Folly Farm, one of Wales’ top tourist attractions and voted TripAdvisor’s 10th best zoo in the world, is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Wales’ largest independent family business was started by dairy farmer Glyn Williams, whose parents, George and Margaret, farmed the land before him in the early 1900s. He wanted to diversify from his farming roots and decided to open the gates in 1988 to curious passers-by, who wanted to see the dairy cows and learn more about the workings of a dairy farm.

Now, thirty years on, Folly Farm in Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire, welcomes 500k visitors through its doors to enjoy a 120-acre attraction with a zoo, barn, vintage fairground with eight adventure play areas.

Today, it’s home to more than 750 animals including, lions, giraffes, critically endangered black rhinos and penguins.

Still very much a family business, with Glyn and his wife Anne still on the board, their daughter Karina and son-in law Chris Ebsworth are part of the extensive team that are now responsible for the day-to-day running of the attraction.

Chris Ebsworth talks about he and his family are living the dream.

Although marrying into the family, Chris says that tourism is also in his blood.

“I’ve always enjoyed making people feel great. As a boy, I worked at Butlins in Bognor Regis as a barrow boy, like a porter - collecting guests bags and bringing them back to the chalets. It was there it clicked that a job in tourism was for me.

“I went on to work in marketing jobs for Butlins and the local authority but decided, in my 20’s, to do a degree in tourism at Bournemouth university – which was where I met Karina, 25 years ago.”

During their summer breaks, Karina brought Chris back to her parent’s home at Folly Farm, where he rolled up his sleeves and got stuck in.

“When I started to work there during my first summer season, I could see that the farm was going to be a very exciting place to work.

Glyn opened the farm to the public and quickly created a small visitor attraction where people could come along and watch the dairy herd being milked, feed the goats and enjoy a cream tea. As a current headmistress, Karina’s Mum Anne knew exactly what would work to keep the children entertained.

“For five years Anne continued to teach alongside running the attraction and then Anne joined Glyn full time in what was already proving to be a successful enterprise.

“Whilst Karina had worked at Folly Farm from the outset I continued to visit the farm during our summer holidays, giving a helping hand where required. Following our graduation we responded to an advert in the national paper, we were chosen out of thousands of hopefuls to go to Florida to work for Disneyworld.

“So, in 1997, we packed up and moved to the sunshine state. Amongst other tasks we were lucky enough to be involved in the opening of Animal Kingdom.

“We worked across the whole park, picking up as much knowledge as we could along the way.

“I was lucky enough to spend time with many of the managers and leaders that operated Disneyworld and that was the most unbelievable experience. It was a really exciting insight into how the world’s largest tourism business operated.

“So what did we do? We took the organisational insights from Florida back to the charm of Folly Farm.

“Apart from being one of the best experiences of our lives, it was fundamental in the way we run the business today. It taught us so much, especially about management and how important a culture is to a company. Disney had mastered the art of the ‘family’ ethos, which lucky enough, we had on tap.

“It’s the simple things like getting stuck in and working alongside the team at all levels.

“It’s been a whirlwind of a ride so far and, probably the summer of 1998 was a turning point for us. We had already been granted a zoo license in order to operate our bird of prey flying demonstrations. And in 2001 we went to work on building a zoo.”

The arrival of four giraffes in 2012 cemented Folly Farm’s status, not only as a leading tourist attraction but as a major player in the UK’s zoo industry.

Folly Farm has always been committed to conservation, now being part of 23 breeding programmes, conserving natural resources and working closely with conservation partners such as Save the Rhino and Wildlife Vets International.

“The next five years after that was where we really started to punch above our weight.

“We designed and created a giraffe enclosure, opened Penguin Coast which is now home to Humboldt and Macaroni penguins.

“We welcomed six African lions and developed Kifaru Reserve, an enclosure for three eastern black rhinos some of the world’s most endangered species - and those were just the big projects.

“Our management team rapidly evolved and we made a few key appointments to help drive the business forward. One of the keys to our success is our continued investment. We continually reinvest to ensure that every visit to Folly Farm gives the guests a new experience.

“I think we’ve achieved this and we now see three or four generations of families regularly coming back to visit us.”

When Folly Farm first opened its doors in 1988, it welcomed 17,500 guests and today more than 500,000 people visit each year.

“We have staff here who started in the gift shop as a summer job who are still with us now in a managerial position.

“We nurture staff and are prepared to help with training and continued development taking on people from all different walks of life. Some are seasonal staff that spend their summer breaks from university with us, and other are full time staff who play a key part in the operation. It is the whole team and the guests that make Folly what it is.

“Operationally, we’ve evolved and changed over the years, we now invest heavily in digital marketing, social media and our website, all things that did not exist when the doors first opened.

“The tourism industry is moving at such a rapid pace and with the world becoming smaller we’ve needed to up our game, not only competing with attractions in UK but holidays abroad. We would love Pembrokeshire to become a destination of choice. It is truly a beautiful county and has so much on offer.

“Family will continue to be at heart of what we do.

“We have three children, 17, 15 and 10 years old, who all roll up their sleeves and help out in the school holidays. We’ve grown with them and they’ve helped shape the attraction. We regularly sit around the dinner table and chat about the plans asking their opinion, everyone in the family brings a special skill or something to the table.

“We have some exciting plans in the pipeline for Folly Farm and what you can always guarantee is some brilliant memories. That’s the business we’re in, making memories.

“One of my favourite things to do is to just walk around the park on a busy day in the summer holidays and just soak in the atmosphere – It’s a real thrill to see our team and our guests enjoying what Folly has to offer!”

For further information please visit www.folly-farm.co.uk search Folly Farm on Facebook www.facebook.com/FollyFarm and follow @follyfarmwales on Twitter.