Welsh Minister Embraces Farm Stay Experience
Apr 29, 2010
From left to right: - Jonathon Jones, Visit Wales, Alun Ffred Jones, Heritage Minister, WAG, Claire and Neil Bale, Cyfie Farm, Andy Woodward, Farm Stay UK
Maybe you’re looking for the sort of holiday where you get a real insight into the lives of the locals and a connection with the local culture. A farm stay in the Welsh countryside could be exactly what you’re looking for, at a price that needn’t break the bank.
And if you think you think a stay of a farm means compromising on accommodation and facilities, you’d be wrong. Many Welsh farms that offer accommodation are four and five-star graded, with several having achieved the coveted Visit Wales Gold Award.
Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones experienced a farm stay first-hand when he recently stayed at Cyfie Farm, a five-star Gold Award winner, at Llanfihangel near Llanfyllin in Powys.
The owners of Cyfie, Claire and Neil Bale, had invited the Minister to stay to on their farm for a taste of the unique holidays that Welsh farms can offer through being centred in living rural communities. After a tour of the farm and a dinner of the best locally-sourced produce, Claire and Neil took the Minister to their local, the Goat Inn at Llanfihangel, to meet more of the local community and to listen to the singing and entertainment that regularly takes place there.
Neil, who is also the Chairman of the Tourism Partnership Mid Wales, said: ‘’Many of our guests say it’s the only pub they know where the singing gets better as the evening progresses!’
Alun Ffred Jones said: “I’ve heard people speak of experiences they have had through interaction with local people and the insight in local culture they gain from holidays in far-flung places, but the option of a stay on a farm offers you a real insight into rural Wales and its culture at a fraction of the cost.”
“There is a huge variety of excellent accommodation available, with some farms such as Cyfie, offering luxury suites and spa facilities on a par with top quality hotels. The farm experience allows guests the chance to stay in traditional Welsh farmhouse and to meet local families. I was pleased to see for myself the emphasis that has been given to the use of local suppliers and local produce, something that I understand that Farm Stay Wales has been keen to promote to its members.”
“These aims fit well with Visit Wales’ work to give visitors to Wales a real sense of place when they visit through its Croeso Cynnes Cymreig programme, as well as other initiatives from the Welsh Assembly Government like the local food sourcing action plan.”
Claire, who is the Director for Farm Stay Wales, commented: “It’s been great to have the Minister stay with us to give him the experience that Farm Stay Wales members have to offer, to show him the excellent standard of our accommodation, and to give him a real flavour of Welsh community life in Montgomeryshire.”
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