Clynfyw Care Farm is aiming at a UK award after scooping a Wales Rural Business Award.

Representatives from the farm in Boncath recently travelled to Wrexham Glyndŵr University for the Rural Business Awards for Wales and Northern Ireland.

Shortlisted in two award categories, they were delighted to win the Best Rural Diversification Project award, and were runners-up in the Best Rural Social Enterprise, Charity or Community Project.

"It was lots of fun to go along and be at the awards," said James Sallis who lives at Clynfyw. "We love Clynfyw and it is lovely to know that other people know about it now too."

They will now go forward to the national final in February that will see the best rural businesses from across Britain come together in Manchester to celebrate the Great British countryside, and to find out who exactly are the RBA’s national champions.

This success follows on from further good news received by the care farm that it has secured funds from the Rural Community Development Fund and Welsh Government to create a modern, fully accessible, energy-efficient community facility in Abercych.

The Big Barn project is the next step in the development of Clynfyw Care Farm and will provide a much-needed local service to the community.

A large stone barn, currently used for storage, will be turned into a commercial-grade training kitchen, large communal dining room, washing/toilet facilities and vegetable store. The office will relocate and workshops be refurbished.

Once the capital works are complete, the project will offer volunteering, training and employment opportunities as well as a space to meet and socialise, thereby reducing rural isolation.

Jim Bowen, Clynfyw manager, said: “We are looking forward to participants, community volunteers and staff being able to prepare and eat healthy and seasonal food grown by them at the care farm.

"With the threat of climate change increasingly affecting us, the important role that care farms play in supporting vulnerable people is all the more evident and vital.

"Success in competitions like this raises the profile of the care farm movement throughout the country. Our project will develop people’s skills, confidence and demonstrate ‘field to table’ in action. It is an exciting time.”

The Big Barn project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities -Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government and the Welsh Government’s Community Facilities Programme.