The Hafod Estate is one of the most important picturesque landscapes in Europe. It was created and redesigned by Thomas Johnes after he inherited the estate from his father in 1780. Johnes planted well over three million trees on the estate between 1782-1813 and created a series of formal and more ‘natural’ landscape features, including the impressive waterfalls. While Thomas Johnes’s energy and money were the driving forces behind the creation of the picturesque landscape, it was the hard work of many others that made his vision a reality. When Johnes moved to the estate in 1783, he found both the landscape itself and the tenant farmers and workers who supported it, in poor condition. Johnes rehoused many of the tenants and set them to work on his dream for the estate.
As well as producing a stunning landscape at Hafod, Thomas Johnes was a keen developer and experimenter. The quality of the landscape he produced was recognised by multiple awards for silviculture, the art and science of creating and maintaining woodland, between 1800-1810. Johnes was also successful in experimenting with dairy agriculture on his land, showing that this upland landscape could support the production of milk, butter, and cheese. The Hafod Estate’s importance as a place of agricultural research has continued into more recent times. In the 1930s, the estate became the site of the Pwllpeiran Upland Research Centre. The aim of the centre was to develop methods of establishing productive hill pastures.
Photo 1 Caption: The Hafod Arch https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/1953171#?xywh=-415%2C-15%2C3892%2C2254
Photo 2 caption: Some of the three million trees planted under the direction of Thomas Johnes