About us

We are on a mission to get more teenagers off screens and into nature!

When you come to the farm your children will enjoy being outside in all weather, witness the crazy biodiversity and watch newts, birds of prey, bumblebees and so much wildlife in the gardens and grounds. It’s heaven for children to be told to go out and explore – not to scare them into being afraid of what they might find. But not every child has this advantage, so we are sharing the love and are on a mission to ensure ALL children understand the countryside code, are not scared of (metaphorical) bumblebees, and enjoy the benefits of lying in a wildflower meadow looking at the swallows swooping overhead.

The Mission:

Wilder Connections is a new charity with a clear mission: to reawaken the relationship between young people and the natural world. They work with adolescents, at a moment in their development when connection to nature tends to decline most sharply, and when the benefits of rebuilding that relationship are greatest.

Nature connection increases wellbeing, belonging and care for the environment. Reconnecting young people with nature therefore addresses two crises simultaneously: deteriorating mental health and the accelerating loss of our natural world. Their mission is to become a national centre for nation connection in young people, resourcing a generation to make informed decisions that includes nature.

 The charity works across three strands:

●       They provide immersive experiences for young people in wilder natural spaces.
●       They conduct participatory research that amplifies young people's voices, sharing findings through academic publications, policy-facing insight reports, and practical guidance for nature recovery sites.
●       They resource the adults around young people: teachers, youth workers, families, so they're better able to nurture this relationship in everyday life.

The Setting:

 Wilder Connections is based at the Grange Project which is an 80-acre rewilding site just down the road from Wern-y-Cwm, which includes the Grange Hub education space, a working market garden and huge natural diversity which helps catalyse young people’s relationship with the natural world. The Charity is led by Dr Chloe Constable (clinical psychologist, systemic psychotherapist and academic) whose approach is informed by a strong academic, leadership and clinical background.

Focus for the year:

This year they are completing their co-design and pilot phase: fully funded day and residential experiences for over 300 young people – many of whom will be paid for by us at Wonderful Escapes. Drawing on their academic and practitioner networks, they will share what is learnt openly - contributing to a growing evidence base for nature connection in adolescence.

 www.wilderconnections.charity

We fund the planting of a tree for every guest staying at Wern-y-Cwm, so just by coming here you are helping to reduce the impact of Climate Change. Not only are we a low impact business, Certified Gold in the Green Tourism accreditation scheme, but we do what we can to support this great little charity.

Stump Up For Trees is an ambitious farmer-friendly, woodland creation charity working across communities in the Bannau Brycheiniog | Brecon Beacons area.

Run by farmers and woodland creation experts, Stump encourages farmers interested in integrating more trees and hedging into their farming system. They advised us with planting 800 trees on our bottom fields which are monitored annually. 

Their aim is to plant one million trees on unproductive, marginal land and steep bracken banks. Trees offer many advantages to a farm system and are a crucial factor in the sectors' ambition to reach Net Zero, enhance biodiversity and provide natural flood management. Stump have just planted their 500,000th tree and with help from businesses like ours they are changing the local landscape. 

We fund the planting of a tree for every guest staying on the farm. For more details, please take a look at www.https://stumpupfortrees.org/