Wales award honour for Ruthin nature space

A national awards scheme has highlighted the growth of a Ruthin nature space.

Llanrhydd Woodland Creation was honoured at the recent Wales in Bloom 2025 awards ceremony held at Wrexham.

Denbighshire Countryside Services alongside Denbighshire County Council’s Climate Change Team and volunteers originally breathed life into the old school field next to Ruthin Hospital in 2022, both for local nature and for the enjoyment of surrounding residents.

Local school pupils dug deep to help plant nearly 800 trees on the site as part of the Council’s continuing work to reduce carbon emissions and improve biodiversity in the county.

In keeping with the school theme, an outdoor classroom area was constructed to not only to help the children learn about biodiversity but also give a helping hand to local nocturnal residents.

Built out of wood by local craftsperson Huw Noble, the structure incorporated a ‘Bat Roof’ which was specially designed to provide the features bats need to roost during the day.

Paths were also created through wildflower meadows on the site, a pond developed to support nature and picnic benches added for community use.

The site has since been managed by Countryside Rangers with the support of volunteers backed by Nature for Health.

Last year the site was entered into the awards for the first time and was classed as Level 4 ‘Thriving’ under the Royal Horticulture Society and Wales in Bloom It’s Your Neighbourhood awards 2024. This area of Wales in Bloom is a scheme for volunteer-led community gardening groups which are focused on cleaning up and greening up their local area.

In 2025 the site has now gone one better to the top level, picking up a Level 5 Outstanding award in this category.

Senior Countryside Ranger Jim Kilpatrick said:” We are really pleased to receive this award. It shows that since last year, the work of all volunteers young and old alongside our rangers has helped this fantastic site for nature and the Ruthin community really grow and improve. It continues to develop really well since its first roots started in 2022, the meadows are thriving and improving in season and the trees planted are really coming on strong.”

Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport and Council Biodiversity Champion, said: “This group of volunteers and staff have made a real massive difference to what was once an old school field at Ruthin thanks to their dedicated work to improving biodiversity and the surroundings for the community. It’s brilliant that they have received this recognition for the sites continued improvement which is a testament to all their hard work.”

Llanrhydd was a CaN Woodland Creation project and funded by TWIG (the Welsh Government Woodland Investment Grant).