Ffos Las is a rural area between the villages of

Carway Carway ( cy, Carwe) is a village situated to the north-west of the town of Llanelli in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales, in the River Gwendraeth, Gwendraeth Valley. It is part of the community of Llangyndeyrn, and had a population of 672 in 2 ...

and

Trimsaran Trimsaran is a community and former mining village which lies on the B4308 between Llanelli and Kidwelly, in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire. Trimsaran is six miles (10 km) from Llanelli, and from Carmarthen. It is close to Burry Port ...

, north of the town of

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...

in the

Gwendraeth Valley The River Gwendraeth ( cy, Afon Gwendraeth) is a river in Carmarthenshire in West Wales. It has two almost equal branches that have their confluence in their joint estuary at Carmarthen Bay. The Gwendraeth Fawr (''large Gwendraeth'' in English) ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The Ffos Las area is named after a farm which had existed at the site before mining operations began.Ffos Las information from Carmarthenshire County Council
/ref> The

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

translation of ''ffos las'' is ''blue ditch''. Ffos Las was once the site of an open cast mining operation which operated between 1983 and 1997. At one time, it was the largest open cast mine in EuropeGuardian.co.uk: New Welsh racecourse Ffos Las not short on ambition, says Tim Long
/ref> and was 500 ft deep. Ffos Las is now best known for the

Ffos Las racecourse The Ffos Las racecourse (''strictly'': Ffos Las Racecourse & Conference Centre) is a Welsh horse racing, equestrian sports and conferencing venue situated in Ffos Las, Wales. The Ffos Las racecourse was built at the site of an open cast coal mine ...

which was completed in 2009. The racecourse is built on top of the in-filled open cast mine.

Future plans

There are proposals by house builders

Persimmon The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus ''Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-pers ...

to build around 250 houses on a part of the racecourse development site. 69 properties are planned for the first phase of construction. FT.com - If you build it, will they come?
/ref>

References

{{coord, 51.73112, N, 4.23998, W, display=title Geography of Carmarthenshire