WORK to build a visitor hub is taking place at Radnorshire Wildlife Trust’s Gilfach nature reserve at the moment as part of the National Lottery Funded Exploring Gilfach Project.
The new shelter sits alongside the picnic area in the car park off the A470 and will provide a focal point for information about the reserve, its wildlife and walks.
Contractors have now finished building a curved wall made from Llangorse Quarry stone and are starting to construct the bones of the structure from green oak.
The roof will use the earth turves lifted from the footprint of the shelter so that the building fits well into the landscape. The hub is due to be built by Christmas with new interpretation installed by Easter.
Radnorshire Wildlife Trust Project Manager Darylle Hardy said, “The hub will be a memorable feature for new visitors at the entrance to Gilfach and will also become an information resource. We hope our welcome will encourage more people to explore further into the nature reserve.”
She added, “The car park at Gilfach is still open for visitors to use. At half term there are family activities including ‘Autumn Gold’ on October 29 and a story walk up the hillside to the dragon’s nest on November 1 as part of the Rhayader Dragon Festival weekend celebrations. November is also the time of year to see salmon migrating upstream at Gilfach”.
Richard Bellamy, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Wales added, “Projects such as Exploring Gilfach are looking to provide more opportunities to experience nature in Wales, by protecting our threatened species, plants and natural features and by installing visitor hubs they invite people to join in with that process.
“Thanks to National Lottery players our beautiful, natural heritage is being protected and we hope more people will appreciate the importance of looking after our stunning landscape.”
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) granted an award of £322,700 to enable this second phase of the Exploring Gilfach project to go ahead.
The Exploring Gilfach Project is a two-year Heritage Lottery Funded project which seeks to raise the profile of lichen, mosses and invertebrates, widen the range of audiences visiting Gilfach and make a range of improvements to interpretation and visitor facilities.
In 2017 Gilfach was nominated one of the top ten nature reserves in the UK by Countryfile Magazine.