A NEW farm shop and restaurant - bursting with all-Welsh produce - opens its doors in New Quay this Saturday (April 7).

Situated at Woodlands Holiday Lodge Park in Gilfachreda the Simply Welsh/Gwir Gymreig farm shop and restaurant will be open to park residents and non-residents.

Owners Alec and Tina Holland, who took over the luxury lodge and chalet holiday park last autumn, have made it a policy to only sell and serve Welsh food and drink. As a result, at its opening by Ceredigion Assembly Member Elin Jones, the venture will feature products from more than 70 Welsh producers.

"We are absolutely delighted to be opening Simply Welsh farm shop and restaurant. When we bought the Park in September, we planned to upgrade and improve it and Simply Welsh is part of that,” said Alec and Tina.

They have converted the Park’s former clubhouse to create an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of Welsh products from water, beer and coffee to cured meats, fish, cheese, and chocolate, which will be open all year-round.

The carefully created restaurant menu will feature traditional Welsh recipes all made with welsh ingredients.

The building has been designed in an eco-friendly way with recycling a priority. Glass containers will be used as much as possible and customers will be encouraged to take their purchases away in cardboard boxes and paper bags.

“In the holiday park world, Simply Welsh is probably the first enterprise of its kind,” says general manager, Henrietta Hensher, who through her experience in the Welsh hospitality sector is managing the shop and restaurant’s development.

“To open a restaurant which solely focusses on seasonal Welsh food and drink is fantastic. We have enough fabulous produce in Wales to supply us; and so, in the kitchen as well as the front of house we are following our goal of being Welsh to the core.”

Woodlands Park’s owners aim to extend the availability of Welsh produce even further with plans to hold a regular farmers’ market.

Henrietta added: “There is so much fabulous food and drink available that we’re looking at starting up a monthly farmers’ market from May. Going to markets can be expensive for producers so we will give them a free table at our first market so they can try it to see if it is something they’d like to continue – subsequent newcomers will also have a free table at their first market.”