Snowdonia National Park, home to snow-capped mountains, mysterious towering castles, forgotten slate mines and an ancient forest dedicated to the memory of the legendary Welsh hero Gellert. On the southern border of this world-famous national park we find the biggest draw for us clay shooters, Dovey Valley Shooting Ground.
Owner Richard Jones is on hand to give us the tour of everything this Welsh wonderland has on offer. Dovey Valley has been in the Jones family since the 60’s but Richard and his partner Nia only took ownership last year, as Richard explains. “My grandfather, Hugh, established the grounds and was well known for just how realistic his targets were. He would hide his traps and make the targets appear out of thin air. Eighteen years ago, he leased the ground out to a couple, but they retired in 2018, so Nia and I took over and brought the family back into the business in January 2019.”
Since then Richard and his family have been hard at work refitting the clubhouse, clearing out overgrown sections of the grounds, adding new targets and installing a Promatic Claymate system. “Nia and I decided that if we were going to take over Dovey Valley then we were going to do it right,” continues Richard. “We wanted to do the location justice and turn it into a truly modern shooting ground.”