One man went to mow, went to mow the meadow…
At Drymmau Hall the great outdoors is at the heart of our ethos. We are blessed with acres of fields and pastureland and a magnificent lowland meadow with mown paths (mown as ‘cut and collect’ just twice a year in September and March, by owner, Tim Valler!).
We have long understood the enormous value of nature-rich grasslands such as our very own meadow and the part it plays not only as a national asset to support nature recovery alongside climate action and public health, as part of a green economy, but importantly, in the health and wellbeing of the people we care for here at Drymmau Hall as part of our extended family.
Back in the winter of 2025, as part of our close working relationship with our local Neath Port Talbot (NPT) Council, residents and staff were fortunate to have a wonderful talk on wild spaces and biodiversity by their in-house ecologist and all-round expert, Rose. Everyone was very engaged and realised what a wonderful asset we had in our meadow here at Drymmau Hall.
Rose returned to us early in June to do a more ‘formal’ assessment of our swathes of meadow grasses in terms of plant species found and to give us a grade after using the ‘Amenity Grassland Assessment (AGA) Toolkit.’
Her recording sheet indicated that we had a final score of 79 – which equates with a grade of ‘excellent’. The study showed that our meadow recorded 20 different species of flowers and plants, including 11 of the top 20 most favourable species. Whether you want to refer to the findings in Latin, Welsh or English, it was a great result and testament to the careful management we have used over many years. What was wonderful too, was that the recommendations Rose stated were to ‘continue with current management.’
So, in our meadow you’ll come across broad-leaved dock, daisy, eyebrights, greater bird’s foot trefoil, hawkbits, hemp agrimony, meadow vetchling, red clover, white clover, the list goes on… and reads like poetry to our ears! You often can encounter Canadian geese, badgers and of course butterflies, too!
The survey and the results are very satisfying that we’re doing our bit for the health and wealth of our Drymmau Hall community and the bigger picture of the planet.
One of the plants identified is the aptly named ‘self-heal’ which we think sums up what we’re trying to achieve through our beautiful wild meadow here. Our residents’ quotes say it all!
“I feel free in the meadow.”
“It’s lovely to sit on the bench and relax.”
“I find solace in the meadow – all my cares disappear.”
“It’s like a little piece of heaven there – so peaceful.”
We are so proud that our residents feel like this, and also proud of what NPT Council told us in the final report:
“The meadow is good enough to be designated as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation.”
Rose, Ecologist and Grassland Assessor, NPT Council