A shared love of Welsh poetry has led to a Montgomeryshire couple diversifying their farm business by partnering with a mushroom-growing company.

Arwyn Groe and Gwenllian Lansdown Davies have expanded their beef and sheep business at their 320-acre farm near Llanerfyl to grow mushrooms which are then sold to customers such as The National Trust.

Poet Arwyn and and Mudiad Meithrin chief executive Gwenllian have joined forces with The Mushroom Garden – Snowdonia, a family-run business based near Beddgelert, in Gwynedd, to form Yr Ardd Fadarch: Maldwyn. The popularity of The Mushroom Garden’s products led to business owner Cynan Jones needing more growing space.

Cynan and Arwyn have known each other for several years and became friends through their shared love of writing poetry.

Arwyn said: “We’ve known each other a long time, I’ve taught cynghanedd (a style of Welsh poetry), and over the years Cynan and I would see each other at eisteddfodau.

“Gwenllian and I were looking to diversify on the farm and looked at different options, but nothing quite suited our situation. Cynan said they were looking to expand and mushrooms fitted the bill.”

As a result of the formation of a new partnership, the business is set to increase its capacity five-fold, with the weekly production of Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms estimated to rise from 200kg to around one tonne per week. The Davies aim to produce around 40 tonnes of mushrooms this year at their Llanerfyl farm.

The Mushroom Garden has been helped in its progression by Cywain – a Menter a Busnes delivered project that supports the development of growth orientated businesses in the food and drink sector in Wales.

Cywain development manager, Marial Edwards, said: “It’s great to see a partnership and business model forming such as this, which leads to business expansion and the potential to access new markets and create new jobs in another region in Wales.”

The pair revealed their expansion plans and new products to potential customers and collaborators at an event in The Checkers, Montgomery, on Thursday.