A community charity is celebrating rich pickings after their labours bore fruit, landing a grant worth almost a quarter of a million pounds.

Hanes Llandoch, in St Dogmaels, has received £247,410 from the Big Lottery Fund to plant 1,000 apple trees as part as of a community orchard.

The funding will provide training, education and engagement opportunities for hundreds of people, while also improving the natural environment.

Hanes Llandoch’s Nia Siggins was stunned to be presented with confirmation of the grant by the Big Lottery Fund and her reaction was captured on video.

“For once in my life I was rendered speechless, but not for long as we were overwhelmed with joy, particularly when a rather large presentation cheque was produced with the magical sum of £247,410,” said Nia.

“The video has been brilliant. We had an overwhelming response with over 100 emails congratulating us and over 30 new people, including an artisan cider maker and an apiary expert, indicating they would like to get involved directly with the delivery of the project.

“We have definitely had more visitors to the market as a result of the exposure because it unwittingly was a good advert for the market.

“People are very excited about the project and to have this level of support right at the start has never happened for us in the past.”

They orchard scheme was one of nine projects in Wales sharing £2,907,263 as part of the latest round of People and Places funding.

“The support of our local community in St Dogmaels has been overwhelming and we are all looking forward to bringing this three-year environmental project to fruition,” said Nia.

“The unofficial launch date will be on August Bank Holiday at our annual Medieval Fayre located in the grounds of St Dogmaels’ Abbey, a fitting location for the launch of an orchard project as the Norman monks who established the Abbey first planted their orchards here over 900 years ago.

“Any interested parties can visit our stall to discover more about the project and find out how to get involved.

“We know it is going to be a lot of hard work - we have a thousand trees to plant, an extensive range of craft and vocational workshops to deliver, wild flower meadows to establish and numerous pollinator friendly activities to organise! From toddlers to pensioners, there is something that will enable everyone to engage with the project and play a part in creating what we hope will be a long lasting environmental legacy.

“The Board of Trustees of Hanes Llandoch would like to thank the team at The Big Lottery Fund for their professionalism and support during the initial stages of our application and throughout the later stages. We look forward to working with you and your team over the next three years.”