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Hopkin Smith's transformation of his traditional working
farm into an outdoor activity centre provides a successful, interesting and
encouraging example of how agri-tourism
can work.
Launched in 1992, the Taff Valley Activity Centre near Pontypridd is
still a fairly young enterprise, but already
the mechanisms are in place for a long- term and
sustainable operation. What is most encouraging is that Hopkin Smith's
determination, enthusiasm and creativity
is so solidly backed by a real commitment to training and development. We
believe this has a vital part to play in
Taff Valley Activity Centre's success story to date.
The variety of the sorts of training undertaken is
impressive with certificates in first-aid, quad bike
instruction, all terrain vehicle operation and health and
safety to name just a few on a much longer list.
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As well as the conventional methods of training, his learning process
has also benefited from the less formal avenues of training including
swapping ideas with other similar operations.
Mr. Smith has also visited Southern Ireland to see how Objective 1
funding is managed there to help agri-tourism boost the rural economy. Not
only did this provide a catalyst for a host of new ideas, but also gave him
hands-on experience on the use of computers in agri-tourism.
Even more importantly, training plays a key role in business development
plans for the future with marketing and IT Skills top of the list of
priorities.
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