Maes Mawr Smallholding
Smallholding Experience
NO DATES FOR 2023 DUE TO THE GOAT BARN BUILD, HOWEVER WE ARE ABLE TO ACCOMMODATE SMALLER GROUPS/FAMILY GROUPS IF MESSAGED DIRECT.
​
​
Maes Mawr, Llanllyfni LL54 6DG
​
Cost: £95.00 including lunch and a cream tea to end the day.
​
9.30am - 9.50am - Tea/coffee and welcome
​
9.50am - 10.20am - Choosing & Setting Up Your Own Smallholding
​
Initially this part of the day will take place inside. We will talk you through some photos of what we originally started with. Emma will take you through the process of assessing your potential new or current home. A show and tell of building from scratch. An introduction to pallet building, and how budget should not be a restriction on what you want to create. Emma will explain the process of planning your site, and obtaining your CPH number. Considerations for general health and safety for you and your animals.
​
10.20am - 11.30am - A Full Tour, Land Management, Chickens and Grazing
​
A tour of the smallholding, starting at the top Emma will give you a guided tour showing you some of the improvements we have made to our site and how we went about it. You will get to meet our chickens and ducks, see the geese and learn how they can impact your land. We will give you a quick oversight on their care and welfare. You will meet Thor and Hercules our ponies. Emma will explain the land management we have in place, weed control and how important windbreaks can be. How useful hedging can be for livestock and for bio diversity.
11.30am - 12.45pm - The Kitchen Garden
​
Emma will give you a tour of the vegetable garden, she will explain how she created a productive piece of land from what was rough pasture. See the set up for growing plants on from seed, the various equipment we have on site. Learn a little about growing all year round, understanding your climate and how to produce food all year round.
​
12.45pm - 1.45pm - Lunch
​
Lunch will be soups with fresh bread and a selection of sandwiches supplied by Kath from Tyddyn Mawr Tea Room. Followed with tea, coffee and cake. Please tell us beforehand if you have any allergies or dietary requirements.
​
2pm - 4.15pm - Keeping Animals
​
We will give you a tour of all the animals under our care, talking you through their welfare needs, basic and routine care and feeding requirements.
​
Pigs - Meet our Kune Kune pigs, Charlotte, Wilbur and Nemo. See how they are clearing the land for us, see their housing and learn of the basic health care for keeping them.
​
Meet our small flock of sheep, Emma will show you the area we use for containing them for the purposes of shearing fleeces, trimming feet. You will learn how to spot fly strike, how to deal with it and other common issues in sheep. Learn about the fleece, its possibilities for use and raising sheep for meat. You'll be able to round them up with us and get hands on checking them over.
​
Goats - Emma will talk you through a basic introduction to keeping goats. Learn how to house them and take care of their needs as well as have an opportunity to hand milk a goat if you would like to and if one is in milk at that time. Emma will explain animals movement records, as well and handling skills for larger goats.
​
4.15pm - 5pm - Q & A with a Cream Tea
​
You will have the opportunity to sit in the gardens and enjoy a cup of tea and chat about the day, you will have the chance to ask any further questions you may have.
​
Booking A Place
​
Because this year we are building our Goat Barn we don't feel we can offer group courses this year. I will however possibly be able to accommodate individuals and or family groups. So please if you are in the North Wales area and you'd love to visit email me direct and I will be able to set a date for you on an individual basis.
​
Accommodation
​
We do not offer accommodation here however a number of smallholders and farms around us do. If you want to make a weekend of it please check out these places. Please note if you are unable to tie in a course on an advertised date with accommodation please email us. We are happy to put a workshop on for you on a date that suits. Please confirm this with us at the same time as arranging accommodation, Thank you.
​
​
What To Wear
​
Please bring suitable wet weather clothing, including wellies. We cannot predict the weather in advance, we are living on the boundary to the mountain range of Snowdonia and it can be subject to sudden changes. We will still be outside even if it rains. Also just incase bring sun cream and a hat should we have sun! You may want to consider a change of shoes for inside the cabin and for travelling home in, just in case.
​
If you'd like to bring a note book feel free however we will provide print outs of the day for you to keep. We welcome any photographs to be taken. Please enjoy yourself.
​
Cancellation Policy
​
In the unlikely event that we need to cancel the workshop we will offer you an alternative set of dates to choose from, if these are not suitable to you we will refund you in full. However, should you need to cancel we request that you do so no less than 7 days notice to the course date. We are only a small business and we will have already placed the order for the food for that date. We reserve the right to make a full charge for any cancellations made with less than 7 days notice.
​
We are happy to accommodate smaller groups, if you as a couple or family are on holiday locally and you would like to spend the day with us please give me a call directly on 07766 028 202. We are able and happy to accommodate smaller groups but we need 3 days notice to arrange the catering.
​
​