A farmer was stunned after her fields went up in flames despite suffering one of the wettest winters ever recorded.
Sorcha Lewis has been tending the land in a nature-friendly way for over 25 years.
The sheep and cattle farmer says she knows the area well and has never seen a wild fire before.
But despite record rainfall during the winter months, flames swept across the scenic landscape at Troedrhiwdrain, Elan Valley, in Mid Wales.
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Shocking video showed the blaze and its aftermath.
The fire started five miles away, as reported by Need To Know.
Sorcha said: “I have been here just over 25 years, and my husband Brian his whole life.
“He is the third generation on this farm and there are more generations in the area.
“We farm like our neighbours in a traditional and nature-friendly way.
“It’s a joy living in the hills even when off-grid, no signal and the hardships of topography and weather.
“Also, there are the great the joys of living in such an important landscape with a strong sense of community.
“I would say I know it quite intimately and all the layers that it is made of.
“We have mainly sheep, and have brought cattle back to the farm to help manage the land.
“We hadn’t had a hill fire here for 40 years.
“We knew if there was one, it would be bad, but the scale of it was worrying.
“The fire was started five miles away.
“It was shocking how far fire can go.
“For us living in a high rainfall area it’s been good to have had such a wet winter.”
Sorcha said the fire highlights how important it is to wet the upland Peatlands as much as possible to offer sustainability and resilience.
The fire started in the valley on Sunday (Apr 26) and was thought to have initially been under control before three separate blazes ignited the following day.
Firefighters tackled the blaze for days and called in help from Natural Resources Wales, which provided a firefighting helicopter.
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