The owners of a Ceredigion business that has won a prestigious award feel ‘humbled’ to have been crowned.

61 year old Geraint Thomas, and his wife, 58 year old Chris Thomas are the owners of Bargoed Farm and Caravan Park, located near Aberaeron. The business won the Countryside Alliance awards, also known as the ‘rural oscars.’

They were nominated in the Rural Enterprise category, and invited to the awards ceremony in Cardiff’s Y Senedd on Tuesday 27 February.

Bargoed Farm was one of 20 Welsh businesses in the finals. In the end, it was the Ceredigion based farm that won the award, leaving its ‘proud’ owners feeling very ‘humbled.’

Chris Thomas said: “We feel incredibly humble to have received this award, and we’re so proud to be bringing it home to Ceredigion.”

The award carried a particular importance to the couple, who have spent the last 14 years putting their life back together after a court case involving planning on their previous property causing them to ‘lose everything’ and start from scratch.

“This time 14 years ago we had just lost Geraint’s dad and the court case had just concluded which resulted in us losing everything.”

Bargoed Farm will now represent Wales in the UK finals of the Countryside Alliance award. Geraint and Chris will be invited to the awards ceremony in the House of Lords in London in June.

But the work won’t stop there for the owners of Bargoed Farm, they are in the process of expanding, doubling the amount of camping pitches, the amount of private hot tubs, and they’re in the early stages of planning to build a swimming pool.

The expansion could see another 10-15 jobs being created, on top of the 100 staff members already employed at Bargoed Farm.

Rachel Evans, Director of the Countryside Alliance Wales, said: "This evening was about celebrating our rural communities and the role that these businesses play in keeping them together – their continued promotion of Welsh produce, skills, and rural life deserve all the credit they can get. The Countryside Alliance is proud to be honouring a group of people who about are passionate about our countryside and about providing quality goods, services, and employment to rural communities and beyond.”

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