page_title: Gwydir Forest
section_title: Geography of the forest
hierarchical_section_title: Gwydir Forest / Geography of the forest
caption_attribution_description: English: moel siabod mountain from gwydir forest wales
context_page_description: Gwydir Forest, also spelled Gwydyr, is located in Conwy county borough and the Snowdonia National Park in Wales. It takes its name from the ancient Gwydir Estate, established by the John Wynn family of Gwydir Castle, which owned this area.
  Natural Resources Wales uses the alternative spelling. Certainly as early as 1536, Leland wrote: "Gwydir lieth two bowshots above the River Conwy. It is a pretty place."
context_section_description: The forest broadly encircles the village of Betws-y-Coed, and much of its midsection lies within the parish.  It reaches northwards to the village of Trefriw, and southwards to the village of Penmachno.  It covers an area of over 72.5 square kilometres (28.0 sq mi), including 49 square kilometres (19 sq mi) of productive woodland.
  Certainly there would have been a certain amount of natural tree growth on these hills thousands of years ago.  More recently, records from the 18th century refer to the rafting of timber down the River Conwy.  In the 19th century use was made of the quay at Trefriw for the shipment of timber to the coast.  In 1778, referring to Carreg-y-Gwalch, just above Gwydir Uchaf, Thomas Pennant was told that "the noblest oaks in all Wales grew on this rock within living memory."
  The forest occupies an undulating plateau, reaching to between 700 and 1,000 feet (210 and 300 m) above sea level, which is divided by the valleys of the rivers Llugwy, Lledr, and Machno, all of which are tributaries of the River Conwy.  Despite being a forest, much of it is not dark and enclosed, and it offers fine views over these valleys, with further views to the mountains of the Glyderau, the Carneddau and the Snowdon massif itself.  
  The forested areas occupy the steep slopes and poorer soils of the plateau, the best of the soil being in the agricultural valley bottoms.  Rainfall in the forest varies from under 50 inches (1,300 mm) to over 80 inches (2,000 mm) p.a.  
  The forest is home to numerous lakes, all of which are reachable by footpaths, and nearly all of which were created to serve the mines of the Forest.  In order of size, these include:
  Llyn Crafnant  63 acres (250,000 m²)—on the northern edge of the forest
  Llyn Geirionydd 45 acres (180,000 m²)
  Llyn Elsi 26 acres (110,000 m²)
  Llyn Parc 22 acres (89,000 m²)
  Llyn Glangors 15 acres (61,000 m²)
  Llyn Bodgynydd 14 acres (57,000 m²)
  Llyn Goddionduon 10 acres (40,000 m²)
  Llyn Pencraig 5 acres (20,000 m²)
  Llyn Bychan 3 acres (12,000 m²)
  Llyn Sarnau 3 acres (12,000 m²)
  Llyn Tynymynydd 1 acre (4,000 m²)
  There are also a number of smaller, unnamed lakes.
caption: Moel Siabod from Gwydir Forest
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "FE210,X775", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "314", "Image YResolution": "314", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "1.0", "Image DateTime": "2009:09:30 18:43:13", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2366", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "8002", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4826", "EXIF ExposureTime": "183/250000", "EXIF FNumber": "23/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:09:30 18:43:13", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:09:30 18:43:13", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "163/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "7334", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "3610"}