Luke was unsure he’d live to see Home of the Year completed
LUKE Thomas fell in love with a house and brought it back to life via a complete renovation project – in return, he feels like the house “kept him alive” through a devastating stage four melanoma cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment.
Luke said: “The house wasn’t finished and I was getting quite poorly as well, so I wasn’t sure if I’d actually live to get to see it completed. But during that time, thinking about the home, doing research and buying furniture and things like that, and the passion, it kept me alive and my mind stimulated. I wanted to see it finished – it’s part of my journey. I am currently responding very well to treatment, two-and-a-half years in and I’m still responding, although I do get very bad side-effects, but it is my baby so it’s something I wanted to see finished.”
The result of Luke continuing the project despite all he was going through, supported by family and friends, is Little Castle Cottage in Kidwelly being crowned Wales’ Home of the Year – with owner Luke standing by as a proud parent to witness his “baby” being fussed over.
It was a difficult birth even prior to Luke’s illness, with finance and timescale the initial challenges at the Carmarthenshire cottage.
Luke says: “Because the cottage was uninhabitable I couldn’t get a traditional high-street mortgage so I had to get a bridging loan and the terms were I had to get it finished within a year. It had to be deemed habitable so I could then get a highstreet mortgage to then pay off the bridging loan.”
At the time, 37-year-old Luke was working in London as an architectural designer and catching the Megabus every weekend back to Kidwelly to join his parents on the cottage renovation project, driven by the knowledge that they had a fixed timescale.
And they did it with time to spare. Hard work meant Little Castle Cottage was habitable within 10 months – with a bathroom, kitchen, heating and a new roof.
Luke estimates about 80% of the work to complete the cottage to its award-winning standard was done by family and friends, and cost around £65,000. The renovation included everything – only the rafters and the four walls were left once it got going.
The cottage is now due to be Luke’s full-time home once he has sold his London flat and he is looking forward to a full-time relationship with the property he fell in love with as soon as he saw it, despite its rundown state.
Luke says: “When I first saw the house in its derelict state I still felt that nice feeling, that homely feel. It had such a calming vibe – I really think the house had that feeling, even in its sorry state.
“I thought of what the cottage could be with love and care, that this could be a beautiful home and I got that feeling from the very beginning, and I think I’ve just enhanced that.
“It’s in between a castle and a graveyard so you’d think it would be full of ghosts, but no, it’s got such a calming vibe. Saying that, the first night I stayed here I was thinking, ‘I’ll be gutted if I’ve spent all this time and effort renovating it and it’s completely haunted!’”
It was not just a random house that had become rundown but one with many memories for local people who had visited it over the decades.
Luke says: “It was owned by the village doctor – everybody knew Dr Boyns – and many have had a relationship with the house, coming here for a quick emergency, and he was a very kind doctor.
“Everyone was invested in the house, loved it, and was keen to see what was happening to it and we would stop work to do tours around it. I might do an open house soon because everyone has been so supportive of me doing the house, and then everyone can come and have a look.”
It can be daunting to put your house forward to be judged on television, but Luke feels it’s part of his life journey, which has included walking the entire coast of Wales to raise £60,000 for Melonoma Focus.
Overall he thought it would be great fun and a way of saying thank you to everyone who helped him achieve his renovation dream; but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t nervous.
Luke was tagged in a social media post about the BBC Cymru Wales property programme but was hesitant about putting the cottage forward.
He says: “If it was like a Grand Designs type show then I thought obviously the one with the biggest budget is going to win this type of competition, so there’s no point in entering. But when I watched the Scottish series, it wasn’t about that, it was actually all about the home, and that’s what I thought was very interesting.
“I was quite nervous to find out what people thought of my home – will they criticise it, will they like it, will they love it? But each house that was on the show and in the final were all very different and all very beautiful. To have won is really amazing, it was a lot of hard work and for it to be recognised that people like what we’ve done is incredible.
“I am over the moon, it’s a great feeling to have that title, Wales Home of the Year – it’s crazy! And I just wanted to share it with my friends and family, especially my mum and dad, who all worked hard on the home and it’s like a thank you. The last two years have been bonkers, with cancer, the charity walk, the home, winning this . . . It’s a nice warm feeling that people like what we’ve done.”
Luke now has one last DIY job – where to put the winner’s plaque.
BBC Cymru Wales’ series Wales’ Home of the Year is available to view on BBC iplayer.