What’s all this about then…

Brynbori Farm is a 70 acre collaborative Agroforestry and Woodland Conservation project in the heart of Swansea, covering 3 post code ares of Dunvant, Gowerton and Waunarlwydd. 3 organisations joined together in 2021 to purchase the land as a Social Enterprise “Brynbori Farm”. Summit Good CIC, Petallica Flower Farm CIC and Dunvant Farm Shop - bringing a collaborative experience of Floriculture, Agriculture and Community Development. The project aims to restore the large area of woodland that has been left since the 70’s to enhance biodiversity and re-introduce traditional woodland management techniques of coppicing and local charcoal production.

Alongside the woodland the plan is to establish a working Agroforestry system, planting rows of trees and rotating a range of crops (veg, flowers and green manures) beneath the trees alongside the grazing of animals to manage and develop the soil organically. The trees play an important role with our changing climate to prevent surface water run-off in the wetter months and increase water retention in the heat of summer. They provide shade in the intense summers for both crops and animals, whilst increasing the biodiversity by providing habitat for many birds, insects and pollinators. The trees themselves will be a mix of native fruit, nut and timber trees for coppicing and harvesting.

In the North section the first plantings of a 300 fruit tree orchard began in the winter of 2022 with the first hedgerows going in along the boundary to increase habitat for local wildlife. There is a further 1900 trees to go in before spring comes in 2023 which will be planted as a project with Swansea University (Tree Society).

Updates below…

December 6th 2023 update

4000 Trees planted at Brynbori farm in the last 12 months! Last weekend we teamed up with our good friends from Swansea University Tree Planting Society to plant another 1000 trees along a new hedgerow that will divide our main Agroforestry paddocks. To the north of the new hedgerow will be an extension of Petallica Flower Farm, growing local flowers using agroecological methods. To the south of the hedgerow we will look to plant more rows of trees where will be rotationally grazing livestock and planting crops. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates moving into 2024.

Thursday Bat and Nature Walks FULLY BOOKED through 2023 season.

Thursday nights have been a joy to team up with local environmentalists to look at the nature and wildlife in the lighter evenings along the cycle track and in Dunvant brickworks. Unfortunately we’re fully booked for Thursdays but will post up new dates and possibly open up alternative evenings looking at the 2024 calendar.

The Orchard Begins! - APRIL 2023

We’ve just finished potting up our first 100 rootstock of different varieties ready for summer bud grafting! This winter we purchased 350 rootstock from M9 dwarfing varieties all the way up to large M25 varieties from our good friend Tom The Apple Man.

Firstly we’re looking to establish a large museum orchard in Swansea of a large range of welsh and British heritage apple varieties grafted across a range of rootstock on the eastern side of our site.

Secondly, with the impacts of climate change bringing hotter and wetter weather to Wales, we’re looking to carry out some extensive and long term research with local universities to understand the impact on our normal varieties with regard to disease and adaptability as well as the success or failure of different apple varieties from hotter climates across Europe and America.

I also got carried away end of last year and planted our first tree alongside a dead hedge we established on an old hedge bank on the site. You’ll notice the bluebells which have exploded across the site in the areas of brambles that were trimmed through the end of 2022.

3000th Tree Planted at Brynbori Farm! - February 25th 2023

We joined up with the guys from Swansea University Tree Society, Dunvant Christian Fellowship and Petallica Women’s Shed to plant 2000 trees on a sunny spring day in February.

The event also doubled to celebrate the University’s 10,000th tree they’ve planted as a society since 2019 - an amazing achievement. To celebrate we planted a large Alder next to our new sign and QR code on the entrance of the farm which can be seen on the cycle track.

The trees planted will provide a new 300m stretch of hedgerow to increase the green corridor across the site. We’ve situated it along the boundary to the farm next to the existing hedge bank to provide a sheltered habitat with the old bank and mature trees that sit on top of it.

Swansea University Tree Planting - December 10th 2022

The team did an amazing job collecting litter from the roadside and planting a deep hedge alongside the main road. Within the main site they began planting the perimeter hedgerow despite the hard frosty ground from December!