Monmouthshire may be thousands of miles from the harsh, icy world of Antarctica but thanks to one woman, the two are closer than you might think.

Rachel Morgan is the director of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) and runs the organisation from her home near Raglan.

Her latest task has been to help train a team of four people who will spend the Antarctic summer at the museum, gift shop and Post Office at Port Lockroy.

A team departs yearly to this harsh environment on behalf of the Government of the British Antarctic Territory, which donates a proportion of the Post Office revenue to the trust.

Rachel works from the trust's headquarters, her home, and whittled the team down to the chosen four people – Florence Kuyper, Ben Kaye, Flo Barrow and Kath Leavy – at a recruitment event in the summer.

Rachel has been running the trust for the past 10 years and knows what it takes to work in the Antarctic having fulfilled a life-long ambition when she worked as a field assistant for the British Antarctic Survey.

The UKAHT acts as both monitor and regulator of Port Lockroy. The team contributes to an environmental study, which has been going on for 10 years, into the impact of visitors to the site.

In conjunction with the study, the team will regulate the number of visitors and ships visiting the area, as well as imposing strict site guidelines to ensure the environment is properly cared for.

Port Lockroy is located on Goudier Island in the Antarctic Peninsula and was recognised for its historical importance in 1994 and designated as historic site and Monument Number 61 under the Antarctic Treaty.

The buildings were renovated in 1996 by a team from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and since then have opened to visitors during the Antarctic summer.

Hundreds of cruise ships make the post-office a popular port of call on their routes. Around 70,000 cards are posted each year for over 100 countries.

The workers from the UK Antarctic Trust will be keeping the Post Office running through the continent's summer and manning the small shop inside.

For more information on the group or to follow their blog, visit http://www.ukaht.org">http://www.ukaht.org.

The trust is always in need of support and if you would like to donate to the work the team are doing, visit the 'Support us' section of the website.