Ffion Clwyd Edwards is a 46-year-old farmer from the Vale of Clwyd in Denbighshire. When she's not helping out on the farm in Henllan, Ffion works at home running her own PR company and also manages a holiday cottage on Llwyn Tywysog farmland. She lives with her husband Rhodri, who she's been married to for 20 years this year, and her two sons, 19-year-old Tomos, and 17-year-old Brychan.
This time of year, which is lambing season, I'll wake up around 3am to check on the sheep. Me, my husband and sons take shifts. Back in the day, I would've had to put clothes on top of my pyjamas and walk down to the farmyard to check on the lambs. However, technology has reached the world of farming and I can watch everything that's happening in the shed from our CCTV cameras that come up on the 48-inch screen we have in the living room.
It's amazing - I can zoom in and look around the shed, and check on the sheep. We used to have 300 ewes, but because of the concerns surrounding Brexit and the lamb markets, we sold most of them and now just keep 30 or so pedigree ewes. It might be a bit peculiar for some people, but watching them is so fascinating. As a farmer's daughter, you recognise the pre-lambing stages - they lick their lips, they lift their heads, they try and create a nest in the hay and then the water bag appears.
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When the sun comes up, I'll go for a walk in the area. I try and do this every other day as it keeps my mind and body healthy. Sleep deprivation during busy work and farming periods can take its toll. I was born and raised in the Conwy Valley, where I would wake up and see a spectacular view of Eryri. Here, we are right in the heartlands of the Dyffryn Clwyd hills and forts. They are both equally as breathtaking.
The community here in Henllan and Groes is very Welsh and it has a strong farming community. Your neighbour might live miles away, but they are as close to us as friends you'd find in any town or village. Everyone knows each other; everyone helps each other.
The other day, Rhodri and my phone were ringing non-stop because there was a herd of cows on the road and no one knew who owned them. It took a whole community to try and sort it out. The police arrived and brought them over to our land for safety. Eventually, we found out the cows belonged to the neighbour that lived up the road. We were there with our pick-up, the farmer with his motorbike and others all walking the cows back up the road to the farm - every one helping one another, as we do. That's important here.
Around 9am, I'll work in my office at the farmhouse. I was employed as a press and public relations officer until Tomos was born. I then went to work four days a week when we moved here to start farming - Brychan was born at that point. I decided I wanted flexibility so I could balance the children with my professional role and support the farm business. It was important to me to see them at every Christmas show or thanksgiving service during school hours. As a working mother, I would often feel guilty for dropping them off in nursery, I felt guilty for going to work and guilty for shouting at them when I was tired. But one day, I decided to park that guilt and move on. It's wasteful, negative energy. I decided that balancing work, motherhood and household chores was manageable due to flexible working hours.
'I have the smallest hands on the farm so that comes in handy with difficult deliveries'
My mother worked part time running a catering business, but most of her time was taken running me, my brother and sister about, and supporting my dad on the farm. She's passed away now, but I often wonder if she had been born in the same generation as me, what her career path would have been. Those who knew my mum know she was a force to be reckoned with. Her vibrancy, hard-work ethos and ability to get the job done is a legacy. She was and always will be my biggest inspiration.
Working from home can be a balancing act. This time of year is the busiest time in the farming calendar. At one point, I'll be on the phone with the chief executive of a company drafting a press release for the media. The next, I'll be putting my wellingtons on and rushing down to the shed to actively participate in an assisted delivery. Texel sheep are known for their large strong heads and their lambs are no different. I have the smallest hands on the farm so that comes in handy with difficult deliveries.
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When it comes to farming and PR work, no day is ever the same, which I love. I do, however, thrive on order and I'm a bit of a perfectionist. We have a holiday cottage on our farm called Tywysog Maes Mared. The cleaners will spend three hours there getting it clean and then I'll spend an hour myself in the evening finishing things off. It's important that everything is just so and that guests arrive at a cosy, warm and clean house.
In the evening, the boys arrive home from their farming jobs on the weekend around 6.30-7.30pm. Cooking and baking for me is one of my relaxing hobbies, so I'll make the dinner - tonight it'll be a roast. Then, we might all sit down in front of the fire in the living room, Rhodri and I will have a glass of wine each, read the Daily Post and then we'll watch a film. We don't live a grand life, but we are very contented. We are rich in the sense that we have family and friends, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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