Anglesey farm goes back to the future with new milk and milkshake vending machine

The milk bar on Holy Island will open this weekend

A dairy farm on Anglesey is set to go "full circle" as people will once again be able to fill their empty milk bottles at the source, just as they did decades ago - but with a slight twist.

Plas Hafod farm is located on Holy Island just off the B545 between Valley and Trearddur Bay. It has been in the same family for four generations and is currently run by Meilir and Rhodri Parry's parents and taid, who is 94-years-old.

Meilir and Rhodri, with the help of their partners, Elliw and Lizzy, and their sister Rhodd and her partner Gwennan, are set to embark on a new chapter for the farm with a brand-new milk and milkshake bar called Llefrith Cybi.

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After a year's work putting it together, the bar will finally open in time for half term this Saturday. Customers will be able to buy a reusable one-litre glass bottle and fill it with milk or four different flavours of milkshake - chocolate, strawberry, banana, and a weekly special starting with salted caramel.

The milk used for the vending machine comes fresh from the farm. The cows are milked; the milk is pasteurised and is then transferred to two small tanks that are connected to the vending machine. All of this happens within the space of four hours.

The one-litre glass bottles cost £2; a litre of milkshake then costs £2.20; a litre of milk is £1.50, £1 for a small bottle; people can also buy the milkshake in a cup for £1.40. A coffee machine will also be installed soon.

Elliw Jones, 32, is Meilir's partner and handles the admin of the milk bar. She said: "The location of the farm by such a busy road makes it the perfect place for this kind of business. We are always looking for new ways of making the farm viable and we thought this would be an exciting new way of doing that.

"For us, the vending machine is a good way of cutting out the middle as it enables us to sell directly to the customers. We've seen an increase in people buying locally in recent years and that has also benefitted us with people more likely to go out their way to buy our milk.

"It is a kind of full circle moment in a way as people used to buy milk in glass bottles from the farm decades ago. The old milk stand is still on the farm and we've brought it back into use for the bar. We've gone back to what we were doing 80 years ago but with a modern twist.

"We are so grateful for the support we'd had from local cafes and restaurants and Cywain as well. We've also had some great support from Meilir, Rhodri, and Rhodd's parents and their Taid who will be cutting the ribbon at the grand opening this Saturday."

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