Our farm is situated at 440ft up on the SW slopes of Rhiw Mountain on the Llyn Peninsula. It enjoys panoramic views from the Wicklow mountains in the northwest, Ynys Enlli to the south, and on a clear day we can even see St David's Head on the Pembroke coast. It experiences notoriously severe winds at times, salt damage often being a problem. Being on a peninsula it often has its own type of weather, more often than not the Irish weather forecast is more accurate for us. Our winters do not usually have much frost, which can be a draw back when trying to get seeds to germinate, resorting to using the fridge to fool them into activity in the spring.

We have many years experience in growing trees, and for over 25 years we have planted trees around the farm with good success rates, and in the last 2 years have put in a 4 acre shelter belt comprising of our own Home grown trees, which will not only provide the much needed shelter, but colour, seeds and wood from thinning over years to come, and also a great benefit for wildlife.

Our Nursery year starts in September when seed picking begins, this is dictated by the weather and the ripening of the seeds to be picked, the trees vary slightly from area to area, we pick as locally as we can from approved trees in the 303 area, trying to beat the Squirrels to the Acorns, Hazel etc can be a major problem. The seeds have to be sorted and those with a berry coating e.g.. Yew, Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Holly. Rowan etc, have to be cleaned as it inhibits germination, for this we use such technical equipment as cement mixer, potato masher, sieve and sometimes a blender.!! When the appropriate cleaning has been done we then have to stratify the seeds in a mixture of sharp sand and compost for the winter to keep them moist and viable for the following spring. Just before spring arrives all the seeds are put into seed trays in the Polytunnel. We have 2 Tunnels, one is polythene, one is shade (fine green net). The polythene starts and germinates the seeds and the shade tunnel acclimatizes them before they are planted out.

Once the seeds start to germinate we then start the task of pricking them out individually into tree root trainer cells, in these they will stay for their first year of growth . When they reach a certain size in these cells they are then put through into the shade tunnel to leave more room for the continuing process of seed germination and pricking out in the Polytunnel, we hope that the majority will make the grade for selling. The young trees that don't grade will then the following spring be taken from these cells and then put into the prepared ground outside in lines of different spacing according to their growth habits. This year we put in over 14 thousand young trees. These young trees have to be kept as weed free as possible by hoeing, fed and checked for pests and diseases. The extraordinary heat in June and July and the lack of rain made watering a major concern taking many hours to accomplish. We have an overhead watering system set up in each tunnel, but this only works when all the plants are of similar watering needs. As summer ends and Autumn arrives once more the orders for trees start to come in, we can't lift any trees until they have gone dormant, which depending on the season can be as late as the end of October. Through out the winter trees are lifted, graded and dispatched.

We have grown trees for Hedging schemes. Shelter Belts. Road and woodland Plantings and the Environmental Department. Past customers have included the National Trust, The RSPB, Gwynedd Council, The Environmental Agency, Schools. Coed Cymru and many Local Farmers.