Heather and Hillforts: Wales Winner Landscape Award

Heather and Hillforts: Wales Winner Landscape Award

The Heather and Hillforts Project, which spans the counties of Denbighshire and Flintshire, has been chosen as the winner in the UK Landscape Award regional judging for Wales and is now a final contender for the first-ever UK Landscape Awards, with the winner looking for a place in the European finals.  

Rod Williams, Chairman of the Heather and Hillforts Partnership Board, said: “We are delighted to have been nominated the Regional Winner for Wales in the UK Landscape Awards. It recognises the work that has been done over the past three years to manage the moorland and hillfort sites and to tell people about why this landscape is so special.

“To me the most satisfying aspect of the Heather and Hillforts Project has been the way that people with differing interests have been able to work together to provide long term benefits for the heritage of the Clwydian Range and Llantysilio Mountains. It has been a joint effort.

Community groups, local authorities, charities and non-governmental organisations from across the country have been entering their most valued landscapes for the awards, and the winner of each region has now been chosen.

Jo Watkins, President of the Landscape Institute which organised the Awards, says: "This award is important as it is recognises that looking after our landscape for future generations is a responsibility shared by all of us."

An overall UK winner will be announced at the European Landscape Convention Conference to be held in Liverpool from 8 November. The winner will go forward as the UK’s entry to the ‘Landscape Award of the Council of Europe’ which will be decided by the Council of Europe in March 2011.

Jennifer Stewart, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Wales, the main funder of the Heather and Hillforts project, said: “Landscapes play a huge role in our lives and are often the backdrop to daily routines – but we mustn’t take them for granted. The investment by the Heritage Lottery Fund in this project and others just like it, particularly in the International Year of Biodiversity, is crucial because it not only encourages people to work together effectively but gives them a greater sense of involvement and connection to their own local landscape.”

For more information visit the UK Landscape Awards website.

Notes to editors

Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) have awarded a grant of £1.5million pounds to the Heather and Hillforts project.

HLFs Landscape Partnerships are helping bring together members of the community as well as local, regional and national organisations to deliver schemes which benefit some of the UK’s most outstanding landscapes and rural communities. Grants range from £250,000 up to £2million.

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the HLF sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported 33,900 projects, allocating £4.4billion across the UK, including more than 1,800 projects totalling over £200 million in Wales.