Ok, so someone who came along here and knew nothing about Llanerchaeron, how would you explain it to them?

Right, well Llanerchaeron it’s a small Welsh gentry estate, with a John Nash designed house, double walled gardens, home farm and parkland. Its buildings date from the late 1790s, with another significant phase from the 1850s, it’s has remained intact and virtually unaltered from that time. We have got a good representative range of old farm buildings, which are unusual as many such buildings have been changed or developed. There’s a granary, threshing barns, mash house, bull pen, all virtually unaltered that is unique really, in Britain anyway, Nearly all of f these estates have changed they would have been altered and become hotels, accommodation units, or nursing homes etc.

So what did you need the Objective 1 money for?

Objective 1 funding has enabled us to work on other parts of the estate other than the main built environment. It has given us the opportunity to provide visitor facilities, with a tea room toilets etc. We are currently working on the Carriage courtyard that will provide wider interpretation on the farm, gardens, and estate. It is also enabling us to restore the Estate Lake, reintroduce fishing, as well restore the estates waterwheel and hydroelectric scheme, which last worked in the 1950s’. We will also be building accommodation space for volunteers who want to work on the property, develop their skills, and work experience.

How long did it take to restore the house?

The first phase of work was to the exterior of the house it commenced in 1995 and took a year. In 1999, we then started on the interior of the house, with the assistance of European 5b funds and the Heritage Lottery Fund. This involved the restoration of all the detailed plasterwork, services, timber detailing, floors, walls, shutters, decoration scheme and the restoration of the service courtyard. This phase of the work took eighteen months. Visitor numbers were forecast at 25,000 and were 32,000 last year. We have 200 local volunteers working with us enabling us to open the property to the public

Do you employ local graduates from Lampeter University, say in Archaeology?

We currently have three ex MA students working with us; they started as volunteers and are now employed building up their vocational skills. The idea is that they move on to a job within the trust such as managing their own trust house or working as conservators.

I noticed some local produce on the way in…

They are all from the walled garden. , We make about six to 7 thousand pounds a year and the money reinvested back in to developing the property.

Maybe you could tell me a bit about the grant procedure, whom did you receive one from?
We had assistance from the European Department of the County Council, for our with The Welsh European Funding Office, administering our programme of Objective one. The Llanerchaeron Objective 1 project has been up and running for a year now, its part of a 3-year project. We applied in 2002 and got the approval in 2003. We have got 2 years left so we are on a downward slope really. We are currently in one of the last phases of capital work at Llanerchaeron. The process is not easy, but it is public money at the end of the day so it is fair enough.

What was the total project cost?

£1,186,000, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF was 583k, Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) 400k, Local Regeneration Fund (LRF) 20k. The ERDF fund was the Objective 1 fund, whilst the LRF, was given by the county council, 183k was provided by the National Trust.

How many jobs have been created as a result of this project?

There are 4 l jobs created, working with the visitors, on the building side there are six craftsmen as well as several sub contractors, and there will be another post for a holiday cottage caretaker we open the holiday cottage we are restoring, and hopefully the more popular the property becomes the more staff we will employ.

What about the increase in visitor numbers?

We are 15% up on last year’s figures, which is interesting because most attractions are saying they are on a par with last year or down. We have done a lot of marketing this year with assistance from the Adfywio fund we have targeted further down the M4 corridor now. Swansea Neath and Port Talbot area. With adverts in the Western Mail and South Wales Evening Post, so we have increased our area. Last year we concentrated on the local within forty-five minutes of the property catchment.

CLOSE WINDOW