A businesswoman has been recognised by an organisation dedicated to sustainable tourism for her site based in the hills above Abergavenny.

Laura Tenison MBE is the founder of JoJo Maman Bébé, a mother and baby brand she spent five years growing into a £71 million business from her kitchen table in Pontypool. She sold the business in 2022 to NEXT Plc and Davidson Kempner PE.

Now, Laura primarily focusses on her collection of five-star self-catering properties and retreat spaces at Wern-y-Cwm Farm. The Grade II listed farmstead has been transformed into ‘Wonderful Escapes’ during her ownership and continues to grow.

Recently, Laura and the team received their Gold Green Tourism accreditation, the highest level of certification available from the organisation, Green Tourism.

"There's a lot of noise around sustainability. Independent standards like Green Tourism are important because they give people confidence that what you're saying is real,” she said.

"Retail, by its nature, depends on making and selling more and more products. I wanted to explore what a truly regenerative business could look like. Wonderful Escapes at Wern-y-Cwm is my answer to that question."

Wern-y-Cwm Farm sits on 30 acres of organically managed land bordering the Bannau Brycheiniog national park, 10 minutes from Abergavenny train station. The restored farmstead includes a rare intact Cruciform Barn and a collection of traditional farm buildings dating from 1580, all returned to use without compromising their historic character.

The farm has planted 1,000 new deciduous hardwood trees, manages wildflower meadows to encourage biodiversity, and holds five-star Visit Wales accreditation.

The business joins a small number of Welsh hospitality businesses to achieve Green Tourism’s Gold accreditation and take circular economy principles into practice. This hard to achieve accolade backs up Laura's earlier work making JoJo just the second B Corp-accredited business in Wales.

Wonderful Escapes also recently won the award for the Best Self-Catering Award as the Visit Wales Awards 2025/26.