Get your news delivered straight to you by 7am - sign up to our new Morning mail newsletter for FREE Do you have a story? Get in touch sophia.stanford@dailymail.co.uk See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy SOPHIA STANFORD, NEWS REPORTER Published: 00:02 BST, 2 July 2026 | Updated: 00:02 BST, 2 July 2026
A couple planning to build an eco-home in rural Wales told their local council they intend to breed and eat guinea pigs raised on their land.Dave and Mayu Phillips have been granted planning permission by Pembrokeshire County Council for the development, which includes 'small-scale livestock' being kept for meat.As well as guinea pigs, they expect to raise pigeons and rabbits for food in an effort to live sustainably on the land.A planning committee meeting heard Mr Phillips, who said his family have lived in Pembrokeshire for generations, believes the project is his way of 'contributing positively to its future'.The plans include a 'low-impact' home, increased production of honey and walnuts on the site, as well as the keeping of small livestock.Councillor Mark Carter questioned Mr Phillips on the choice of meat, telling him: 'I was quite intrigued by some of the other things you were going to grow: the rabbits and the guinea pigs, was it?'Mr Phillips responded: '(They're) not like the guinea pigs people have as pets, it's completely different.'It's just like a big rabbit, and we've got experience for years now we've bred them. David and Mayu Phillips are set to build an eco-home in rural Wales where they will breed and eat guinea pigs raised on their land'They're bred for meat, very similar to breeding rabbits for meat, very similar.'The proposals are a One Planet Development - a Welsh planning policy designed to encourage people to live and work sustainably on their own land, allowing building to go ahead on rural sites that may otherwise not be permitted for development.Mr Phillips told the committee: 'My wife and I are very deeply passionate about the One Planet movement and the principles behind the One Planet development.'Today humanity is living as if we've got several more planet Earths just waiting in the wings… the reality is we only have one planet.'We can spread awareness of this problem but also take practical steps towards living more sustainably.'
