WEST WALES could have a new water park attraction in proposals being mooted by the award-winning Moody Cow Farm Shop and Welsh Kitchen, near Aberaeron, Ceredigion.

The award-winning Moody Cow Farm Shop and Welsh Kitchen, along with Bargoed Farm, is owned by Chris and Geraint Thomas.

The couple moved to the derelict farm in 2010 after previously diversifying their cattle farm in the Brecon Beacons, but then losing everything due to legal issues.

They completely transformed the site before opening Bargoed Farm Campsite in 2018 and using wooden hot tubs as a unique way to bring in customers.

Chris and Geraint then launched The Moody Cow Farm Shop and Welsh Kitchen, serving up a wide range of Welsh dishes created using local ingredients.

Over the years, the attraction has expanded, recently gaining permission for a trampoline park on-site, called the ‘Bouncing Bull,’ and, back in 2023, was given planning permission expand its on-site caravan park with new tourer pitches with hot tubs, and glamping accommodation.

Bargoed Farm has now launched a public consultation on proposals to expand the attraction with a water park and leisure facility.

Details of exactly what is proposed have not been released yet.

The consultation, available online through surveymonkey or from Bargoed Farm, says: “Bargoed Farm is planning an exciting new indoor and outdoor waterpark and leisure facility, designed to provide year-round water-based activities for visitors and the local community.

“This new development will include indoor and outdoor swimming pools, thrilling water slides, a dedicated training pool, a children’s splash area, and a warm activity pool, ensuring that people of all ages and abilities can enjoy high-quality aquatic experiences in all seasons.

“Our aim is to create a premier leisure attraction in Mid Wales, offering family fun, fitness, and relaxation, while also supporting the local economy by drawing more visitors to the area.

“As we progress with the planning and development of this project, we are committed to ensuring that the views and needs of both local residents and visitors are fully considered. This survey has been created to gather your feedback on how you would use the facility, what features are most important to you, and how we can make it as accessible and enjoyable as possible.

“Your insights will directly influence the final design of the waterpark, helping us to shape it into a valuable asset for the local community and a must-visit destination for tourists.

“By taking part, you are helping to ensure that this development is designed in a way that best serves those who will use it most.

“We greatly appreciate your time in completing this survey.

“Whether you are a local resident looking for improved swimming facilities, a visitor who would love a high-quality waterpark in the region, or a business owner interested in how this could boost the local economy, your feedback is essential in shaping the future of this exciting new project.”

Bargoed Farm, which publicised the proposals on March 31/April 1, has confirmed the scheme was not an April Fools.

THE VIBE in Milford Haven has unveiled a weekend of whimsical fun this Easter, with three themed events inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

The Easter festivities kick off on Good Friday (March 29) with a Mad Hatter’s Easter Egg Hunt, promising a fun-filled adventure for children and families.

On Saturday (March 30), the venue hosts a Mad Hatter’s Cocktail Tea Party, with live music from The Hideaway Trio, offering a more grown-up twist on the Wonderland theme.

The weekend culminates on Easter Sunday (March 31) with the Queen of Hearts Grand Finale, rounding off the holiday celebrations in style.

Organisers say posters are available and are encouraging locals to attend. The Vibe’s Marketing and Advertising Officer, Hannah Shearer, said the team would appreciate any promotion, in print or online, to help spread the word.

For more information or to get involved, contact: enquiriesthevibe@gmail.com

THE ROMANTIC story of the Welsh people who settled in Patagonia over a century ago is challenged in a new book, revealing a darker side to the establishment of Y Wladfa.

Written by Aberystwyth University academic Dr Lucy Taylor, Global Politics of Welsh Patagonia draws on archival sources in Spanish, Welsh and English to disrupt the myth that the relationship between the Welsh and the Indigenous people was built solely on friendship and harmony.

The publication brings in the voices of the Tehuelche and Mapuche people, and foregrounds unfamiliar accounts of the role the Welsh pioneer settlers played in Argentina’s nation-building project in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Dr Taylor, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Politics who specialises in Latin American studies, says the aim of the book is to present a more rounded version of the history and reveal just how complex settler colonial relationships can be.

“The establishment of a Welsh colony in Patagonia in 1865 is familiar to everyone in Wales. It was a courageous, heroic endeavour in many ways, driven by anti-colonial resistance at home, but it also saw the Welsh become agents of colonisation,” says Dr Taylor.

“In a contemporary Wales seeking to promote anti-racist policies, I believe the time has come for a candid reappraisal of what can be considered the darker side of Y Wladfa and to re-examine conventional narrative through a decolonial lens.”

The book makes it clear that the Welsh did not use physical violence during the settlement process and says their policy of peaceful engagement has often been celebrated and romanticised, especially when drawn in contrast to the use of physical force by ‘English’ and British imperial colonisers in other parts of the world.

“As a result, Y Wladfa has not only been viewed as legitimate, it has been deployed as an asset, contributing to Welsh strategies for cultural resistance and social renewal back home,” according to Dr Taylor.

“Yet Y Wladfa was undeniably fundamental to Argentina’s nation-building project and, while the Welsh pioneer settlement might have had its own agenda, it was also a key factor in the Argentinian Government’s campaign at that time to dispossess the Indigenous people of their lands, and assert their own sovereignty and capitalist modernity.

“My book invites readers to think beyond the conventional stories so familiar to us all, to listen to the voices of Indigenous people from the past and to consider Wales’s complex position as both colonised at home and coloniser in Pagatonia.”

Dr Taylor hopes her research will help inform the new history curriculum in Wales as well as contribute to wider discussions around decolonisation and anti-racism.

Global Politics of Welsh Patagonia (University of Wales Press, 2025) will be launched at the National Library of Wales at 7pm on Wednesday 2 April when Dr Taylor will be in conversation with Emeritus Professor Paul O’Leary from Aberystwyth University’s Department of History and Welsh History. Tickets are available free of charge online but booking is essential.