A family-run campsite near Brecon has been recognised on the national stage for its exceptional toilet and washroom facilities.

Pencelli Castle Caravan & Camping Park, run by the Rees family, has received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Loo of the Year Awards. The awards, now in their 38th year, celebrate excellence in public and workplace washrooms across the UK.

Gerwyn Rees, who established the park with his late wife Liz in the 1990s, said the recognition was unexpected but deeply appreciated.

“We can’t believe this has happened and we’re deeply grateful and honoured to be recognised in this way,” said Gerwyn.

The campsite began almost by chance, Gerwyn explained, after a handmade sign advertising the site was put up one day as a joke.

“We have farmed this land for many years and my aunt used to say that we should set up a caravan and camping site as the location was perfect,” said Gerwyn. “One day we put out a handmade sign on the road as a joke, as she was arriving later that day. As I was hammering it in, two lads stopped and asked ‘how much for the night to stay?’

“I had no clue so I just said ‘50p?’ and they said ‘great’. That was it. We started out like that and now we have a thriving business which my wife and I built together. When she sadly passed away, Craig and Morgan [the couple’s sons] made the decision to work with me to further build the business and here we are.”

The Loo of the Year Awards are run by businesswoman Becky Wall BEM and her husband Charles, with inspections covering more than 1,500 sites across the UK. Facilities are judged on 101 criteria, including cleanliness, décor, signage, accessibility, and customer service. Winning a national award requires consistently high standards across all these areas.

Gerwyn said: “We do all we can to provide excellent facilities and we felt independent scrutiny from the team to the Loo Of The Year Awards was a fantastic opportunity and we’ve entered across several years. We never even considered that we’d be recipients of this amazing life-time achievement award.”