Celebrating Our Picturesque Landscape

Since the eighteenth century people have been attracted to the Dee Valley and what is now the World Heritage Site, to enjoy the landscape and engage in art and poetry.

Our Picturesque Landscape Partnership scheme centres on the landscape of the Dee Valley and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site and takes as its theme the inspirational journeys that have and continue to be a feature of the area which is crossed by the Canal, Telford’s A5, the Llangollen Railway and the River Dee.

A new and exciting five year project, follows these inspirational journeys recognising that this is a landscape under extreme and growing pressure, with high and increasing numbers of visitors attracted to some of our most fragile sites. The Partnership aims to conserve and protect this unique area by;

• Conserving views, heritage and habitats
• Improving access to key sites
• Engaging people and communities with our special landscape.

A Partnership Officer, Community and Engagement Officer and Admin and Social Media Officer are working with partners from the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site, Wrexham County Borough Council, Denbighshire County Council, the Canal and River Trust, Shropshire Council, Natural Resources Wales, Cadw, Cadwyn Clwyd, Aqueducks (Friends of the World Heritage Site) and the Friends of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley.

Dark Skies

The AONB Team recently took a trip to the North Pennines AONB to learn about their Dark Sky Discovery Sites. As you may have heard the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB have big Dark Sky ambitions! We would like to apply to the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) to gain official recognised for the quality of our Dark Skies, which are among the best in Wales. 

Like ourselves the North Pennines have not yet applied to the IDA, they have however invested in a number of Dark Sky Discovery sites.

Dark Sky Discovery Sites are places that are away from the worst of any local light pollution, provide good sightlines of the sky, have good public access and are generally freely accessible at all times.

Innovative interpretation, hammocks, stargazing festival and an observatory are just some of the things the North Pennines have achieved as part of their Dark Sky work – no pressure for the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley then.

In the next issue of County Voice you will meet the new Dark Sky Officer for North Wales, a partnership post between the protected landscapes of Snowdonia National Park Authority, Anglesey and Llyn AONB’s and ourselves.

The learning journey was kindly supported by funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government and administered by Cadwyn Clwyd.

AONB Annual Forum – Sustainable Tourism and Business Engagement

 

Every year the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB host a forum and this year’s theme was Sustainable Tourism and Business Engagement.

When planning such an event there was only one place to go – straight to the businesses themselves, in particular the Clwydian Range Tourism Group, Clwydian Range Food and Drink and the Llangollen and Dee Valley Good Grub Club. Having been involved with the establishment of each group they were naturally the go to businesses of choice.

We partnered up with the tourism group who hosted their autumn meeting between 3-5pm before an hour of showcasing the delicious local food producers. Guest speakers included;

• Julie Masters and Jane Clough introduced us to Stay, Eat and Do a new exciting opportunity for businesses in the area to form marketing clusters.
• Peter McDermott, Denbighshire's Tourism Manager who have us an update on the Denbighshire Tourism Strategy.
• Anna Bowen from Development Bank Wales on the financial opportunities for businesses.
• Sarah Jones, Cadwyn Clwyd regarding the innovative North East Wales Digital Trails project available in many communities.

A couple of highlights from the evening included;

• Cillian Murphy from Loop Head Tourism Association who really enthused the crowd with quotes about Sustainable Tourism such as “Tourism itself is not the goal, it is just a tool we can use to build a sustainable community” and “Tourism needs to be measured not by visitor numbers, but by its efficacy in creating prosperity, employment, a healthy environment and benefits to the destination” something extremely relevant for our next guest speakers;
• Graham Randles and Rebecca Armstrong from New Economics Foundation who have been commissioned by the AONB to undertake research of the value of some of our honeypot sites such as Moel Famau Country Park and the Horseshoe Falls (the findings will be included in the next issue of County Voice) not only in economic terms but also in health and well-being terms.

The event attracted over 80 people and really drew attention to Sustainable Tourism in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley.

A huge thank you to all who were involved in such a great event – da iawn!

The event was kindly supported through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government and administered by Cadwyn Clwyd.