Sustainable wood supply from Esgair Timber Company

Peter Bottoms once earned his living in Ceredigion’s tourism industry, but now he’s embarking on another life after buying a forest in mid-Wales.

The one-time owner of Aberaeron’s aquarium and commercial shell fisherman, also offering boat trips to see the dolphins, sold up five years ago and began looking for woodland with the potential to develop into a forestry business.

The search ended 18 months later when he bought Esgair forest, a 245 hectare estate – 200 hectares being commercial woodland – nestled between two Welsh government woodlands near Pantperthog, three miles north of Machynlleth.

“With fossil fuels becoming increasingly expensive and finite in the long term, and with the adverse impacts of CO2 emissions and climate change, I believe sustainable forestry, timber and woodfuel production has a good future.