24 October 2018

The Garddio a Mwy team has been working on a very special project with the local community in Trawsfynydd to create a garden for Yr Ysgwrn – the home of the poet Hedd Wyn who was killed during the First World War.

As part of the popular series the team – Sioned and Iwan Edwards and Meinir Gwilym – invite people who need help to improve their gardens to get in touch.

When the Snowdon National Park Authority asked for their help to create a special garden for Yr Ysgwrn, they were delighted - especially with the commemoration of Armistice Day coming up on November 11.

"The work on the farmhouse itself and the Beudy Llwyd visitor centre had been completed," explained Euros Wyn from Cwmni Da who produce Garddio a Mwy. "But the garden hadn't been touched. There were two gardens – one right in front of the farmhouse and one next to it but the Authority wanted us to do something different to what was there before.

Meinir Gwilym, one of the Garddio a Mwy presenters explains some of the challenges the team faced. "The authority didn't want us to go all the way back to the period of the First World War but they wanted to keep the feel of the period."

"It was important to them that the garden be of use to the community of today. So the challenge was to keep some of the types of things they would have grown at that time but presenting it in a way that would be appropriate for visitors today."

"We had to consider, because of the history of Yr Ysgwrn, that this wasn't going to be just a garden in which vegetables would grow but also a garden where people would want to go to sit and think."

The programme visits the local school – Ysgol Bro Hedd Wyn – and Iwan Edwards talks to the children about the sort of fruit that would have been available 100 years ago.

"It was important that we created a space for the community – especially the local school – to come and grow food and maybe create produce from the apples and currants we have planted as part of the project," said Meinir.

"We created raised beds to make things easier for older members of the community or younger children who come to Yr Ysgwrn to garden. We got some wood from a local farm and made the raised beds in a traditional way."

Sioned Edwards worked on a wildflower garden using evidence of wildflowers and plants taken from Hedd Wyn's poetry.

At the end of the project everybody got together to celebrate the event with a big party. "It was a very special experience," said Meinir.

Garddio a Mwy is sponsored by Canolfan Garddio Frongoch Garden Centre