Farmer’s daughter swaps wellies for Team GB ski boots

Thirteen-year-old Lottie Williams, from Tump Farm near Usk, has swapped her wellies for ski boots and just wrapped up her first season with the GB children’s ski team, contributing to a team silver with her impressive efforts.

As one of the youngest members to be selected to the Team GB alpine children’s team, Lottie is also a proud member of the Snowsport Cymru Wales ski team.

Her skiing career started when she was six, training with Pontypool Ski Racing at the local slope in Gwent.

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Despite being too young to compete then, she got a taste for alpine racing on her first camp in the Alps with Dragons Ski Racing.

To help take her skiing to the next level, Lottie is based in the Alps during much of the winter, with Excel Race Academy in Tirol, Austria.

Days are long, with a 6am start and a strict training programme in the morning, leaving time for school work in the afternoon, before more fitness training and prepping the skis for the next day.

“It’s a long day, but good fun, and living on a farm I’m used to early mornings and hard work,” says Lottie.

Next on the agenda are the British Alpine Championships in April, which take place in Santa Caterina, Italy. Lottie will then swap to the dry slopes of the UK as the artificial slope season gears up.

© MAG/Anne Dunn

When she’s not busy skiing, Lottie loves helping on the family farm and is particularly keen on lambing season.

“I look forward to coming home between training camps and being on the farm. I just like being around all the animals,” she says.

Love of lambing

Helping dad Mark and grandparents Glyn and Jill Williams with jobs around the farm is something Lottie looks forward to every day.

“Lambing is my favourite time of the year, and I love helping my grandma with the pet lambs and being on call whenever a ewe is lambing,” she says.

Fitting schoolwork around a rigorous training programme means Lottie has to be focused.

“The exams are continuous throughout the year, but I stay in touch with my teachers to stay on top of everything when I’m away. They’ve been great at helping me,” she says.

The end goal for Lottie is to represent the UK at the Winter Olympics. Plan B, she says, is to combine her two passions – skiing and farming.

“I would also quite like to be a ski coach alongside being a farmer, if the Olympics don’t happen,” she says.

On the farm, the family concentrate on finishing store lambs with variable stock numbers, as well as lambing their own flock of Suffolk cross Mule ewes later in the spring. 

They also buy in Charolais and Limousin-cross store cattle and take them through to finishing.

With farming in her blood, Lottie has always been an outdoor child, mum Sara Jones says.

“Whether that’s on the farm or in the mountains, in either environment she thrives. We will do anything to support her, but it can be quite a challenge,” Sara says.

Lottie and family © MAG/Anne Dunn

Diversification project

Mark and Sara are launching a diversification on the farm – producing their own brand of canned drinks – with the aim of making the farm business more sustainable and bringing in extra cash to support their children’s love of skiing.

“Both Lottie and her younger brother Sonny enjoy ski racing and training camps, but the farm doesn’t cover the costs,” says Sara. “So, in addition to my wages, we’re hoping this will help boost the funds a bit as well.”