A former Commonwealth Games shooter has scooped a £250,000 jackpot on the People's Postcode Lottery.
Phill Llewellyn (68) represented Wales in shooting at the 1982 games in Brisbane and again in Edinburgh four years later.
Now, the ex-farmer, who lives near Llantwit Major, says he's 'on top of the world' after his postcode was drawn at the weekend.
Phil, who is planning to share his prize with his family and to upgrade a special trip to Australia, said he initially thought it was a prank.
"I signed up nine years ago obviously for the chance of winning but also the fact we could do a little bit for charity", he said. "It crossed my mind that being out in the sticks, I'd probably never win. You never really think it's going to be you."
"At first, I thought it was wind-up when I got a phone call from Postcode Lottery and they told me they'd be sending out a camera crew, and I thought it must be a hell of an elaborate wind-up."
But Phill's doubts soon started to unravel when the film crew arrived, alongside lottery ambassador Danyl Johnson.
"I saw a few cars pulling in on the security cameras and I was like, 'Wow, it is real! These guys jumped out and put their red Postcode Lottery coats on."
Phill has lived at the same farmhouse since he was three months old, after it was brought by his parents in 1957.
The family ran a dairy unit - with just over a hundred cows at its peak - but in the year 2000, they made the difficult decision to walk away from farming.
"Farming was already in trouble then, and it's even worse now", he said. "We were losing money. We had a choice - either go massively into debt or get out while we still could."
"Luckily, my dad who ran this place was still alive at the time and he was a very practical fella. In hindsight, it was the best move."
"When we were producing milk, there were nine dairy farms nearby. Now there's just one - with about 2,000 cows. That tells you everything."
Phill went onto work for a local power station for over twenty years until he retired in 2020 - but away from the farm, he discovered a talent for clay shooting after visiting a local gun club.
"A fella called Basil George told me I needed to take it more seriously. I went back a few more times, started competing - and before I knew it, I'd qualified for the Commonwealth Games twice."
The Commonwealth Games - unofficially dubbed 'the Friendly Games' - saw Phill take part in the skeet shooting and in the trap pairs.
He said: "In Brisbane, it was quite bizarre. I was with a fella called Jim Dunlop from Scotland and for the team event – which is a two-man event – I was the only one from Wales who got the scores to qualify for the event and Jim was the only one from Scotland."
"They said, you can pair up and shoot the actual competition, but you obviously can't be entered into it being from two different nations. So, we entered as Watland!"
"We were sharing accommodation with the Papua New Guinea Bowling team - unbelievable fun. I've even got a standing invite to go out there."
Phill is already making plans for his new-found windfall with his wife, Caroline, and their three children in mind.
"It's the kids, without a doubt. We've got three grown-up children - they'll probably have plans for this before I do", he said.
"We've got our niece's wedding in Australia. That was always going to be a holiday — now it's going to be a much bigger one."
Perhaps if there was a hint of things to come for Phill, it may have been when Caroline opened a fortune cookie during a family meal for her 70th birthday.
"It said there were going to be big surprises this year. Two days later she had a surprise party... and now this."
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