Hi there. I'm Jol and I came into stewardship of these woods in 2023, a dream to connect with nature, to escape town, to get off grid. It's slow time, getting to know the woods, the movements in nature, the people. And a huge learning curve. My vision is to create a place where people can learn and connect, getting out of life's bustle and busy-ness to find some tranquility, a chance to share and grow with others.

My working life has taken me from the NHS in Norfolk (where I worked in health education) to the tropical islands of Vanuatu, where I spent three years working with local doctors, nurses and community workers, running training courses in all sorts of remote places. I lived in Germany for 10 years, running a dance business and teaching English. In the UK I've run national charities, set up a community centre in Swindon, helped start-up businesses, and set up support for asylum seekers.

Music has been my big passion for a long, long time - I play guitar, write songs and sing. I've helped organise and run music festivals (we've even started on in the local village of Pentre-bach: May Fest at the Shoemakers, the last weekend of May). So, bringing that all together, came the idea of Woodsong Wales - weekend retreats in the woods. (And I hope that all our retreats will have elements of music and the odd song by the campfire.)

You can read more about the woods themselves on the Woodland Wales page. My aim is to use the best woodland management practices to create a space where different tree types grow happily together, creating a habitat that birds, mammals and all those little bugs and flowers love too. We're building on a system called continuous cover forestry (CCF), which aims to maximise natural processes - and definitely avoids any clear-felling. More coming soon.

The idea of mixing retreats and workshops with managing woods for themselves and for nature, that is the direction of travel. As as singer-songwriter myself, I thought: what better way to start, than songwriting retreats in the woods?! Wellness weekends jumped out at me too - I'm talking to various practitioners to get something together. And I'm always open to ideas - would love some forest schoolery, some bushcraft and green-wood-work activities*. Please get in touch with any thoughts, suggestions or proposals!

(*We're looking at the idea of a residential workshop to build a log cabin - lots of practical skills and communal work/living.)