As we were leaving Ty Mawr (the big house) we spotted a small National Trust booklet detailing a short walk (around one-and-a-half miles) around the estate. It was estimated to take around the hour (what turned out to be a very accurate time scale) and recommended that "stout shoes" were required for the rougher parts of the walk.
We set off from the upper National Trust car park with route planner in hand looking forward to some stunning views, an invigorating walk and the chance to learn a little more about the area. We would not be disappointed.
We’d be crossing over fields with a well recorded history starting off with the 2 acre expanses recorded in 1838 as "herben" (arable). A roofless building at the south-eastern corner was used for cattle during the winter months and the meandering hedge marks the clear but uneven boundary between the parishes of Dolwyddelan and Penmachno.
The next field is the exotic sounding Fownog Goch (red peaty field) and here you’ll see evidence of peat diggings although the peat here was not of such high quality as the "black peat" more prevalent in other places. Around here is the candle rush so named because the peeled rush was dipped into grease and burnt as candles. The light was poor but in the absence of anything else and as a way of avoiding the "candle tax" (yes you can hardly believe that such a punitive tax was ever introduced) it gave enough light to safely get around the family home. Indeed in Ty Mawr you can see rush candle holders and the equipment used to make this crude and horrendously scented form of lighting.
Exiting this filed we crossed over the small Wybrnant Stream and the amusingly named "clapper bridge" before exiting onto the Ty Mawr road. Keeping an eye out for the red way-markers we headed uphill towards the ancient way of the drovers. This route passes between stone walls and there were many weeks ahead of the drovers as they headed off for the lucrative meat markets in England.
The woodland around this area was originally populated by the mighty oak tree and the National Trust is now embarking on a reforestation plan for the area ensuring that in years to come the area will once again be planted with oak, ash, birch, hazel, and alder trees. Currently you’ll need a bit of imagination to see through the residual empty spaces and surviving coniferous trees.
On route there is a great variety of indigenous plant life including ferns, mosses, and wild flowers – a feast of colours. Dashes of white can be seen on the hills – Welsh sheep wandering apparently free in the uplands.
A field called Coeden Owen (Owen’s tree) has an interesting civil war story to tell – it is said that a group of Royalist sympathisers were meeting in Ty Mawr when parliamentarians attacked. Owen ran off and hid up a tree and survived to live another day.