Pembrokeshire’s Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo is investing in new facilities and infrastructure after visitor numbers increase by 120,000 over last three years.

The attraction, which now receives more than 500,000 visitors per year, recently won a Visit Wales Gold, refurbished its Cwtch Coffee on-site café and has also invested with a full renovation in its five star holiday cottage, Folly View.

The café has been transformed into a modern space with comfortable seating, which offers coffees, cakes and cream teas. It also includes a new children’s play area, and new energy efficient hand driers in accordance with Folly Farm’s sustainability policy.

Folly View holiday cottage, which is a two minute walk from Folly Farm and sleeps 10 people, has also been fully renovated with a state-of-the-art kitchen, and a large garden and patio area with BBQ. The accommodation also has disabled access, with an easily accessible ground floor bedroom and wet room.

Over the last three years, Folly Farm has opened seven new enclosures, including the Penguin Coast, Flamingo Lagoon, Pride of Pembrokeshire, Kifaru Rhino Reserve, sloth and fruit bat enclosure, African Aviary, and the Jungle Journey development which is home to squirrel monkeys, tamarins and douroucoulli monkeys.

Managing director at Folly Farm, Chris Ebsworth, said: “Over the last few years, we’ve spent around £2million per year on infrastructure, maintenance and developments. As we’ve seen an increase of 120,000 visitors over the last three years, we wanted to ensure that our facilities grow with the business, as they are as crucial in creating a fun family day out as our attractions are.

“Achieving Visit Wales’ Gold Award was very important to us, as it’s an independent verification of everything Folly Farm has achieved and creates a huge sense of pride and achievement within the organisation. Guests have already commented on how relaxing our new venue, Cwtch Coffee is and how much they like it, which is exactly what we had in mind when we first planned the refurbishment.”

Folly Farm has welcomed a number of new arrivals to its growing family over the past few years, including two rhinos, 34 penguins, seven bats, ten flamingos, and a sloth, as well as a number of births and arrivals from other zoos.

Chris continued: “As well as ongoing improvements and refurbishments, we’re also planning a new entrance and gift shop area, improving existing enclosures, and are also looking at new staff offices as the business grows and as we employ more people. We also have a new website in development and online ticketing system and will be introducing new products online such as animal adoptions over the coming months.”

Cabinet Secretary for the Economy and Infrastructure, Ken Skates, said: “Investing and developing our tourism product is key if we are to drive higher tourism earnings for the Welsh economy. Folly Farm demonstrates that continuous investment and keeping their product fresh and exciting for new and repeat visitors reaps rewards and I’d like to congratulate them on achieving a gold award for their efforts.”

For more information and updates on the new additions at Folly farm visit www.folly-farm.co.uk.