Biggest UK appeal to save countryside

The National Trust launched a £1 million appeal to save a beautiful hill farm and lake in Snowdonia for the nation.

The bid to buy Llyndy Isaf, a 614-acre farm in the Nant Gwynant valley which includes the Llyn Dinas lake, is the Trust’s biggest countryside appeal since its drive to save Snowdon more than a decade ago.

The organisation fears that if it does not buy the property, the estate could fall into commercial hands, threatening its future.

According to the Trust, the farm has been untouched by intensive farming for decades and is home to a wealth of wildlife including choughs, pied flycatchers, willow warblers and peregrine falcons.

The hills around the farm are also steeped in mythology, with legend telling of the battle between a white dragon and a red dragon which took place at the hill of Dinas Emrys that overlooks the Llyn Dinas lake.

The red dragon won, becoming the national emblem of Wales, while the white dragon is said to have fallen into the lake.

Richard Neale, the National Trust’s general manager in Snowdonia, said: “When I look at the landscape of this small but spectacular corner of Wales, I can’t think of a more deserving location for National Trust protection than Llyndy Isaf.

“There’s a real danger that if we don’t raise the £1 million needed to acquire the farm and lake it could fall into commercial hands with all of the uncertainty that this raises for the future of this tranquil place.”

If the National Trust is successful with its appeal, walkers and campers will continue to have access to the farm and land around the lake, the basic campsite and bunk barns will be open to everyone and there are plans to start improving the network of footpaths.

Ken Owen, owner of Llyndy Isaf, who is retiring after 35 years living on the farm and working the land, said the decision to leave was not an easy one.

“We’ve worked hard and over that time, we’ve realised more and more the importance of farming in harmony with the environment and that’s why we have offered the farm to the National Trust as I know they will continue to farm in the same way I have.”

The appeal to buy Llyndy Isaf was launched under the umbrella of the National Trust’s Snowdonia Appeal, which in 1998 raised £4 million to buy the 4,118-acre Hafod-y-Llan estate on Snowdon.

Welsh actor Matthew Rhys, star of the US TV series Brother and Sisters, who is backing the appeal, said there was a risk the peace of the tranquil valley could be lost to commercial development.