A mum has opened up on receiving disgusting messages through her letterbox and being racially abused in front of her daughter.
Nichola Ferron, 47, said she felt "the most unhappy" after settling down in a small country town before being exposed to shocking abuse there.
In one particularly shameful incident, somebody posted a note at her door asking 'What do you call a frozen black person? Tough s**t'.
Having grown up in Jamaica, Nichola settled down in the Welsh village of Neith having lived in New York and London, according to Wales Online.
But the mum-of-one said: "I didn't really know I was black until I moved here.
"I have experienced 100% more racism than when I lived in America or London. I experience racism in one form or another most days."
It was a huge disappointment for Nichola, who was really excited to settle down with her husband and their daughter, Ocean.
Nichola said she knew Neath was the place she wanted to live so she could raise her daughter and at first glance, thought it seemed "a lot friendlier" than London.
So, in 2017, the family made the move and Nichola started her award-winning cake school business Cake Academy Wales.
That was when the dream turned into a nightmare.
"From the day we jumped in that van to come down from London to Wales I was racially abused. Racism was spewed to me and in front of my then four-year-old daughter," she said.
"When we moved here everything started going pear shaped and all because of the colour of my skin."
Nichola said she started keeping a log of all the racism she had experienced since moving to the area. One of the most shocking and clear examples of racism was a letter sent to her cake shop.
"It was in December, 2019 and it said, 'Dear Sir or Madam. What do you call a black person when you freeze it? Tough s***'.
"I thought if my daughter could read she would be very angry and worried about herself. She shouldn't have to grow up worrying about the colour of her skin.
"My husband gave me something I never had before, he gave me security and happiness and let me do what I loved so I wanted to give something back to his community and then this happened".
Nichola reported the incident to South Wales Police.
A spokeswoman for the force said officers investigated reports of "racially aggravated malicious communications" at the time, adding: "A suspect was identified and spoken to re his behaviour and referred to partner agencies for support."
Nichola recalled other experiences of overt racism, where people had told her, and her daughter, to "go back to where [she] came from".
"One of the first incidents I documented was when a man told me to 'eff off back to where I came from' in front of my shop.
"My daughter was once told by other children at her school that she was born in Africa and not London. People here look at a person with colour and assume they know where they came from."
She said that, sometimes, people had even been overtly racist to her in front of her daughter, who is now seven-years-old.
Recalling one instance, she said: "I was in my garden one day and saw someone throw dog poo in a bush [nearby] and I asked her if she would mind putting it in the bin as my daughter likes to play over there and I got from her 'go back to where you came from',"
Nichola said the person then went "on a rant" and started swearing at her, leading to an argument in front of Ocean.
"I apologised to my daughter because she hadn't seen me angry like that before. I said to [the woman], 'excuse me, you've just taught my daughter her very first lesson of racism'.
"Because of these instances I have to teach her about racism, she has to be aware. I had to teach her how to not be ashamed of who she is, to not be ashamed and to be confident so she can say 'my mum is black and my dad is white, so what?' ends the conversation and walk off - and she gets it."
Nichola said she pulled her child out of her school because of racism she endured from other children. She recalled one example where children told her daughter she could not be Cinderella because she was mixed race and did not have blonde hair with blue eyes.
Moving is not an option for the family as Nichola said she wanted her daughter to grow up with her family in Neath, so she had a sense of belonging and community with them. She does not believe she should have to move or change since she is not the person being racist.
However obvious some racism seemed, Nichola said it was important for people to realise it wasn't always that clear. She said racism presented itself in many forms and over time they built up and impacted on mental health.
After one particularly bad incident, Nichola said she went to her doctor in 2019 and was put on medication.
It had become so bad she had suffered a breakdown. She said something she experienced, that others might not realise was racist, was the certain look or attitude she received from people as she went about her daily life.
"When I walk into some places I'm given the 'racist look'. To me, it's a dirty kind of 'we don't want you here' look," she explained.
"One time I was standing in a shop and a customer, referring to where I was standing, told me 'you can't stand there' and the cashier stuck up for me and said 'you didn't ask the last woman who was standing there to move'.
I said the reason why she is asking me that is because I am black and she thinks she can talk to me like that. Things like that happen to me all the time here."
She said she had also been trolled on social media over the years and believed she was more subjected to it because she was a black woman.
Nichola said it was a huge surprise when she realised racism was so commonplace in the area because of the diverse and accepting life she had led previously.
She added: "It's only when we move we get racism because we don't behave like that over there, we're not taught to behave like that. You're taught to respect everyone."
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