'It's been incredible - amazing. I'm ready for a few beers now!'

The owner of Rhayader's Hafod Hardware has spoke of a whirlwind week that has seen him and his two-year-old son catapulted into the national - and international - limelight following the release of their viral tear-jerking Christmas advert.

By Friday afternoon, the two-minute commercial - created by Tom Jones and his friend Josh Holdaway for less than £100 - had been viewed a staggering 1.3 million times on the small firm's YouTube channel, with an additional 275,000 views on Facebook.

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A busy day... Tom Jones jots down his schedule for Tuesday with national media

It comes after a mind-blowing week of publicity that has seen Tom, 30, and young son Arthur, the star of the festive advert, appear live on national television, radio, and in print and online at dozens of the world's biggest newspapers.

"It has been incredible," said Tom. "A bit surreal, and exhausting, but just amazing.

"I must admit, I'll be more than happy to go back to my normal life. I'm going to have a few beers this weekend!"

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The star of the video, two year-old Arthur Jones. Images, above and below, courtest of Hafod Hardware

The adorable video, revealed first by the Powys County Times on Monday afternoon, was quickly picked up by the national media.

"On Monday night, the Daily Mail published the story online and I thought 'Hang on, perhaps this has got legs'," said Tom.

"The next morning, I woke up at 5.30am to my phone ringing. Radio 5 Live called to ask if I would speak live on air - and it snowballed from there. We did a FaceTime interview with BBC Breakfast TV and spoke to the presenters live.

"I eventually got to work and people had brought copies of the Daily Mail to the shop. When I saw our story, I was absolutely gobsmacked. We were all shaking.

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"The phone didn't stop ringing. E-mails were coming in from national newspapers, TV stations and radio stations. I had to turn a few interviews down as it was getting too much.

Tom added: "They all wanted Arthur in the interview which was great. He had a day off nursery and my wife Laura took the day off work, but I was mindful that I didn't want him doing too much.

"The reaction we've had from the advert and the appearances on TV and radio has been fantastic.

"I've had so many private e-mails and messages on Facebook and Instagram. I will spend some time going through them over the next few days and try to reply to as many as possible."

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Tom Jones and his son Arthur

While family-run Hafod Hardware enjoy unprecedented levels of publicity, another beneficiary of the advert is singer-songwriter Andrea von Kampen.

The young American's cover of Alphaville's 1984 hit 'Forever Young' has been universally praised and her version will soon be available to buy on iTunes and Spotify.

Getting the song into the UK charts - and possibly to Christmas number one - will be seen by Tom as the icing on the cake.

"Me and Andrea have been exchanging messages over the last few days," said Tom. "She's been saying how the advert has been been on the news in America.

"It's great that her following on YouTube is growing and growing. She deserves any success she gets out of this, she's got an incredible voice.

"We've been saying how great it would be to get her song to Christmas number one, that would be unbelievable."