha, one of the most impressive landscape features in the park. This 315-metre retaining wall was constructed in the early 19^th Century to provide uninterrupted views from the estate into the stunning Tywi Valley beyond, views that have been completely lost over a number of decades. Once complete this clearance work, and the conservation stonework to follow, will reinstate a major aspect of the park’s unique character, which is also unique to the Tywi Valley.

Unfortunately ash dieback continues to wreak havoc across the region, and all ash trees at the park have become infected. As a consequence it is necessary for us to remove them to maintain a safe environment for visitors. We hope for this work to be carried out in November. It is vital that all landowners are aware of their responsibilities regarding ash dieback, and that they take all appropriate health and safety measures.

We here at the Trust are incredibly excited to be restoring the park, bringing its history vividly to life while maintaining it as an enjoyable place to visit for years to come. We apologise for any inconvenience this tree work may cause but urge you to abide by all signs and instructions while work is undertaken. If you have any queries or would like to find out more about the project, please feel free to contact us.

This autumn tree surgeons will be back at the Bishop’s Park. Sadly, all our ash trees are infected with ash dieback and we have to fell them to make the park safe for visitors. However, by removing the ash and some of the other trees that have grown up along the Ha-ha, we will restore the fabulous historic views across the Tywi Valley.

More Information

Over the next two years

Initial project work includes managing our trees. As well as restoring the historic design of the park, this will improve the health of specimen trees, enable us to plant more trees and shrubs and increase the park’s wildlife value and appeal to visitors.

Using traditional techniques and materials, the first of the park’s building’s to be restored is the early 19th century Lodge. Work to restore the rest of the outbuildings will follow in late 2019 through to early 2021 creating an education and interpretation centre and café. The conservation of other important features across the park, such as the walled garden, ha-ha, and paths will be undertaken alongside the building work and will integrate the recognition, recording, protection and improved management of the park’s wildlife.

The project aims to ensure that the Bishop’s Park remains a place that brings great pleasure to both the local community and visitors to the area alike and that it becomes a centre of learning and activity for visitors of all ages and abilities.