Vicarage Meadows

Reserve information

  Location
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.
Nearest town: Abergwesyn. Post code LD5 4TP.
Map reference
SN 850 526
  Get directions
Find out here
  Public transport
Find out here
  Opening Times
24/7/365
  Size
3.6 hectares
  Access
There is no wheelchair access.
  Walking information
The reserve is an open access reserve, you are allowed to visit the reserve on foot for your quiet enjoyment of the wildlife present. Please keep to the paths. 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. The site can be very wet at all times of year.
 
  Parking
Park by the side of the public road, taking care not to obstruct the gates.
  Dogs
Please keep dogs under close control.
 
  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.
  Reserve manager
Brecknock Wildlife Trust
Tel: (01874) 625708

Email:

Downloads

Factsheets and guides for your visit

Watch our videos on YouTube

Vicarage Meadows

Vicarage Meadows in summer

Vicarage Meadows Nature Reserve

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.

 

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.

 

The BWT continues 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.

 

Species and habitats

Habitats
Lowland Meadows, Rush Pasture, Hedgerows 
Species
Bird's-foot-trefoil, Bluebell, Bog Asphodel, Bracken, Common Frog, Common Lizard, Cottongrass, Devil's-bit Scabious, Dyer's Greenweed, Eyebright, Field Wood-rush, Fragrant Orchid, Golden-ringed Dragonfly, Great Burnet, Greater Butterfly-orchid, Harebell, Knapweed, Lady-fern, Large Red Damselfly, Meadow Brown, Meadow Buttercup, Meadow Pipit, Mole, Pied Flycatcher, Reed Bunting, Ribwort Plantain, Ringlet, Sky Lark, Small Heath, Soft-rush, Sweet Vernal-grass, Tormentil, Willow Warbler,  Yorkshire-fog

Nearby nature reserves

Cae Pwll y Bo
1.0 miles - Brecknock Wildlife Trust
Poor Mans Wood
16.0 miles - The Wildlife Trust for South & West Wales
Nant Melin
22.4 miles - The Wildlife Trust for South & West Wales

Nature reserve map