Kath Rhodes Editor
I’m Kath Rhodes and my role is to edit Welsh Country magazine and welshfoodbites.co.uk which is my personal food blog. We took the plunge and launched Welsh Country in 2005 and we are so delighted with the response and huge support we have received. I just cannot believe where the time has gone!
Our enthusiastic team at Welsh Country are passionate about many things, promoting Wales, encouraging more visitors to spend their holidays here, arts and crafts and highlighting the wonderful array of Welsh food and drink.
Over the years we’ve passed quite a few milestones. We’ve published Geoff Brookes’ book ‘Stories in Welsh Stone’ which was a first for both of us and got great reviews. In 2014 i was lucky enough to be nominated for a National Rural Hero Award with the Countryside Alliance, which to my amazement was awarded the accolade. I do not know which people nominated me, but I was surprised and pleased that anyone could be bothered to make that effort. I was told it was for the behind the scenes work that the team and I do referring problems that come into the office about small business and food and drink issues through to the Welsh Government.
I hope you continue to enjoy reading Welsh Country as much as we enjoy putting it together for you. Enjoy our beautiful and varied countryside, the work our talented arts and craft people produce, but if you can find a better bunch of artisan food and drink producers, you let me know.
Your comments and feedback are always welcome, so please feel free to email me when you have time.
Ian Mole Commercial Manager
Agriculturally trained, Ian has always lived and worked in the countryside. Work has taken him around different parts of the UK including a few years in the flat landscape of the Fens.
Ian attended Agricultural College in Aberystwyth, and now feels that he has returned home to relish the challenge of building the Welsh Country business. Having done PR and Marketing for 20 years, working with many countryside companies, Ian’s understanding of rural issues and small businesses helps considerably when he is talking to businesses all over Wales about Welsh Country Magazine. Cooking is also a passion of Ian’s, which really completes the circle from farming to the plate.
Russ Clarke-Wildeman Graphic Designer/Webmaster
Hailing from Birmingham, Russ, although wanting to be a musician when he grew up has been designing everything graphic for 30+ years. From flyers and posters through album and CD covers, corporate literature, website design and build to eventually joining the Welsh Country team in March 2019 as the layout/print designer for the magazine. Once Covid put paid to the physical magazine (sigh!) his focus has centred on the websites Welsh Country, Welsh Food & Drink and Welsh Food Bites…and by ‘the skin of his teeth’ he’s still here!