JUBILEE WALKS
DAY OUT: Mosshill Coronation Meadow, Conwy
Meadows for the future
Julie Brominicks meets the ranger of Mosshill in Snowdonia, one of 90 Coronation Meadows established across Britain since the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
It’s a funny little site,” says Andrew Roberts, the National Trust ranger who cares for Mosshill and the ponies that graze it in winter. Neither farmland nor technicolour dazzle, this meadow is uneven and rocky.
“But,” Andrew continues, “botanically, it is very important.
In early summer we have orchids – butterfly, early purple, and a record of frog orchids.
There’s betony and yellow rattle, then devil’s-bit scabious in August and September.”
Species richness granted Mosshill its Coronation Meadow status. In 2013, to mark 60 years of the Queen’s reign,
60 meadows were selected from across Britain to become Coronation Meadows (‘donor meadows’), from which seed is harvested to create new ones nearby. There are now 90.
There is no public access to Mosshill, but contemplation from the gate provides a lovely end to a walk from Betws-y-Coed, via the woods and falls of Ffos Noddun and Rhaeadr y Graig Lwyd, followed by tea at Conwy Falls Café.
Julie Brominicks is a landscape writer and walker based in Wales.