Ruperra Conservation Trust was originally formed from a local history group with interest in saving a derelict local Jacobean mansion, Ruperra Castle. The Trust was then made up of a few local historians, both professional and amateur, and other supporters, both local and from further afield with an interest in historic gardens and buildings. Four original trustees formed the Trust as a registered charity and company limited by guarantee. They gathered onto their committee other like‐minded people who could help them in saving an at‐risk building, and began to fund‐raise to purchase the castle and find new uses for it.

This case study charts the development of a small community woodland group in Llangattock, in the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The group is unusual in that it grew out of a desire to find a sustainable local source of quality woodfuel for the community – rather than, as is usually the case, emerging out of a need to manage an existing community woodland asset.