Hill range designation shapes career memories for outdoor enthusiast

In the summer of 1985, a striking running landmark holding court above the Vale of Clwyd received a very special designation.

The Clwydian Range was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (now known as National Landscapes) helping conserve its diverse and varied landscape capped by the famous Jubilee Tower on the top of Moel Famau.

Initially guided by a small team based at Loggerheads Country Park, its team has grown to adapt to managing the addition of the Dee Valley in 2011 to the designation.

On the eve of the Clwydian Range AONB 40th anniversary we speak to Clwydian Range and Dee Valley National Landscape Lead Officer Howard Sutcliffe who was part of the original team tasked with taking the important designation forward.

Born and bred in Blackpool Howard’s journey towards providing a helping hand to the countryside started thanks to his sister’s life choices.

He explained: “My mum and dad had shops on Blackpool sea front, selling everything from Kiss Me Quick hats to postcards. My Dad also was a wholesale bookseller and we had a news agents on North Pier.

“The biggest thing that probably happened to us was my sister getting married to a farmer in Gloucestershire, I spent most of my summer and Easter holidays there. It gave me an interest in the countryside, that’s where I started picking things up.

Howard nearly dabbled his feet in an agriculture college following the taste of farm life but decided last minute to opt for a Joint Degree in Geography and History.

“Within that there was a Biodiversity course that was interesting at the time. We did lots of studies in the North West, I’ve always had a fondness for the Lake District, the Forest of Bowland and Arnside and Silverdale are my sort of areas I would explore at with Mum and Dad.”

Completing a couple of seasonal posts with the Lake District National Park, and a period as a gas pipeline inspector, Howard stated to gravitate towards the Clwydian Range after working with Chester County Council at Delemere Forest.

He explained: “I came across (to Loggerheads) to be the AONB Warden at the time, we call them rangers now, that was back in 1986.

“Back in the day it was sort of looking for projects and it was always backed by what is now Natural Resources Wales. We had Loggerheads and Moel Famau which was an extensive site at 2,500 acres but the main projects in those early days were communities and also re waymarking the Offa’s Dyke National Trail.

“From that we looked at rights of way out from Loggerheads and Moel Famau, trying to work on recreation and access as that was the focus of governments at the time for getting people out and about."

As with natures constant growth, so did the warden’s role as the designation opened up more opportunities for him to progress his career.

Howard said: “In the early days I was very much a practical sort of person, getting out working with volunteers and landowners. They were always really good. I still see some of the farmers and volunteers that I worked with in the early days and they still have that sort of rapport which is great.

“At first I didn’t want to go up I enjoyed the practical stuff and going out, I appreciated having my Land Rover, tools and trailers and doing that sort of thing all day.

“But with the world changing we had contractors coming in, we've always been very lucky in the countryside service, that you know we've always had granted coming in so there's always been extra income coming in from outside from various bodies to help with the world needed, enabling myself to take on other opportunities that came up in the organisation.”

Supporting community councils with green spaces, helping acquire more land to project and grow local nature, creating circular walks to name a few have helped Howard diversify in his career.

“Having the land portfolio gives you the ability to act, if you own the land it is a game changer,” he explained.

“I think things like the countryside and Rights of way act that that created open access to various places, you can now walk up certain places with the freedom to know you are not trespassing.”

For youngsters who are fond of the countryside and maybe thinking about treading the path covered by rangers over the years all over the Clwydians, Howard gives this sage advice.

“It's a simple piece of advice, stay in education as long as you can. I just stayed there till I got a degree and having a degree help me sort of look for other things. I think education is key to it all really you can have the passion and the Hobbies outside and bird watching or walking, having that degree is really good.

“There's lots of various other things alongside that whether you're a member of an Army Cadet Unit, or a scout or an explorer.  All those little add-on bits are really helpful to show that you're a person who wants to achieve stuff and to an extent, also loves the outdoors.”

Remembering the years with the Clwydian hills in his sights, Howard mused: “There’s various highlights, I can remember going after the interview and walking down the trail there at Loggerheads. I can remember walking down by the river and thinking wow if I was able to manage this it would be fantastic.

“Ultimately, it’s a landscape that’s absolutely varied and, you know…you just grow to love it really.”