Powys 200-year-old farm saved by young farmer and family

A succession problem for Maesmachreth, an upland farm near Machynlleth, that has been farmed on by Ben Ryder’s family for more than two centuries had left the business with an uncertain future.

With neither of their daughters interested in taking it on, Ben and his wife, Kate faced a tough decision about the future of the farm as they were both approaching their sixties.

Through Farming Connect’s Start to Farm programme, a matchmaking service designed to pair up landowners who are looking to step back from the industry with new entrants, they got in touch and young farmer Ynyr Pugh from the neighbouring village of Dinas Mawddwy.

Ben said: “We realised we weren’t as indestructible as we thought we were. Farming is not the sort of thing that you can stand still on, when you do you go backwards and we were seeing that starting to creep in.’’

OTHER NEWS: 

• Newtown family celebrate after champion bull wins first Royal Welsh Show prize
• Powys locals to be given first glimpse of plans for future of tourist attraction
• Driver who lied about identity given suspended jail term for 'stupid mistake'

But, as Kate added: “Ben’s family have been farming here for 200 years and with that comes a big responsibility, we didn’t want to be the generation that let it go. We have always regarded it as being a good farm and we didn’t want it to go to waste.’’

After studying at Glynllifon College and the Welsh Agricultural College, Ynyr had spent time shearing sheep in New Zealand and Wales and had worked on different farms, but was looking to get a foothold in farming.

He provided the Ryders with a profile of what he could offer and from among several candidates was picked as the one offering everything they were looking for.

Ben added: “We felt it would be difficult to rent the place out and continue to live here and we weren’t ready to walk away altogether, we still wanted to be involved.

 “We wanted more than a farm worker though, someone who was prepared to make a commitment for the longer term.’’

Ynyr worked with Ben and Kate as a contractor at first, allowing them to get to know each other, before taking the next step and becoming business partners.