A MACHYNLLETH businessman has been handed a prize by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales at the PRIME Cymru awards.

Alex Holland won the Green Business Award for his business Mental Rentals at the awards, which honours Welsh businesses set up by over-50s.

After being made redundant, Alex decided to set up a business using his home in the Cambrian Mountains.

Mental Rentals provides unique holiday rental accommodation, including a boat set 750 feet above sea level.

Everything is made from upcycled or recycled materials, powered using solar panels and heated by antique wood-burners using wood from local farms.

Alex, who said he was “delighted and honoured” to receive the PRIME Cymru award, has previously won the prestigious Shed of the Year Award in 2013.

HRH The Prince of Wales, founder and president of PRIME Cymru, presented the winners with awards at the award ceremony in front of an audience of 120 guests at Craig-y-Nos Castle, Powys.

He said: “I am really so impressed by what PRIME Cymru is able to achieve to enable people to fulfil their dreams after they have had, very often, a difficult time being made redundant.

“In Wales, more than one in three of all older people over 50 to retirement age are currently not working, and this is a total of around 210,000 people.

“Research shows that around one third of all those currently economically inactive [and aged over 50] would actually like to work, and that’s the point.

“But bespoke services for the 50-plus age group to assist with addressing what are often multiple barriers, is not always so easy to find, which is another reason why PRIME Cymru I think is of such importance.”