In response to the article about a group of people who would like to see an education centre built at Tretawdy Farm Nature Reserve.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust owns the farm and it’s a very special place with some wonderful wildlife - we feel privileged to have been left Tretawdy by Eileen Cook.

We fully intend to honour her wishes to look after the farm as a Nature Reserve and provide education and enlightenment especially for younger people.

We are working hard to restore the farm, following a period of neglect and we’re making the wildflower meadows lovelier than ever.

We believe that local people, and families from further afield, should be able to experience the beauty, tranquillity and wildlife of the farm in a low-key way so that it remains protected.

Our proposal to restore the threshing barn and stables to a single holiday let is designed to give families the opportunity to get closer to nature and share in the wonders of our local wildlife, that we so are lucky to live alongside.

We will not be allowing hen and stag parties – we fully agree with local people that these would be wholly inappropriate here.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has a very active Engagement team with years of experience of running education programmes.

These are aimed mainly at children of all ages, alongside other groups including those unemployed, people suffering from mental ill health and people recovering from various life mischances – all of whom are important participants in our programmes.

In the last year, our team worked with 90 different organisations across Herefordshire providing sessions for over 3,700 participants at locations around the county.

We sympathise with local people’s wish to operate a formal education centre at Tretawdy and we did consider this. However, this would not be viable due to the high costs of the work required and the location of the farm – with narrow access roads and no parking for coaches or minibuses.

Instead, we intend to run outdoor educational sessions at Tretawdy, including Wildplay and Forest School sessions and guided walks - activities that won’t put too much pressure on the nature that depends on the farm.

Sadly, all such work is currently on hold due to coronavirus.

In these difficult times, it is more important than ever that the Trust finds new sources of income to survive.

This is why long term income from a holiday let is so important to our plans to care for Tretawdy Farm Nature Reserve so that its wildlife continues to thrive.

Helen Stace
Chief executive officer
Herefordshire Wildlife Trust