Launched in 2019, the Penpont Project is our flagship Intergenerational Nature Restoration Project restoring biodiversity, community and climate resilience across a 2,000-acre estate in the Bannau Brychieniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park. The project supports a Youth Leadership Group of over 20 local young people and AFC Alumni to work in equal partnership with tenant farmers, landowners, and scientists to pursue bio-cultural restoration. Through the project these young people gain new green skills, improve their well-being, make new, like-minded friends and are empowered to step into leadership roles within the project and beyond. Discover the Penpont Project Story:
The beginning
The Penpont Project was founded in 2019 by a Youth Leadership Group (YLG) of twenty young people aged 13-18; the Hogg family who own the land at Penpont; tenants the Davies Family, who have farmed at Penpont for three generations; Action for Conservation which has facilitated the project and the involvement of young people, and expert friends of the project including ecologists, foresters and social scientists.
Known collectively as the Penpont Partnership, in the early days of the project this group came together to build trust, invite expert guidance and articulate an ambitious shared vision for the project:
“Our vision is that the Penpont Project acts as an exemplar of collaborative intergenerational nature restoration and sustainable food production for Government, NGOs, farmers and land managers across the UK, catalysing and empowering a movement of young people to protect the natural world.”
As the UK's largest Intergenerational Nature Restoration Project the launch of the Penpont Project made a splash. Within the first few months the project was featured on BBC News, in The Guardian, in The Ecologist, in Y Bannau The Future strategy for the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park and on national radio as an exciting example of diverse, intergenerational action to tackle the nature, climate and youth mental-health crises.
Mapping & building connections
The land and community at Penpont have a deep history that holds great meaning for many people - visitors, residents and landworkers alike.
From the start one of the partnership’s key goals was to centre and explore the relationships between people and place. Ensuring the knowledge everyone brings to the table is valued so that the project is sustainable now and for future generations.
With this in mind, the partners developed the project by adapting a process known as eco-cultural mapping. First developed by indigenous communities, anthropologists and cartographers in the Global South, eco-cultural mapping combines flows of information from science, with the knowledge of local people and 'outsider' perspectives.
Eco-cultural mapping is a process of making low-tech, large-scale maps to:
(Re)connect members of communities, particularly different generations, and to balance power dynamics;
Re-member or generate a new, shared understanding of a territory in the past and the present based on different flows of knowledge;
(Re)vision the future of the land in a way that fosters community consent;
Make a plan to re-claim what is needed to bring this future about.
In the process of making maps of the past, present and future together, the Penpont Partnership spent many hours in discussion, debated hot topics and building trust, strong connections and shared aspirations that are represented on our multi-generational future map. This co-created artefact guides all our efforts and the creation of practical restoration and management plans that move us from vision to delivery.
Read more about the Mapping Process here.
“Without this mapping effort and these discussions, we would not have been able to collaborate in creating a shared vision for a wilder future at Penpont that we are all now striving to achieve together in the action phase of the project.”
Esther, Youth Leadership Group Member
taking action
In 2022, the Penpont Project entered its action phase. Habitat regeneration, wetland restoration and the implementation of nature-friendly farming and forestry practices are now well underway and have been delivered at pace. So far the YLG, project partners, volunteers, and local community members have:
Planted more than 20,000 trees, including over 30 native species and with a focus on creating new nature corridors;
Created dozens of new microhabitats, including four barn owl and three pine marten boxes, a timber otter holt and reptile and amphibian refugia;
Kickstarted the restoration of wildflower meadow areas, by sowing local seed mixes, reintroducing native flora to marshy grassland, reducing fertiliser use and changing stocking levels;
Restored three historic ponds, rewetting a 215m2 area and creating access through a pond dipping platform;
Begun to restore waterways, address pollution and increase freshwater biodiversity by, for example, installing leaky woody dams in Penpont’s streams.
A new, innovative and place-based Penpont Education Programme co-designed with the Penpont YLG is bringing hundreds of local young people to the land to help restore and connect with nature, boosting their well-being and confidence.
Through a 4-month Youth Ranger Traineeship, the project is supporting local young people who are currently out-of-work to find their passion and gain the green skills and accreditations they need to pursue work or future studies in land-work or the environmental sector.
Livelihood diversification and sustainable enterprise development, including the establishment of a community tree nursery on site, are also underway, helping us realise our ambition to have more people and more biodiversity at Penpont.
In recognition of the project’s success so far and the leading role played by young people, in 2024 the Penpont Youth Leadership Group (YLG) won the Campaign for National Parks Young Changemaker of the Year Award.
"I feel extremely grateful to be one of the young people who's had the opportunity to fulfil a leadership role in this project and to have contributed to an initiative which provides such an important example for now and the future."
Helen, Youth Leadership Group Member
community, art & culture
Penpont has long been a place of inspiration for creatives like renowned artist Robert Macdonald who has lived at Penpont for over 40-years. The Penpont Project honours and continues this tradition, recognising the arts as a vital part of place-making and caring for nature.
Since 2021 we have realised out partnership’s ambition to create the UK’s first Land Library - a place where books, nature-focused fiction, non-fiction and poetry, meet the landscape. Nestled in Penpont’s historic stables, the Library now acts as a source of knowledge and a quiet space for visiting groups of young people.
The Land Library features a beautiful textile artwork inspired by the River Usk and created by Penpont’s first Young Artist in Residence, former YLG member Hana Salih. Her work sits alongside a painting inspired by the landscape and created using natural pigments by Ella Davies, one of the project’s first Youth Rangers.
We have also embraced photography and poetry as ways to share Penpont’s story. Since 2023, we have collaborated with The Gaia Foundation’s We Feed the UK initiative - a major storytelling campaign, pairing photographers and poets with the UK’s best custodians of soil, sea and seed. The Penpont Project was teamed up with award-winning photographer Andy Pilsbury and former National Poet of Wales, Ifor ap Glyn. Their words and images have been seen by an estimated 50 million people worldwide. Andy’s portrait of Youth Leadership Group member, Gwion, was shortlisted for the Portrait of Britain Award and was featured on billboards across the UK.
“Maybe it’s easier/to lend an ear to the young/with their frank, wide-eyed queries/than to the ministry’s men, with their reliance/on regulations and science.”
Ifor ap Glyn, ‘Land Mending/Trwsio’r Tir’
“I feel a spiritual connection to Penpont, particularly the River Usk. I am so drawn to the movement of the water, the dappling of the light on its surface, the sounds of its flux. Water is a constant on earth yet it's ever changing, it shapes and reshapes, flowing fast and free.”
Hana, Penpont’s first Young Artist in Residence
nature education at the penpont project
Do you want your secondary school students or youth group members to explore the outdoors? Or to learn how to restore nature while taking part in practical hands-on conservation activities like tree planting? Then get in touch today! We offer bespoke free experiences for eligible secondary schools and youth groups to take positive action for nature.
register your interest
impact
91%
of young people said our education sessions at Penpont taught them how to make a positive difference to nature
86%
of young people said our education sessions at Penpont left them feeling happier than before
100%
of the Youth Leadership Group agreed that AFC's past, present and future mapping process was effective in creating a shared vision for the project.
collaborate with us
partners:
join the youth leadership group
If you’re aged 13-17 and live within a 1 hour drive of the project site you could be eligible to join our Youth Leadership Group. Applications aren’t currently open but please do get in touch if you’re interested!
SharING expertise
We’re keen to hear from interested local and national environmental groups and organisations. If you feel you could offer our project your expertise or you want to learn from ours and would like to speak with our team about arranging a visit or running an event please get in touch.
COntact us:
For all enquiries related to the Penpont Project please email:
info@actionforconservation.org
press:
The Penpont Project has been featured widely in the media:
The Guardian, BBC News, Resurgence, The Ecologist, the new Y Bannau The Future strategy for the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, Natur Cymru, Woop Woop magazine and London Live TV.
If you would like to contact us about a press feature, please email comms@actionforconservation.org
