Staff - Denmark Farm Conservation Centre

Our Current Staff Team:

Ryan Knight-Fox

Ryan joined Denmark Farm in January 2022 as the new Nature Reserve & Site Volunteer Manager.

He graduated with an Ecology Degree from Aberystwyth University in 2016 and has gone on to develop a career in Outdoor Education and set up his own business Knight-Fox Wild About Learning, with his wife Cathryn and their daughter Savannah. He has worked with all ages and has worked with some great organisations, such as: Coed Lleol, MIND, Coleg Ceredigion, Lampeter University, DASH & Ray Ceredigion. As well as teaching children and adults about conservation & ecology, he also teaches ethnobotany, bushcraft, and green woodwork.

In his free time he likes to spend time outdoors with his wife and daughter, either on foraging walks, in the garden growing vegetables & plants for herbal medicine, bird watching, whittling or spending time around a campfire.

James Stearn

Since 2018 James is the guy who helps to keep the nature reserve and Denmark Farm buildings in good order. As a self employed maintenance person he has a wide range of practical skills to help us manage all the facilities. Although he has his work cut out, attempting to achieve so much with limited resources, he is always positive to face the challenge. James lives close by with his family and has his own land just up the road which he manages in a ecologically sensitive manner.

Lulu Thelwell

Lulu qualified as a Social Worker, specifically in mental health and multiple complex needs. Her plan was to use it to establish her knowledge of social policy, in order to better support the charity sector. Her heart has always been with charity work, and she has spent the majority of her career since 2011 investing her time in wider, holistic support for people and their environments. She is a firm believer in systemic practice, which is a belief in a truly supportive and symbiotic relationship between mind, health and environment. Based in Bristol for 10 years, her professional roles have tended to be grant-funded for a wide range of community projects; but she has also consulted on a respite project on a game reserve in South Africa, supported a sustainable community building project in Guatemala, helped coordinate the build for a not-for-profit eco-tourism and education beach-camp in the Philippines, volunteered at a sustainable beach hostel on an island in Vietnam, helped to build a school in Ghana, volunteered as a permaculture gardener for Bristol Zoo – and the list goes on!

Over the years, her personal interests in nature and sustainable living expanded into her knowledge of wellbeing practices and social prescribing; essentially meaning that being in a nicer place, doing more interesting and fun things, having an opportunity to learn and feel useful, helps you to feel happy and more fulfilled. No surprise! So Lulu fundamentally believes in creating beautiful, stress-free environments and is committed to the idea of being a cog in the wheel of Denmark Farm, helping to facilitate positive stays for guests and residents, and maintaining a beautiful functional space for people to be in.

Mara Morris

Mara has been working at Denmark Farm since early 2007 when she joined us to support our ‘Natural Links’ Programme, and subsequent ‘Wildlife Where You Live’ project. In 2012 Mara swapped roles to become our Marketing Officer. Currently she works as our Engagement Manager – responsible for developing our courses and events, conferences, marketing, membership, shop and all essential fundraising.

Before coming to Denmark Farm, Mara worked in international development NGOs, such as VSO and UNA Exchange, carrying out fundraising, volunteer recruitment and marketing roles. Mara has been living in Wales for 35 years since moving to Cardiff to complete an Arts Degree. In her spare time she enjoys walking, cycling, camping, painting, gardening and various crafts. She now lives just down the road with her small family, 4 chickens and productive vegetable garden.

Marc Richards

Fe ymunodd Marc a thîm Fferm Denmark ym mis Mai 2016. Yn frodorol o Aberystwyth, fe weithiodd Marc i Brifysgol Aberystwyth am 24 mlynedd; yn gyntaf yn y Swyddfa Gyllid cyn ymuno ag Ysgol Addysg a Dysgu Gydol Oes fel Gweinyddwr Cyllid. Cyn hynny, fe weithiodd Marc i Fanc Lloyds am dros 5 mlynedd.

Mae Marc yn astudio am ei Dystysgrif mewn Ecoleg a Chadwraeth drwy Brifysgol Aberystwyth ar hyn o bryd ac mae’n bwriadu datblygu ei ardd i dyfu llysiau a chreu hafan i fywyd gwyllt. Mae Marc hefyd yn frwd am ei bêl-droed – wedi chwarae a bod yn gapten am flynyddoedd lawer ar ei dîm lleol, Talybont, cyn dod yn rheolwr arnynt. Ar hyn o bryd mae’n Gadeirydd ar y clwb.

Marc joined the team at Denmark Farm in May 2016. A local boy from Aberystwyth, Marc worked for Aberystwyth University for 24 years, firstly in the Finance Office and then as the Finance Administrator for the School of Education and Lifelong Learning. Prior to that Marc had worked for Lloyds Bank for over 5 years.

Marc is currently studying for the Certificate in Ecology and Conservation with Aberystwyth University and is looking forward to creating his own vegetable garden and wildlife haven at home. Marc also likes his football, having played and captained his local village team of Talybont for many years, before managing the team and is currently the Club Chairman.