a community woodland is to be created on the Llŷn Peninsula thanks to a National Lottery grant.

Cwmni Bro Antur Aelhaearn have been awarded a grant of £174,000 to create a community woodland in the middle of Llanaelhaearn.

The project is financed by the Welsh Government’s Community Woodland scheme and administered by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This will enable the group to create a community woodland on two acres of agricultural land next to Antur Aelhaearn’s community group building.

Over the next year we will plant up to a 1,000 indigenous trees and 200 orchard trees.

The woodland will create a resource for local residents, a place to reflect and contemplate, an attraction for tourists and offer educational opportunities to allow local people to learn about old crafts with the additional aim of creating local sustainable work.

With the Tre’r Ceiri Iron Age Fort nearby, we will plant native trees that were important to the Celts namely the Welsh oak, ash, willow, hazel, apple and fruit trees.

The main entrance to the woodland will lead through a tunnel of living willow, with a boardwalk and a Celtic patterned footpath meandering through the woodland.

Sculptures of long lost animals from the Celtic era and the Mabinogion mythology created by local artists will be dotted along the path.

To complement the sculptures there will be audible information spaces charged by hand charting the story of these animals.

Llŷr ap Rhisiart, Chair of Cwmni Bro Antur Aelhaearn (1974) said: “We are very pleased to receive this support from Welsh Government and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

“We look forward to fulfilling the dream of seeing a community woodland.

“We know of the enormous benefits of connecting with nature and the natural environment and in due course we’ll be able to do that on our own doorstep.

“Creating a woodland will be a legacy and inheritance to future generations.

“It will serve as Llanaelhaearn’s contribution towards tackling the negative impacts of climate change and the Welsh Government’s vision of seeing more woodland and forests in Wales once again.

“Towards the end of 2021 we received the very sad news about the passing of Antur Aelhaearn’s founding member, Dr Carl Clowes.

“As a special tribute and remembrance to him I’m very proud to announce that the official name of the new development will be ‘Coedlan Carl’ (‘Carl’s woodland’).”

The Community Woodland Scheme is part of the unique Wales National Forest scheme under the auspices of the Welsh Government to establish a national network of woodlands and forests which are accessible to the public and of a high quality.