Plans to legitimise just under 100 permanent and touring caravan pitches at an award-winning holiday park near Crickhowell have been refused by Bannau Brycheiniog planners.

Last November, Sarah and Martyn Farr lodged a Certificate of Lawful Use of Development planning application with Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority for land being used for 31 permanent pitches, plus 68 touring pitches at Cwmdu Caravan and Camping Site.

The holiday park is four miles north of Crickhowell, just off the A479 road.

Documents lodged with the application show a map of the site from 2016 showing the pitches as a reason for legitimising the use of the land for caravan pitches. A second map from 2025 shows the same detail for the campsite and pitches.

Bannau Brycheiniog’s Director of Planning and Place, Gareth Jones, said: “The evidence submitted with the application is not sufficiently precise and unambiguous to conclude that the use of Cwmdu Caravan and Camping Site, as outlined in red on the site location plan submitted with the application, has operated with 31 permanent pitches and 68 touring pitches continuously for the requisite time period of ten years prior to the date of the application and has therefore not become lawful.”

Due to this, he refused the application.

Established in 1964 by Olive and Eric Farr, Cwmdu Campsite is a family-owned business run by Sarah Farr and her husband, Calvin Clark.

The campsite includes a collection of holiday cottages and glamping units adjacent to the caravans.

Pitches also vary across the campsite, with electric and non-electric pitches, as well as those on hard standing and grass pitches, which are also spread across the site.

In 2022, the site was given the accolade of “Best Campsite in Wales” by the website campsites.co.uk.

In 2023 and 2024, the site was named by campsites.co.uk as the “Best Campsite in Mid-Wales.”

Also, in 2023, the business was awarded the “Best Family Campsite in Mid-Wales” by the website.

In 2023, it was also mentioned as a “Top 10 Campsite to Visit” by The Independent newspaper.