A stunning picture taken by Chloe Bayliss of Cross Ash is among thosw which will feature on the FUW’s countyside calendar for next year.
Budding photographers from across Wales have left the FUW’s headquarters full of wonderful rural life images in recent weeks as 2025’s annual calendar image entries have been sorted and judged with a wonderful family image of North Country Cheviot sheep pictured underneath a budding tree taking the top prize.
Emily Jones from Penuwch is delighted that her winning image will be featured on the front cover of the FUW’s 2025 calendar, which will be available FREE of charge from FUW’s county offices and at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair on the 24 and 25 of November.
The top prize of £250 will be presented to Emily on the first day of the Winter Fair with the eleven other photographers’ entries featured on the 2025 calendar named, sent a bilingual copy and an FUW beanie hat.
Those featured this year are: Greta Hughes, Jamie Smart, Heledd Williams, Annie Fairclough, Chloe Bayliss, Steven Evans Hughes, Marian Pyrs Owen, Beca Williams, Richard Walliker, Erin Wynne Roberts and Anne Callan.
FUW President Ian Rickman said: “The competition has proven extremely popular yet again this year and I was delighted to look through over 100 entries of wonderful rural images. The standard was high and it was no easy task dwindling them down to just twelve.
“I think we’ve captured the very best of what rural Wales has to offer, from cute looking miniature donkeys and piglets, a highland cow profile for March with a stunningly detailed close up of a hare face for the beginning of the year to a pink sunset in rural Wales.
“This year we’ve awarded a drone image of machinery at work for October, a traditional hand shearing competition features in August ending with an eerie winter wonderland image near an estuary to end the year. The calendar encapsulates the calendar months and some striking, colourful and atmospheric images.
“This competition has highlighted that farming matters to all of us in one way or another and our Welsh family farms are vital as food producers, countryside stewards, wildlife supporters, technical innovators and vital to safeguard traditional skillsets.
“Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for taking the time to capture these images, for showcasing farming and our wonderful countryside in such a skilled way,” Ian Rickman concluded.
The calendars will be available from your local county office and from the FUW stand at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair.