Family of seven forced to live in CARAVAN after they were forced from 28-bed mansion during planning

Publish date: 2022-10-03

A FAMILY-OF-SEVEN went from living in a 28-bed mansion to being squeezed into a caravan after a long-running planning dispute cost them "millions".

Geraint, 56, and Christine Thomas, 53, opened Gilestone Farm in Talybont-on-Usk in the Brecon Beacons in 2005.

After planning permission was granted for 50 caravans and 50 tents, the family set out to build a successful luxury holiday camp.

It opened in 2005 and the campsite was even listed in the "UK top 50" in the national press.

However a group of locals objected to the plans and demanded a judicial review, which was granted.

In 2010, a High Court judge quashed the planning permission the Thomas family had been granted - blaming "many errors" of the national park authority - and they lost everything.

Christine, 53, told Wales Online: "We had borrowed an awful lot of money to built it and invest in it.

"The shower and toilet block was only built in 2009 and that cost £350,000. There was a massive investment.

"It's heartbreaking because it was such an injustice. What happened at Gilestone was outrageous.

"The farm had to go on the market straight away because all our other sources of income had gone. We put everything into that caravan park. We lost millions but it wasn't so much about compensation but justice."

At her lowest point, Christine said she even contemplated ending her own life.

In 2015 the Thomas family returned to court in a bid to get £100,000 compensation against their barrister who they claimed had given them "negligent" advice - but they lost.

She said: "We came home, licked our wounds and sold 80 acres of land and we decided to start again."

The family-of-seven ended up living in a caravan with their three youngest children, Henry, then nine, Olivia, then four, and Hettie, then aged 16, while Christine took a job cleaning homes to make ends meet.

Looking to rebuild their lives, they bought a "run down" farm near the seaside town of Aberaeron and converted it into a caravan park.

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It opened in Easter 2017, followed by a shop and bistro [called 'The Moody Cow'] and they now employ 35 people.

"I cannot believe the change in our lives", she said. "I thought my life wasn't worth living at one point."

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