A COMMUNITY farm is due to reopen almost three years after closing for refurbishment but not until after the school summer holidays.
Greenmeadow Community Farm in Cwmbran has announced it will reopen in September meaning owners Torfaen Borough Council has missed its aim to open during summer 2025.
When contractors were appointed, in July last year, it was anticipated building work could take nine months with the attraction still expected to open in April this year.
When that deadline was missed the farm posted to its Facebook page delays were due to a problem with a retaining wall for a new animal barn but said its “much-anticipated opening has been set for the end of summer”.
September 2025
However, in a social media post Torfaen Borough Council has now confirmed the opening date as Saturday, September 13.
It said further details on opening times and ticket prices will be confirmed in the coming weeks.
The council is putting £3.7 million into the redevelopment and when its Labour cabinet approved the construction contract last year, Councillor Sue Morgan said it was still anticipated that the farm will be open before the school holidays in 2025.
The Cwmbran Pontnewydd councillor said it was important it didn’t miss out on the holiday period.
The small working farm has been closed to the public since autumn 2022 when the council agreed to revamp its attractions to make it commercially viable.
Spiralling cost meant the original plans were shelved and the council, in September 2023, agreed to provide a further £1.6m for the overhaul of the site.
Existing buildings are being refurbished as part of the project which also includes building a new play barn and animal barn and improvements to the entrance.
Greenmeadow has been a working farm for more than 250 years and enthusiasts who feared it would be would be lost to development saved it in the 1980s.