STAY AT THE FARM
“Esmé was never parted from the land she loved…
Special dispensation was granted for her to be buried at Dyffryn Mymbyr.”
The flock needs to be gathered off the mountain several times a year and from the footpath I could see the sheepfolds below, where the animals are held prior to lambing, dipping and auctioning. Despite their tumbledown appearance, they’re still regularly used by Dyffryn’s farmer, Geraint Roberts.
Beyond the farmhouse I found a small lake. It’s not natural, but was built by Thomas as part of his continuing process to improve life at the farm. He diverted several streams that froth down the Glyderau to feed a reservoir and drive a hydroelectric generating set. The equipment is still housed in a small building by the side of the road.
“We did look at recommissioning it, but there are issues with the dam at the moment,” said Simon. “It’s leaking and we’re having some engineers around soon to decide whether it’s dangerous.” A stone seat was added near the lake’s shore in 2007, in memory of Esmé and Peter.
Despite Esmé’s wish to keep Dyffryn exactly as she knew it, the National Trust has made some changes. Sheep numbers had been inflated in the 1970s to take advantage of ‘headage payment’ but the negative impact means the flock has now been reduced. Cattle have also been introduced: “The way cows graze is very different to sheep,” Simon told me, “and having that variety is much better for the range of flora.”
Thomas and Esmé also drained the fields that flanked the Nant Gwyrd river as it twines through the valley, but the National Trust has re-wetted this area. “Modern thinking has realised that draining releases carbon,” Simon explained. “It prevents the sphagnum moss which produces peat from growing, so it’s not only drying the land and releasing carbon but it’s stopping the absorption of carbon too. It’s really bad in terms of climate change, but they wouldn’t have known that back in the day.”
Another change the Trust has made is to plant trees. Saplings don’t last long on sheep farms as they’re nibbled by the animals, but Simon and his team have planted in and around gorse and on the steep edges of gullies to give the trees natural protection from the sheep. The aim is to create a ‘green corridor’ between ancient woodlands in Capel Curig and Nant Gwynant.
The Trust became Dyffryn’s new caretakers in 1999 when Esmé passed away (Thomas died in 2001; Peter in 2003) and it is now one of the largest sheep farms in Wales. But Esmé was never parted from the land she loved and protected. Special dispensation was granted for her to be buried at Dyffryn and as I walked away from the farmhouse, I headed across rough ground to a low mound and a boulder. On it was a simple plaque etched with: Esmé 1910 - 1999 and Peter 1911 - 2003.
As I climbed up towards the ridgeline and turned back towards Capel Curig, the view reached far across Snowdonia. The famous epitaph – ‘Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you’ – on Sir Christopher Wren’s grave could also apply to Esmé Kirby. And it’s a landscape she could describe just as eloquently as Thomas: ‘The Glyders are the plain Janes of an incredibly good looking family… But if you should go walking on them, and you get to know them as I do, you will find that the Glyders, like so many plain people, have a charm, a personality and a romantic interest all of their own.’
Country Walking stayed at Dyffryn Mymbyr itself, where both the farmhouse and one of the cottages are now run by the National Trust as holiday lets. The farmhouse comfortably sleeps eight with two living rooms, a dining room, two bathrooms and four bedrooms – not to mention its cavernous kitchen.
It has been restored to reflect the 1950s when Esmé and Peter called it home and there are numerous nods to Dyffryn’s heritage: Thomas’s snowshoes and skis dominate the hallway, while Esmé’s walking cane hangs in the sitting room where the iron scrollwork around the lights depicts the earmark used on Dyffryn’s sheep. It’s incredible to stay there and think you’re seeing the same views they did, and you’re making breakfast in the kitchen where Esmé cooked for all the neighbouring farmers at the gatherings.
Three nights in September cost from £682 – see nationaltrust.org.uk/holidays for details of the farmhouse and the cottage too, which sleeps 4.