A French café in Aberthin has expanded with the opening of a new bistro at its existing Pant Wilkin Stables site.

Fredwell Café & Pâtisserie opened the doors to its new bistro almost two weeks ago and has applied for an alcohol licence with the view of extending its opening hours until 22:30.

Chris Birch, 37, owns Fredwell Café & Pâtisserie with his partner Jak Bjornstrom and lives in Llansannor. They used to own a national cleaning company and sold the business in 2020, as well as an accountancy firm and property management company with Airbnb lettings on its books. "The man who owns the farm here [Pant Wilkin Stables] invited me to look at a few cabins he was thinking about letting on Airbnb," said Mr Birch.

"I went and had a look and thought they were perfect – it's a lovely spot. But one of the biggest bits of feedback we would get from holiday guests was 'it's a lovely spot, but you can't easily walk somewhere to go and get a coffee instead of jumping in the car and driving to Cowbridge.'"

Fredwell Café & Pâtisserie is owned by Chris Birch and Jak Bjornstrom. (Image credit: Birch Group)

Mr Birch had always wanted to open a coffee shop and the feedback spurred him to move forward with his dream. "There was a muck heap where the former stables were. I was talking to Tim [the owner of Pant Wilkin Stables] and asked whether I could open something here," he said.

"I thought it would just be something for holiday guests to use and we could employ one member of staff to make coffee and keep everything going. But we became inundated with people, not just from the site, but from Cowbridge, Aberthin, Llanharry and other places nearby."

From here, it quickly expanded from an estimated 25 seats to a 40-seat venue and the business still needed more space to cope with demand. "Because we managed the units for the owner of the site, I approached the business next door and asked whether we could take their unit to expand and move them somewhere else," said Mr Birch.

The owners have applied for an alcohol licence for the bistro with the view of extending its opening hours until 22:30. (Image credit: Birch Group)

With the bistro, the whole business can now accommodate approximately 110 covers. The inspiration behind Fredwell's theme originates from a café in France close to a farm owned by Mr Birch and Mr Bjornstrom. "We took the best bits of the café in France and brought it over here," said Mr Birch. "We got in touch with a few French contacts and asked to import some cakes and other goods.

"We've already agreed with our French suppliers that we'll be adding Escargot [cooked snails] to the menu and we'll have some quirky options like frogs' legs, with a few British and French staples."

But local produce is also very important for the owners to highlight. Some cakes are made in St Hilary, a local micro-brewery has agreed to supply the bistro with a select few drinks, and most of the menu is made within 15 miles of the site. "Our coffee is roasted in Caerphilly, and we try and use a lot of small, independent businesses as much as possible," said Mr Birch.

"It's all about doing what you can locally, and I think people respond really well to that."

Mr Bjornstrom, an interior designer by trade, has an impressive client list from Judi Dench to Lin Manuel Miranda. He has put his touch on the interiors and Mr Birch's background as a strategist for other business owners is the combination of Fredwell's growing success.

Escargot and frogs legs will soon be included on the bistro menu. (Image credit: Birch Group)

Now, the only problem at Fredwell Café & Pâtisserie and the new bistro is staffing levels. Mr Birch and Mr Bjornstrom find themselves helping out with the day-to-day because of how busy it is. "We never expected it would be so busy that we'd end up running it as well," said Mr Birch.

"Staff is our biggest thing at the moment – we need more staff members because we're having to step in pretty much every weekend. But it's a good problem to have. I'd rather it be busy than quiet and have to let people [staff] go, so it's all going in the right direction."

Mr Birch and Mr Bjornstrom will be expanding the business once again on the site with its own bakery. "Because we bake our own bread and pastries, we do a lot of things internally and don't retail them," said Mr Birch.

"But we've had a lot of people say it would be lovely if they could buy the bread and other bits. People kept asking and we just thought it was a good opportunity to make it happen."

Just this week, the owners also agreed to open a new location in Cardiff Bay in the coming months.

Currently, the bistro is open six days a week and is closed on Tuesdays but there are plans for the business to open seven days a week in the coming months.