Plans for TV presenter Kate Humble and her husband Ludo Graham to open a rural skills centre at Meend Farm, Penallt, have been met with public support.

Residents of Penallt gathered in Pelham Hall last Wednesday (19th October) to hear about the couple's plans and to express their opinion on them.

Ms Humble personally welcomed everyone to the meeting saying she was "overwhelmed" that everyone had made the effort to be there.

She said she had hoped to be able to stand there and say the sale had gone through, but unfortunately they were still waiting and hoped it would "go through in the next few weeks".

The original idea to set up the centre came to Ms Humble and her partner about 18 months ago.

They sat down with Meend Farm's former tenant Arthur Edmonds, who had handed in his notice, as he was concerned Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) was going to sell off the farm.

Ms Humble said the farm had been marked "for disposal" and she was worried it would be "broken up" when it was sold.

"I did not want to see another farming opportunity go to waste," she said.

"We kept nagging the council for a meeting but got nowhere for about six months.

"Eventually we were invited for a meeting with MCC's newly-appointed chief officer for regeneration and culture.

"As Meend Farm is 118 acres, we know it would be a big challenge to make a living out of a farm that size, so we thought of a way to keep the farm working while bringing in added income to it.

"We could not run the whole farm because we are not farmers but we realised there is a lot of interest from people who want to learn about farming.

"We thought we would keep the opportunity for a young couple to farm and we could add to that with the skills centre.

"Our idea was a completely new approach for the council and we had up to 30 meetings with them talking about ideas."

Ms Humble and Mr Graham did not know whether their idea would be passed, but it was given unanimous approval from MCC's cabinet and no councillors voiced any opposition in the allocated two-week period following the meeting.

For full story see Beacon 26/10/11.