Countryfile celebrity Adam Henson gave Monmouthshire County Council's (MCC) new £5m market site at Raglan a ringing endorsement when he handed over the keys in an official ceremony last Friday, 29th November.

The 27-acre site, features a 3,689 sq m building and a support building to house a ring, offices, 396 pens, toilets, lobby and café and parking for almost 160 vehicles.

The 2,000 people attending the launch were treated to 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' sung by Raglan schoolchildren, before Bob Greenland, whose cabinet responsibility includes innovation, enterprise and leisure at Monmouthshire County Council said he was "staggered by the number of people here today".

Following him, chairman of MCC, David Dovey said it was a wonderful day for Monmouthshire County Council; "This facility demonstrates the council's support for the hugely important rural economy of Monmouthshire.

The leader of the council, Councillor Peter Fox, said; "Today starts a new chapter in a whole new life for agriculture in Monmouthshire and it's absolutely important we have a market that will not only just serve our generation, but will serve the generations to come."

He paid tribute to former MCC officer Steve Greenslade who he described as "an inspirational leader of the team and it was so sad he never lived to see this market open".

Following a prayer from MCC's chaplain the Rev Chris Blanchard, Countryfile presenter, Adam Henson a journalist who farms in the Cotswolds said that it was fantastic to be here; "This takes British agriculture onto a different level, Farming has got to be sexy and exciting and impressive and this is what this market is all about and the future farmers are going to have to be entrepreneurial as well as hard working.

"You can see from this building there is a huge amount of confidence in British agriculture." He then handed over the keys to Keith Spencer, the company secretary of the newly-formed Monmouthshire Livestock Auctioneers.

In response, Keith highlighted the new state-of-the-art facilities and added; " This new market will be able to cope with the current throughput and should attract new business as well.

"The site has been built to the highest modern standards taking into account animal health and welfare and is able to offer a much improved service to our customers," he said.

"Our current town centre location has become somewhat outdated to meet the needs of our business. With the closure of Monmouth market in 2002 and Newport in 2009, the volume of livestock has become too large for our current premises."

The site has been developed by Monmouthshire County Council at a cost of around £5 million and includes a support building, administration offices and a café. The current site is to be sold off for a supermarket development in Abergavenny town centre.

Pictured are (left to right) Bob Greenland, Adam Henson, Councillor David Dovey and Keith Spencer

• THE final sale at Abergavenny's historic Livestock Market after more than 150 years will take place this month.

It marks the end of an era for the town, and a decade of negotiations over the site, when the last sale is held on 11th December.