Sustainability stories - Llandrindod & Pales QM

Lynda Williams, warden, Pales meeting house

The Pales is a beautiful stone thatched meeting house up in the hills of Radnorshire in mid Wales with spectacular views. Alongside the Meeting House is a graveyard and a field of about a quarter acre.
Having been wardens here for a number of years, we had gradually developed the use of the meeting house by having water and heaters installed so that groups who appreciated the spiritual atmosphere of the place could come and be nurtured by the "specialness" of the place.

Some Quaker groups, Link groups and Children’s meetings had begun to come and camp in the field and we decided we wanted the field to become a part of the Pales living space and not just an overgrazed field.
In 2002, we received a grant from Coed Cymru to plant 200 native provenance trees - ash, oak, crabapple, hazel and willow - the latter being by a special dispensation as we wanted to grow our own for the willow workshops which had been happening at Pales. So, on two consecutive weekends, through blizzards and Welsh driving rain, working parties, fortified by large quantities of hot soup, came and planted the trees. Eight years later, the trees are now over our heads and it's such a joy to wander through windy paths created to encourage meditative walking through the woods.

Photo credit: Martin Williams

There were some boggy marshy patches in the field and we decided to drain a channel to the bottom of the field and dig a pond. Within 12 months it was a thriving ecosystem with frogs, toads and all manner of creatures living in it. Within 2 years newts and a range of damsel and dragon flies had arrived. We used some stone from the nearby quarry to create some seating in a circle around the pond - ideal for epilogues under the stars and planted lilies and reeds in the pond and a variety of flowers and shrubs around to provide a sheltered oasis on a wild Welsh hillside. Campers now have a flattened area to camp and a bonfire area too.

What a joy to have witnessed the growth of a green and magic space full of wildlife, butterflies, bees and birds where before there had just been a windswept barren heath.

We’d love to hear the story of you or your meeting too. Just email sunnivat@quaker.org.uk and tell us about it.