£2 million countryside project unveiled at Plas Newydd fair

* Visitors had the chance to meet a newborn lamb.

* An expert gives a demonstration of traditional spinning.

* A castle-shaped cake is cut to mark the launch of the OPL project. 

* Visitors to the fair are shown around the Dell. 

A £2 million five-year campaign to engage local communities with the stunning locations on their doorsteps was officially launched during a spring fair at Plas Newydd yesterday (Saturday) afternoon.

Since the 1700s people have been on inspirational journeys through the Dee Valley, across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal, along Telford’s A5, the Llangollen Railway and the River Dee. 

They came to enjoy and engage with the unique landscape and many felt compelled to recall this stunning landscape in art. 

Through a wide range of events and community activities, the Our Picturesque Landscape (OPL) project aims to engage local people to follow in the footsteps of the artists of the past and to  celebrate the beautiful and unique landscape around them. 

The team also hopes to encourage people to discover and learn about their heritage and habitats, the modern day pressures these face and how we can protect and manage them for the future.

The spring fair featured an afternoon of activities, including have-a-go at wool felting, discovering the story of wool and meeting a young lamb. 

There was also be an opportunity to try the new self-guided discovery trails round the grounds and join a guided walk and talk about the future plans to restore the Dell back to its former glory as it was in the romantic period when the Ladies of Llangollen lived at Plas Newydd. 

David Shiel, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty officer for Denbighshire Countryside Service, explained to visitors plans to put in a viewing platform over a small section of the river which runs through the Dell, remove some of the trees from the end nearest to Brook Street to open up the view across the Castell Dinas Bran and to create a pond in another corner of the area.

During the afternoon a cake made in the shape of the castle was cut to mark the OPL project's launch.

* For more details about the OPL project or if you are part of a community group based along the Dee Valley between Corwen and Chirk and would be interested in participating in the project through art or outdoor activities, then contact our.picturesque.landscape@denbighshire.gov.uk or by phone on 01824 706163.