Vicarage Meadows

This wildflower-rich meadow and wet pasture is set on the side of a hill in the Irfon valley and lies adjacent to the Nant Irfon National Nature Reserve.

Location

Nearest town is Abergwesyn, LD5 4TP

Know before you go

Size

4 hectares

Parking information

Park by the side of the public road, taking care not to obstruct the gates.

Grazing animals

There may be ponies on site, please do not approach them or feed them. Additionally there may be electric fencing to keep them off parts of the site, please cross this with care.

Walking trails

There are no trails as such around the site but there is one small stretch of wooden boardwalk to cross a stream. Please leave all site gates as you find them and keep to the paths. The site can be very wet at all times of year. Unfortunately there is no wheelchair access.

Access

Take the unclassified road to Abergwesyn from Llanwrtyd Wells or Beulah. Just south of Abergwesyn, the road crosses the River Irfon. Adjacent to the river are two gates. Parking is by the side of the public road north of the Irfon bridge. Go through the gate nearest the river, follow the track past a small cottage on your left, passing through another gate, just after the cottage. Walk up the slope and through the gate on your right. The entrance to the reserve is immediately on your left.

Dogs

Under effective control

When to visit

Opening times

The reserve is open access.

Best time to visit

Summer

About the reserve

Many years ago, the local vicarage owned Vicarage Meadows. The fields provided a hay crop and a place to graze horses and cows. The small stone barn was used as a shelter for milking cows. Today we continue to use traditional management methods with a hay crop being taken off one field and Exmoor ponies grazing the whole site, giving the reserve’s many wildflowers the chance to flourish.

What to look out for

This is one of the Trust’s most botanically rich reserves. The western meadow is a sheet of bluebells in the spring, followed by a carpet of orchids in the summer. Also to be found are betony, great burnet and dyer’s greenweed. Look out for the yellow flower spikes of bog asphodel in the damper parts of the site.

Look out for small pearl bordered fritillary butterflies here in June. In late summer, the dense mauve heads of devil’s-bit scabious flowers provide a late season nectar source for many other butterflies and insects.