It has been a busy few months at Dyfed Shire Horse Farm. We spent the spring months totally renovating the kitchen/cafe/indoor play areas, as well as undertaking improvement works outside. Our builders worked around the clock to meet the Whitsun deadline for opening the farm to the public, and with hours to spare the whole area had been revamped and repainted. Returning visitors should be pleasantly surprised by the new layout and the upgraded facilities. We are particularly proud of our new toilet facilities that have been designed and built to be accessible to all users regardless of age or mobility. We have also installed a large new outdoor play area, which is great fun for ‘children’ of all ages (and staff!) Over the sinter months, we took the benefit of the lack of vegetation and created a nature trail which takes visitors on a walk around the farm, enabling them to enjoy wooded lanes and stunning views of the Preselis.

Anna Jones, Farm Manager, was ready with her staff team to offer a warm welcome to visitors over the Whitsun holiday and the Farm enjoyed a positive start to the season. Reading visitors’ views in the comments book made all the hard work worthwhile!

Dyfed Shire Horse Farm has welcomed three new equine arrivals to the Dyfed Shires family. In the wee hours of 20th April Arberth Vets assisted Countess with birthing a handsome colt foal who has been named Dyfed Sir Lancelot, and who is already a bit of a charmer with visitors! He loves a scratch on the back and will happily pose for photograhs. On 8th June (again in the wee hours) a few of us were privileged to watch Bonus give birth to a pretty filly foal without assitance (However, we do need suggestions for suitable name for this filly!) Our third new arrival is a 7 year old Clydesdale gelding that we have purchased. Jackson is going to assist Macs with harness demonstrations and in offering cart rides to visitors. Jackson is a seasoned showman, having achieved success in many prestigious shows in the South of England. We are hoping that he will enjoy being a part of the Dyfed Shires Team, and he is already enjoying the attention that he receives from visitors, and has made firm friends with Macs.

We are now getting ready for the start of the summer holidays, and looking forward to all this will bring. We have demonstrations booked from the 13th July 2010 for our visitors to enjoy. Mondays we have Janet with her Birds of Prey. On Tuesdays John Fletcher (current All-Wales Ploughing Champion) will be on the farm showing how he works his ‘Gentle Giants’ on the land. And on Fridays we are joined by our Farrier, Oliver Jones.

We are looking forward to a busy, yet enjoyable summer!