A LITTLE CASTLE
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EXT to the stunning Pencarn sandy beach on the Conwy coastline stands a stone-built historic little cottage that looks out to sea.
Ty Crwn once served the owners of Gwrych castle, near Abergele, and was a place where the family would come to enjoy the beach whilst having comfortable facilities nearby.
The cottage ttage was originally part of the castle e estate, and enjoyed for many decades cades by the Lloyds of Gwrych through hrough to the era of the Countess of Dundonald, the last member of the family to use the property until her death in 1924.
The house use then went through a number er of owners. But turn back the clock just two years and this pretty y building was in trouble. In need of f urgent renovation, the roof was falling off, there had been a fire e and the building was now on the local council’s empty homes list. t.
A trustee of the castle had bought the cottage from the previous, longterm owner with the idea of restoring it, but due to ill-health reluctantly had to sell it.
Not being a listed building, the property was very lucky that the new and current o owner, also keen to bring the cottage b back to its former a and traditional glory, g was architectu architectural historian Dr Mark Ma Baker. Mark, f from Prestatyn, is w well-known within the t historic build building restorati ration world an and beyond as the passionate expert who set up a preservation trust with a view to saving Gwrych Castle after falling in love with it when he was just 12-years old.
And when the castle’s beach house was up for sale, Mark couldn’t resist buying it, paying around £150k, even before viewing it.
Mark said: “I wanted it to be more of a surprise, but I knew it was a wreck. I also knew that it was very solidly built and what had been burnt down was a later addition, and the historic core had survived.
“The atmosphere when I first went in was very forlorn but very dramatic, even picturesque with the windows smashed and the wind howling in, like something out of an 1820s Gothic novel!”
But this was no ordinary renovation project.
Mark explained: “The cottage is so distinctively linked to Gwrych Castle and its estate, you can feel it’s part of something bigger. It was important to link the two buildings.”
Mark and his team of construction experts, who have also been working on the restoration of the castle, wanted to take a historically-accurate approach to make the cottage as authentic as possible, but also adapt it for modern life.
Most of the original plasterwork had been hacked off over the years, to expose the limestone walls, which were then painted. But luckily a section of the original plasterwork survived in the kitchen.
There was also an original gem waiting for Mark in the front lounge.
He explained: “There was a tiny section of the cottage underneath the stairs that was untouched.
“We took the 1970s stairs out and discovered a section of plasterwork and skirting, and this was enough to recreate the room. It was painted in a yellow ochre, which is a typical, traditional early 19th-century colour and used elsewhere on the castle estate.”
When the structural work inside was completed, Mark’s attention again turned to interior design and furnishing and accessorising the beach house.
Mark said: “I wanted the bedrooms to be peaceful so their colours are influenced by the sea location and what would have been used at the castle as well.
“It’s called Fowler Olive by a designer called John Fowler and the lamps are Laura Ashley, all second hand. I have tried to reuse and upcycle as much as possible.”
One of Mark’s favourite items within the beach house is the restored Victorian bath, with its position free-standing in the middle of the room making the space feel opulent. In fact, if he is pushed to choose his favourite room, the bathroom just about wins.
But the cottage is full of items chosen wisely or that has a unique story.
Mark said: “The mirror was donated by one of the trustees of the castle as a housewarming present, the beds are a pair of French early 20th-century