RHUG Estate's renewable energy team has been strengthened recently with the introduction of Alice Salisbury-Arndt who grew up on a sheep farm in Wrexham.

Rhug Estate, near Corwen, covers 12,500 acres in Denbighshire and 2,500 acres in Gwynedd, and sustainability has always been firmly at the heart of the business since Lord Newborough took over in 1998.

Farmland, forestry, moorland, coastal areas, built property, and diversifications such as a farm shop, an organic meat business and a renewable energy company make up the estate. The capacity of the renewable energy schemes on the estate ranges from 4KW to 1.2MW and generated electricity is either used on site or exported to the grid.

Alice Salisbury-Arndt, who now lives in Flintshire, is the new Estate Administrator with responsibility for the Estate’s Built Property and Renewable Energy.

Before starting with Rhug she worked in London in energy compliance for the company Resourcematics. Prior to that she gained her Masters Degree in Environmental Management at Bangor University.

Lord Newborough said, “I have championed the highest standards of organic and sustainable farming for many years, protecting and enhancing the environment for future generations. Our heat and power generation from renewable sources totals more than 3,500 MWh per annum now, utilising technologies such as photovoltaic solar panels, hydro-electric turbines, wind turbines, and heat-pumps.

“Most of the electricity we generate is exported to the grid, but we also use it in the retail premises, the offices and we offer electric vehicle charging to the public, next to our farm shop. I am delighted to welcome Alice to Rhug, she will be an asset to our Estates team with her freshly qualified outlook on environmental management and her local farming knowledge.”

Alice is from a farming background. She grew up on a beef and sheep farm near Wrexham. She now lives in Leeswood with her partner Ben who is a local butcher.

On starting her new position Alice said: “I’m delighted to be working with Lord Newborough and the team at Rhug.

"Rhug Estate is such a diverse business and yet at its core is organic farming. Knowing that I’m helping to maintain an Estate filled with so much history, but also looking to future sustainability with the help of renewables, is so rewarding for me personally.”

In her spare time Alice enjoys being out walking her dogs. She is often back at the family farm helping with whatever work needs to be done depending on what time of year it is in the farming calendar!