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international volunteers at Menter Y Felin Uchaf on the Llyn Peninsula,  North Wales
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young volunteers on a course at Menter Y Felin Uchaf, Llyn Peninsula, North Wales
international young volunteers on a thatching course at Menter Y Felin Uchaf, Llyn Peninsula, North Wales
International volunteers on a building course at Menter Y Felin Uchaf, Aberdaron, North West Wales
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Educative   Participative   Empowering  Expressive

What the Project is about:

               The Felin Uchaf Project grew out of a vision to create a place where people and the land on which they worked could nourish each other in body, soul and spirit and to found a Community Enterprise Centre based on a holistic approach to environmental and cultural education.

                At Michaelmas 2004 a small group of friends launched an appeal to purchase a neglected parcel of land in the heart of the Llyn Peninsula on Wales's westernmost shores bordering the Irish Sea, and set about manifesting that vision. They began to transform the landscape through planting thousands of trees, reinstating hedgerows and wetland habitats and sculpting new eco buildings out of stone, earth, thatch and timber harvested locally. On what used to be a bare, windswept site there are now a patchwork of small gardens and flowered meadows, a low green haze of young trees and the fruits of many people's labours: paths that lead to secluded roundhouses, to a subterranean hall where stories and songs and the arts are celebrated , to workspaces for the sharing of fine craftsmanship and a community garden for people to cooperatively grow herbs and vegetables in a sustainable, life enhancing way.

The Centre has become a valued resource for schools, community groups and volunteers, a place to reconnect with our land, ourselves and each other.

                 There is a great deal of practical work still to do and people of all ages and backgrounds, both local and from all parts of the world come to volunteer, lend a helping hand and participate in the craft and building courses. We hope that when you have looked through our website and seen what a tremendous opportunity this initiative represents for not only the people and land of the peninsula but for Wales and far beyond her borders, that you too will want to get involved.

                

 The Setting...

                 The Llyn is North Wales' westernmost peninsula, a place of pilgrimage since Celtic Christian times and a coastline of breathtaking natural beauty. From the bouldered, heathered iron age hillforts above the Centre you can compass the whole sweep of the Welsh coastline from Pembrokeshire to the south, northward to Anglesey , eastward to the peaks of Snowdonia and westward across the Irish Sea to the Wicklow Hills. Welsh is the first spoken language amongst most of its small seafaring and agricultural communities and older traditions and wisdoms are reverantly celebrated. It is a fitting setting for such a spirited initiative.

 Funding the Initiative....                                

              We are funded through gifts and donations from supportive, forward thinking individuals, trusts and grant giving organisations and generate our own income from running courses, skills workshops, hosting cultural events and through selling our crafted produce & delicious organic-biodynamic produce through a community veg box scheme and the farm shop.

              

Please see our courses and news pages for details of what's currently on offer and the contribute page for how you can support the project and get involved.

As well as offering a wide range of skills training and volunteering opportunities the centre provides:

  • an architectural design consultation service for clients wishing to explore eco & traditional building construction & design
  • accepts commissions for public works of art, oak gates, benches and outdoor structures.

               Please contact Dafydd Davies-Hughes for further details.  

                     

one of our oak gates to grace a footpath or woodland or garden entrance

 

            

  trainees on an accredited NVQ level Heritage Skills Course

      volunteers on the Duke Edinburgh Gold Award Scheme

Menter Y Felin Uchaf is a not for profit, cooperative llimited company and a registered charity.                      Charity Registration No. 1120510

 

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international volunteers cob building on the new roundhouse at Menter Y Felin Uchaf, Aberdaron, North Wales

volunteers thatching the earthhouse at Menter Y Felin Uchaf, Aberdaron, North West Wales

Will Willams,volunteer, making oak pegs on a building course at Menter Y Felin Uchaf, Aberdaron, North West Wales

Bardsey Island off the Llyn Peninsula

 

The Celtic roundhouse

interior of the roundhouse accommodation

 

the interior of the residential roundhouses

 

some examples of the commisioned public works we have craeated....

 

 

oak waymarker

 

 

oak and boulder bench

 

 

carved bird hed on ano oak gate

 

 

Celtic motiff carvings on oak footpath gates for Ynys Llanddwyn Nature reserve on Ynys Mon

 

 

an oak bench ap Gwilym's poetry at Ynyss Llanddwyn

 

The Felin Uchaf Vision

(extract from the original Business Plan )

 

 

Aims:

 

  • to create a centre for cultural and environmental education and research that offers a holistic and dynamic approach to learning.

 

  • to develop  training programmes that will encourage people to discover the value of working in a caring and co-operative way with each other so that their approach towards the well-being of the environment  may also be one of dedication and reverence. The project has developed out of an appreciation of the value of providing a more holistic & sustainable approach to learning that embraces the threefold nature of the individual: body, soul, and spirit.

 

  • to enable young people to gain the personal and professional skills and knowledge of how to develop  & run their own sustainable business enterprises within their communities and to offer longer term mentoring & support for new enterprises arising from the Centres work,  with an emphasis on helping to develop enterprises that nurture the area’s  own genus loci - its unique sense of place.

 

  • to promote sustainable and sensitive development of the visitor economy through helping to establish enterprises that  celebrate our diverse cultural heritage and enhance our natural environment

 

 The Ethos:

 

Pervading all the charity’s varied projects and activities is the emphasis on developing a person’s commitment and dedication towards the well-being of the earth and toward serving others.

 

Objectives:

 

Menter y Felin Uchaf will develop a broad prospectus of high-quality short & residential courses & training opportunities and will encourage individuals and groups to make use of the Centres’ new eco-designed workshops, meeting spaces and research facilities. Although the main core of activities will be hosted at the Felin Uchaf Centre a number of outreach projects will be developed in partnership other with organisations with a similar ethos. The objective is to develop the centre as both an actual physical community asset and exemplar of sustainable development and as a valuable skills resource that will enhance the area’s social & cultural life and act as a catalyst for generating further sustainable economic enterprises and community initiatives. The entire first 12 year development phase will maximise the involvement of volunteers and the engagement of the wider community.