For those who don’t know the story, or have chosen to forget, Gilestone farm, near Talybont-on-Usk, was bought in 2022 by the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’ for £4.25m.

The excuse given was that Gilestone was to be a new home for the Green Man Festival, which holds its knees-ups not far away on the Glanusk Estate. They got away with it for a while, but the story was never really convincing.

Then ospreys appeared at Gilestone – the first sighting of these birds in southern Wales for over 200 years! Some said they’d been attracted there to cover the collapsed Green Man deal and justify ‘Welsh Government’ imposing access restrictions.

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GILESTONE, WATER, FARMING

As you might have guessed from previous postings on this blog, I soon stopped believing that Gilestone had been bought for the Green Man Festival. Especially after talking to a previous owner who claimed her family had been forced out of Gilestone by the (then) Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, using a solicitor in Swansea who soon after became a Labour Assembly Member.

Another factor for rejecting the Green Man explanation was learning that a new group called the Beacons Water Group (BWG) had been formed (May 2020), and among the directors were the owner of Gilestone, and his neighbour across the River Usk. And that this group had travelled to Upstate New York to study how the Watershed Agricultural Council manages the water supply to the the Big Apple.

Given the regular talk of moving water from Wales to southern England, and the fact that both the River Usk and the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal flow across Gilestone land, I concluded that the answer to why the farm was purchased lay in water supply.

A suspicion firmed up by learning of another group formed by Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) following the US trip (and a reciprocal visit). This was the Bannau Brycheiniog Mega Catchment group, copying what was found in the USA.

Matters covered in these posts: ‘Green Man, Red Herring?‘; ‘Gilestone Revisited‘; and ‘Gilestone: Thinking Outside The Box‘;

And there was definitely a political dimension to it all.

I say that due to the involvement of ‘Welsh Government’ civil servant David Ashford. He’d been working on “sustainable land management policies to replace the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Wales“, was then seconded to Dŵr Cymru just after the US visits (in the same month the BWG was formed), before returning to WG to work on the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS).

Why would a senior civil servant dealing with farming spend two years “Developing new partnerships to improve water quality and a range of other benefits across water catchments within the Brecon Beacons” . . . unless farming was involved?

And of course it was. Those who formed the Beacons Water Group were all farmers. Water quality figures prominently in the SFS (and other) legislation.

The US example contains powers of compulsory purchase (‘Eminent domain’ in the USA) to guarantee water quality. Compulsory purchase is not mentioned in the Welsh SFS legislation but it is covered in the UK government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill (Part 5), which became law in December last year. The Sustainable Farming Scheme in Wales launched the following month.

And let’s remember that the prominent Globalist, and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon was, in April 2023, openly calling for compulsory purchase “for wind and solar builds“.

So while the visit from the Watershed Agricultural Council in March 2018, and the visit to the Catskills in June 2019, followed by the formation of the Beacons Water Group CIC and the Bannau Brycheiniog Mega Catchment group, were ostensibly about water quality, farming was inextricably involved.

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LATEST DEVELOPMENTS, ABERGAVENNYSHIRE LINKAGES

A very recent development was the launch last month of Beacons Rural Energy Ltd (BRE). Three of the current seven directors of the Beacons Water Group are found among the nine directors of the new company.

But what’s the purpose of Beacons Rural Energy Ltd? Here’s what the Certificate of Incorporation filed with Companies House tells us:

So it’s “smart renewable energy projects“. But how will they produce, transmit, distribute and trade electricity? Being in a national park rules out large wind turbines and fields filled with solar panels. So what’s left?

Well, “Hydro” is mentioned. Which takes us back to water. And of course, DCWW.

Clearly, there’s a connection between Beacons Water Group and Beacons Rural Energy, and I believe it extends beyond the principals involved in both; Richard James Roderick (of the farm next-door to Gilestone), Keri Howell Davies, and David Stephen Thomas. Other links would be the Brecknockshire Agricultural Society, the National Farmers Union (NFU), and Farming Connect.

In February 2022 the NFU stated it would “do its best” to meet the 2030 net zero target. John Davies, outgoing NFU Cymru president, reminded us, “we were the first farming organisation to set the goal of net zero by 2040“.

The clip below is from the current NFU website. Rowing back a bit?

Our position remains that journeying towards net zero must not compromise food production, farm profitability, or export emissions overseas by replacing British food with imported food produced to lower standards of environmental protection.

As for Farming Connect, this is run by the ‘Welsh Government’ as a kind of club for farmers who go along with Corruption Bay diktats. Either from Ministers, or from civil servants, like David Ashford, answering to their bosses in London.

Maybe some of the ‘good’ farmers from Farming Connect and Beacons Water Group will be helped make some money through renewable energy projects.

But will these projects be economically viable? And will public funding be involved?

One name among the directors of Beacons Rural Energy, Andrew Geoffrey Matthews, was new to me. But I think I found him in this document of the Aberhonddu Lodge of Freemasons. It may be ten years old, but it’s still informative.

In addition to Worshipful Master Bro Andrew G Matthews you’ll see that I’ve also highlighted Steward Richard J Roderick. There may be others involved with the Lodge, it’s not easy to tell with so many common Welsh surnames.

Think about it, here we are in 2026, after 27 years of ‘progressive’ administrations in Wales; and a bunch of men who like to dress up and spout nonsense in a men-only group still have influence with politicians and civil servants.

Then again, in Globalist-left Wales, men in funny outfits spouting bollocks are almost the norm. Certainly accepted. And influential.

Back to the bigger picture.

Abergavennyshire has proved very attractive to left-liberal do-gooders with ideas on how to save the planet – usually with our money. And how to make better human beings of us all – but only if we listen to them.

They’ve been colonising the area for a few decades. Which would be bad enough in itself, but they also have political clout. The results are everywhere. So are the linkages.

A director of BWG is Anthony Hugh Martineau, who has, or had, connections with Coleg Soros in Talgarth. The current chair of the trustees there is Chris Blake. Here’s his Linkedin bio.

One of his current ventures is The Green Valleys (Wales). Below is a clip from the most recent accounts filed with Companies House, for year ending 31.10.2024.

I’m not sure what happened, but it don’t look good. Turnover and profits slumped, and it all seemed to go tits up. Then, the other directors left last month. Among them Grenville Ham, former capo in the Greens, who switched to Plaid Cymru when the Greens refused to set up a Welsh party.

Green Valleys would appear to have folded. Is the recently-launched Beacons Rural Energy some kind of replacement?

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CONCLUSION

One of the attractions of the Abergavennyshire and Bannau area is of course its scenic beauty, helped by the absence of wind turbines and vast acreages of solar panels. But this is problematic for the ‘Welsh Government’, which wants every area of Wales to be seen to be saving the planet.

The maps below might help. On the left is the official map showing areas “pre-assessed” for industrial scale wind turbines in southern Wales. On the right, a map produced by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW), showing existing or planned windfarms. (In the case of the latter category, those that are known about.)

The red lines on the CPRW map are pylon runs.

Outside and to the east of area 6 there are a number of projects planned. These are in the wild, unspoilt Elenydd. Reminding us that the “pre-assessed” areas are just a rough guideline, but national parks are still off-limits . . . for the time being.

Which must also vex the fanatics who want Wales to have more ‘renewables’. Clearly, something else, a different approach, is needed. Which is where the various outfits mentioned above may give a clue.

Because I still believe water is the key to understanding the developments we’ve seen over the past eight years or so, and that includes buying Gilestone. So with wind turbines and the rest ruled out, are the Bannau to become a hot-spot for hydro schemes?

Another hoped-for advantage of focusing on doing good things with water resources might have been generating good publicity for Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Unpopular with the public at large but long defended by the ‘Welsh Government’, Natural Resources Wales, and environmental groups.

Who, for differing reasons, blamed farmers for every discharge or spillage.

If so, then it failed. Because too many recent cases have made everyone aware of what many of us always knew. Here’s a recent case that resulted in a £45m fine.

But then, what’s one more lie added to all the rest? As George Carlin used to say in explaining how shadowy forces control things: “It’s a big club – and you ain’t in it“. (This short video is worth a watch.)

Difficult to believe that was recorded over 20 years ago. He was right then. And it’s a hell of lot worse now. R.I.P. George Carlin.

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© Royston Jones 2026