They say that you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear*, but we rather disagree. If you put in the effort, employ the best craftsmen and women, and women, and use the most authentic materials, you really can create something very special, as @griffrhysjones and family have done at Bwthyn Trehilyn.
*As vegetarians we hope that nobody ever tries to make anything from any part of any pig, but we do hope that more people use lime rather than plastic cement, hand-made sash windows rather than UPVC, natural rather than artificial pigments, and really inform themselves to local styles, proportions and details as the Rhys Jones family have here. Do it right, using the right materials and the right attention to detail and it’ll look like it has always been there.
We hope you agree!
This miller’s house had been mauled in the twentieth century and ended up as a derelict outbuilding, full of blocked-up openings, and contributing nothing to its environment – it seemed such a shame as it ostensibly has the best location on the Trehilyn Estate, with view down to St David’s head and over its own 70 acres of land. Normally our ‘restoration’ projects aren’t quite so dramatic – this is a substantial revision… but that was what was required given the considerable alterations that the building had suffered. Chwarae Teg to Griff, wife Jo and son George for their considerable efforts in bringing this house back to use – it really is lovely.
See more at https://www.underthethatch.co.uk/btrehilyn