'The pleasant feeling of remoteness is better found in the recess of Pembrokeshire than perhaps anywajere in England or Wales,' wrote Country Life's legendary architectural editor, Christopher Hussey, back in 1939.

It's a place, he added, that 'has all the attributes of an island but that of being surrounded by water: a windswept landscape of its own, with the tang of the sea about it... and innumerable castles.'

The place that moved Hussey to such purple prose was Manorbier Castle, in the village of the same name, located a few miles along the coast from Tenby. It's a classic Norman castle, begun in around 1090, and pretty much untouched after about 1300. The hills, the beach and the Celtic Sea beyond combine to create an almost impossibly idyllic setting for an ancient ruin. And if you were to buy Long Park — on the market at £1.6 million — all this would become the backdrop to your life each day.

Built in 1936 during the Arts-and-Crafts Movement and taking inspiration from the Voysey style, the crowning glory of Long Park is its south-west facing elevated terrace, which offers a panoramic perspective over rolling hills to Manorbier Castle itself, running all the way to the water.

The current owners have lived in this four-bedroom house for the first time in 30 years — just as you guess, for who would leave a place like this? In their stint the house has undergone a full restoration, keeping this elegant 90-year-old home ideal for 21st century life.

The spacious kitchen/dining room is the hub of the home and has bespoke cabinetry, as well as doors that lead out to the aforementioned terrace.

All four of the bedrooms are upstairs, and all have en-suite bathrooms.

In short, it's a fine home in an even finer setting. As the agent James Skudder puts it, Long Park is, ‘the embodiment of privacy, elegance and unparalleled beauty’.

Long Park in Manorbier is for sale via Country Living Group — see more details.

East Sussex — £1,500,000

The Grade II*-listed Hailsham Grange, built in 1709 when Queen Anne was on the throne, acted as a vicarage for the neighbouring church, but, today, it is a luxury family home with seven bedrooms, four reception rooms and period features. The light-filled entrance hall with its black-and-white tiled flooring provides a spectacular introduction to this home, whether that is for the potential new owners as they first step through the door or for their visitors, who will no doubt arrive in droves.

They will find comfort and cosiness if the weather is inclement, for the dining room, drawing room and snug have open fireplaces, the latter also boasting panelled walls. The large bay window in the kitchen/breakfast room incorporates French doors that lead to the rear garden.

In fact, Hailsham Grange is set in half an acre, which includes lawns, well-stocked flowerbeds, low-level topiary, mature hedging and trees. Its setting — the town of Hailsham — offers everything a resident could wish for, including shops, schools, cafés and bars.

For sale via Strutt & Parker — see more details and pictures.

Monmouthshire — £1.15 million

‘The Old Vicarage is one of a kind,’ says agent Richard Kerpner, introducing this distinctive 1862 property in Caldicot, close to the church of St Mary’s, during his video tour. As the camera pans, the property’s ecclesiastical links can be seen immediately, not least in the archways within (in fact, the far end of the ground floor was once a private chapel) and in the Gothic arch windows throughout.

Commissioned by the Revd Edmund Turberville Williams, The Old Vicarage was designed by architect Henry Woodyer, whose CV is lengthy and includes the creation of Cranleigh School in Surrey and alterations to Tyntesfield in Somerset.

The house is vast, covering 4,505sq ft, and five bedrooms can be found on the first floor, with four reception rooms on the ground floor. Ceilings soar in this house; there are two stairways, including one contained in a turret; and there is a large cellar, too. Nothing about The Old Vicarage is ordinary.

For sale via Fine & Country — see more details and pictures.

Isle of Wight — £1.05 million

The Old Rectory in Brighstone, Isle of Wight, has had a colourful past and more than one high-profile incumbent. Previous residents of this attached Grade II-listed property include William Fox, curate and enthusiastic fossil hunter whose finds ended up in the British Museum. Bishop Ken, the first rector of Brighstone, was another resident, but at this point he hadn’t refused to swear fealty to Charles II and nor had he spent time in the Tower of London. William Wilberforce’s son Samuel, also a Brighstone rector, later became Bishop of Oxford and of Winchester.

Any buyer will, therefore, have plenty of material for after-dinner conversations with guests in their new home, which has six bedrooms and five reception rooms, as well as a self-contained apartment on the second floor. The gardens consist of lawns surrounded by well-stocked borders and mature trees. Newport is a 10-minute drive away, and footpaths lead to the nearby coast and beaches.

For sale via Spence Willard — see more details and pictures.

Hampshire — £3.15 million

The Old Rectory, built in the hamlet of Hartley Wespall in the early-Victorian period, hasn’t come to the market in more than 50 years, so interested parties will find a home that has been at the centre of family life, playing host to myriad Christmas parties, birthday celebrations and all manner of other gatherings, for half a century. They will also find that many of the original period features have been retained, including the servants’ bells and original fireplaces in many rooms.

There are eight bedrooms in total, set over two floors, plus four spacious reception rooms, a cellar, and, outside, an outbuilding and about three acres of grounds, including a walled garden and an orchard. For some R&R or fun during gatherings, the swimming pool will certainly come in handy.

For sale via Knight Frank — see more details and pictures.

Co Durham — £1.5 million

Gothic Revival architect Samuel Sanders Teulon had a significant hand in the appearance of The Old Vicarage in Hunstanworth. In the mid 19th century, he took the earlier vicarage, retained its historic core and extended the house, giving it striking gables, steep slate roofs and stone mullioned windows. Prospective purchasers visiting for the first time will be able to take in all of these elements as they enter via the sweeping gravel driveway and head to the stone-arched entrance porch.

Inside, they will find four reception rooms, including a dual-aspect drawing room with a bay window and tall sash windows with working shutters that offer glorious views over the garden. Five bedrooms are arranged over two floors, and they, too, overlook the about 2¾ acres, that include lawns, specimen trees, stone walls and hedging. Characterful both inside and out, the original pig sty with stone feeder and an owlery is further evidence of The Old Vicarage’s past.

For sale via Finest — see more details and pictures.

If you want to get away from it all, the uninhabited island of Ynys Gifftan on the rugged north Wales coastline certainly takes some beating.

Set within the Dwyryd Estuary in Snowdonia National Park, you can walk to the 17-acre private island from the mainland in about five minutes – but only if you time it right. For Ynys Gifftan can be reached on foot for up to three hours either side of low tide, according to Discovering Britain — it’s one of 43 unbridged tidal islands in Britain.

Reports suggest the island was in the hands of the Royal Family until the 18^th century, when Queen Anne gifted the rocky outcrop to Lord Harlech. In a nod to its history, the island’s name means ‘Anne’s gift island’ in English. Ynys Gifftan is believed to have remained in the Harlech family ever since. Now, a new owner is being sought and Ynys Gifftan has been put up for sale, via Carter Jonas, for £350,000.

This looks like a real off-grid adventure. For starters, Ynys Gifftan is not connected to electricity. And while mains water was connected in the 1980s, Carter Jonas does not know if it is still active. There are two buildings on the island. A stone farmhouse on the eastern shore, which is believed to have been derelict since the 1960s, needs ‘comprehensive renovation throughout’, says Carter Jonas.

The two-storey house comprises two reception rooms, a kitchen, bathroom, pantry, and a bedroom with an ensuite.

The estate agency describes it as ‘an exciting and rare opportunity for a purchaser to restore and enhance a characterful dwelling in an exceptional setting’ (subject to getting the green light on any necessary planning consents). There’s also a stone outbuilding next to the farmhouse that has the potential to be converted for storage or ancillary use.

Beyond the bricks and mortar, the land — rocky grassland and permanent pasture — would benefit from grazing and general land management, Carter Jonas advises.

The island is a stone’s throw from the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Harlech Castle and Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, the Italianesque village of Portmeirion, and Royal St David’s Golf Club.

‘Ynys Gifftan presents a truly unique opportunity for a buyer who appreciates its exceptional location and potential,’ says Hugh O'Donnell, partner at Carter Jonas’ Bangor office.

‘We expect interest from buyers looking for an exciting lifestyle project in one of Wales’ most beautiful coastal landscapes or someone who is looking for their very own secluded haven.’

Ynys Gifftan is for sale with Carter Jonas. For more information and images, click here.

Colby Lodge is the sort of place that inspires love at first sight. 'We've had people knocking on the door asking if we'd be happy to sell,' says Carolyn Price, who has lived here with her husband, Tony, and their children for the last decade. But with the children now having moved on and had families of their own, the couple have decided to downsize to be nearer to grandchildren. As such, this charmed spot has come up for sale at offers over £1 million.

The house's graceful elegance is in part owed to one of Britain's greatest-ever architects. John Nash's designs were used to craft some of the features of the house, a place that was originally built by coal magnate John Colby in the early 1800s. Nash’s clerk of works was even employed to supervise the work.

Inside, there are five bedrooms and four reception rooms over three floors, with sumptuous furnishings and fittings throughout ('It's like a gentleman's club', says Tony). The Nash influences can be particularly seen in the huge windows, high ceilings and plasterwork. The furnishings, meanwhile — from four-poster beds to the globe in the study — have been a labour of love for the Prices.

The grandeur evident here extends into the great outdoors where there are four — yes, four — gardens. Within these, the likes of rhododendron, azalea, camellia, ancient oak, metasequoia and rare linden/lime trees grow. As if this wasn’t enough in terms of natural treasures, a short stroll leads to the beach at Amroth.

For green-fingered buyers, there is also an elegant greenhouse to propagate seeds and nurture the next generation of plants.

With the gardening done, the new buyers can not only savour their handiwork, but also the nearby trees, for Colby Lodge is shaded, sheltered and almost surrounded by the 900-acre Colby Woodland Garden estate, which is owned and managed by the National Trust.

The Trust actually owns Colby Lodge, too, and thus it's being sold on a leasehold basis. It was donated by Pamela and Peter Chance in 1979, in in 1985 the Trust sold a 49-year leasehold on the house and gardens you see here in 1985. The lease was later extended and currently has 62 years remaining. You shouldn't be worried about the ground rent, incidentally, at just £10 a year — particularly as the Trust have been, as Tony puts it, 'very helpful landlords' when it comes to helping out around the place.

One thing the new owners will want to do is be prepared to extend the lease again, says Tony, who has been quoted around £250,000 for a new lease. Leasehold rules have changed much since the Eighties, and further change is making its way through Parliament at the moment which will make things all the better for leaseholders, but it goes without saying that the buyer will want to get the details via the agent and get professional advice.

All this will surely be worth it, though, for this is a very special place. 'It'll break my heart to leave,' says Carolyn. 'This will always be the high point of our property journey in life.'

Colby Lodge is for sale via Country Living Group — see more details.

Sandwiched between Manchester and the Peak District National Park is a picturesque town dubbed the ‘Jewel of the Cheshire Alps’.

Just a 25-minute train journey from Manchester city centre, Marple has ‘an understated charm and calm’, according to the buying agency, Garrington Property Finders.

This unassuming town boasts a strong community spirit, two brass bands, a neighbourhood cinema, independent shops, canal towpaths, historic locks, and natural beauty in spades. It is also thought to have inspired Agatha Christie’s famous character, Miss Marple (even if the single best piece of evidence for that claim turned out to be faked).

While the town may not be a household name, Marple has just been crowned the best place to live in England and Wales by Garrington Property Finders.

The agency’s annual league table ranks the best cities, towns and villages with more than 5,000 residents — there are apparently 1,447 of them — across a range of criteria, including natural environment, wellbeing, heritage and culture, schools and jobs, and value for money.

And Marple has taken the top spot, performing particularly strongly in the natural environment, value for money, and heritage and culture categories.

A surprise? Yes. But this is a list full of surprises. Last year's winner, Redbourn, is no longer even on the list. The 2023 winner, Twyford, dropped to 35th place in 2024, but has climbed back up to 14th this year.

If you thought this top 10 prime ranking would be awash with coveted addresses in London, the Cotswolds, the Home Counties and the like, you’d be mistaken. While there are some familiar names — St Albans, which always does well in these sorts of surveys, comes third — it is largely made up of lesser-known locations. And northern charm seems to be the overarching theme, with half of the top 10 locations found in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Cheshire.

‘2025’s big falls in prime central London values made headlines, but our analysis has revealed many other highly desirable areas across Britain where homes became more affordable over the past year,’ explains Jonathan Hopper, CEO of Garrington Property Finders.

None of this is to complain about Marple taking the top spot, though, and if you like the sound of living there then this charming cottage in the town offers ‘a rare blend of character, space, and tranquillity — all within easy reach of Marple Bridge and transport links to Manchester,’ according to Julian Wadden. It’s on the market for £925,000.

Where else should prime buyers turn their attention? Well, Rawdon in West Yorkshire comes in second place. Like Marple, it sits between a major city and picturesque countryside — in this case, Leeds and Nidderdale National Landscape — offering the best of both worlds.

The village scored highly for natural environment, heritage and culture, and value for money. According to Garrington Property Finders, it ‘blends great landscapes, panoramic views, prime houses, and easy access to the city’. This large house on the market in Rawdon includes a separate cottage. It has a £2,250,000 price tag with Hardisty Prestige.

The fact that we've just described Rawdon as a 'village' highlights one of the issues with this list. Is it fair to compare Manchester — popular 600,000 — with Chapel-en-le-Frith, a Derbyshire village with a population 8,000? For what it's worth, Manchester is 112th, some eight places behind Chapel-en-le-Frith.

Once city does make the top 10. Hot on Rawdon’s heels is St Albans in Hertfordshire, a perennial star performer in both this annual ranking and all the others which do the rounds. Strong scores across the natural environment, schools and jobs, heritage and culture, and value for money categories helped propel this popular commuter spot into third place. This five-bedroom house in St Albans has 'family home' written all over it.

St Albans is eyewateringly expensive, though, with an average family house price of almost £1 million. This house for sale with Strutt & Parker is a perfect example. Yes, it's a nice house on a quiet road, but it's hard not to marvel at the economics which dictates that this suburban home costs for £2,650,000, the same as an actual castle just outside Edinburgh.

Rounding out the top five are Bramhall, on the outskirts of Manchester, and Long Ashton in Somerset — suggesting that village life remains hugely desirable.

What's really surprising about the list, though, is the fact that many very lovely places seem to be languishing in the lower reaches. Midhurst, a pretty small town in the South Downs, sits at 1,116th, while nearby Petersfield — with its historic town centre, excellent road and rail connections, good schools and the South Downs on the doorstep — is in 1,325th.

Even some of the most celebrated places in the country rank lowly. Brighton just about gets inside the top 150 at number 149, as does Richmond-upon-Thames (142nd). Both often feature highly in these sorts of lists, as does Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare's town is out of luck though: it's 302nd, just sneaking ahead of South Shields, but 11 places below Huddersfield.

This year, Garrington have produced a separate list for Scotland, and as with the England and Wales lists, there are surprises. Edinburgh doesn't crack the top 10, while Glasgow, Stirling and St Andrews are 65th, 57th and 55th respectively.

‘While prime prices rose in Scotland, they stayed flat in much of southern England and Wales,' Hopper adds.

'Our research suggests that the most attractive buying opportunities aren’t limited to London, and extend to several other perennially popular locations that offer excellent amenities, a high standard of living and now improving value too.’

While Glasgow didn't score highly, its suburbs did: Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire topped the charts, one of three affluent suburbs of Scotland's biggest city — alongside Bearsden and Bishopbriggs — that featured in the Scottish top 10. Their rankings were boosted by high average salaries and fast connections into the city centre.

In Milngavie, this ‘highly appealing detached villa is sure to attract interest from those looking to acquire a long-term family home,’ says Rettie & Co, which is selling the property for £370,000.

But we’ve just covered the overall ranking of best places to live. Garrington Property Finders’s nifty interactive tool allows you to look up locations as well as rank places by individual criteria.

So, if you’d prefer to live in a place that comes up trumps for wellbeing (who doesn’t?), you might want to scope out Devon. Four of the five top places ranked by wellbeing are located in the county.

London, meanwhile, dominates the heritage and culture ranking, with Westminster, City of London, Camden, Kensington & Chelsea, Islington, and Lambeth all in the top 10. Outside the capital, Bath, Ramsgate, Brighton and Hove, and York also feature.

Ranking the locations by natural environment also delivers some unsurprising spots, with Royal Tunbridge Wells (another commuter favourite), scenic Shaftesbury, and Alnwick — where two Harry Potter movies were filmed - all making the top 15.

But there are some eyebrow-raisers in this particular ranking too. The town of Swindon, for example, is named the 15th best place to live in England and Wales for natural environment. And a further scroll down the list reveals that while Croydon is ranked 67th, the sought-after market town of Marlborough comes in 1,333rd place.

Hopper argues that prime property is no longer about reputation alone. In his view, ‘it’s increasingly about data-driven desirability’.

He adds: ‘Today’s most successful locations blend a winning combination of lifestyle, investment security and accessibility.’

It’s fair to say that Glyn Cywarch, an evocative 17th century Jacobean manor nestled in Snowdonia National Park, is not your run-of-the-mill rental home.

Built in 1616, this Grade II*–listed house sits on an unspoilt stretch of the north Wales coastline, close to the vast golden sands of Harlech Beach, the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Harlech Castle and Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, and the Italianesque village of Portmeirion.

Yet Glyn Cywarch’s off-the-beaten-track location hasn’t deterred high-profile visitors over the years. They have ranged from Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to — perhaps more unexpectedly — supermodels Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista.

For Glyn Cywarch is the ancestral home of the Ormsby-Gores, a family that is no stranger to the headlines. In recent years, they have breathed new life into the sprawling house, with interiors led by Amanda Harlech, described by Vogue as a muse to designers John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld, and her daughter, Tallulah, a fashion stylist and consultant.

Since then, Glyn Cywarch has been available for private bookings, events and short stays. Now, though, the family is seeking a long-term tenant for this secluded 11-bedroom home, and it's on the rental market via Carter Jonas for £5,000 per month with a minimum 12-month term.

This latest chapter in Glyn Cywarch’s history started in 2016, when Francis Ormsby-Gore, the sixth Baron Harlech and Amanda’s former husband, died. The house passed to their son, Jasset — Tallulah’s brother. At the time, Glyn Cywarch was in desperate need of some TLC.

‘There had been fire damage, water damage, ivy growing inside — you name it,' wrote wrote Amanda Harlech in Vogue in 2023. 'I suppose you could say there was something wildly romantic about all that, but it was a Grade II*–listed building, teetering on the edge of ruin.’

A treasure trove of family possessions was auctioned in 2017 to help fund the restoration. Among the items was correspondence revealing that Sir David Ormsby-Gore, the fifth Baron Harlech, had proposed marriage to Jackie Kennedy. A former British ambassador to the US, he was said to be a close friend of the Kennedy family and an advisor to President John F. Kennedy.

The restoration of Glyn Cywarch, carried out using traditional building techniques and materials, took seven years. And in 2024, it won the Historic Houses Restoration Award.

Today, Glyn Cywarch’s stone façade and mullioned windows blend into the rugged landscape. Meanwhile ‘the interiors have been thoughtfully reimagined to respect the building’s historic fabric while introducing understated luxury’, say agents Carter Jonas.

Period features have been carefully preserved, from original oak panelling and grand staircases to beautifully carved fireplaces. What are thought to be traces of predecessors remain, too: ‘I love the Poet’s Room, where Ellis Wynne once wrote and, we believe, drew the dragons and flora on the walls,’ Harlech added in her piece in Vogue.

These sit alongside contemporary finishes and appliances. It’s a pared-back look, with a cool colour palette. The draping of linen sheets over furniture adds to the minimalist feel.

Although Jacobean, Glyn Cywarch is fit for the modern lifestyle – look no further than the yoga room tucked away on the top floor.

At the heart of the house are a dining room, reception rooms, and a kitchen that appears to be kitted out well. There are practical spaces too, such as a utility room and a laundry room.

Bedrooms — many with ensuite bathrooms — are arranged across the ground, first and second floors.

The restoration of Glyn Cywarch has extended to the grounds. According to Carter Jonas, ‘formal lawns, walled gardens and fragrant rose borders flow seamlessly into wildflower meadows and apple orchards’. And beyond them lies around 100 acres of private estate.

Jasset Harlech has clearly taken the responsibility of looking after the place very seriously. ‘Glyn Cywarch is an extraordinary home, not only for its architectural beauty but for the weight of history it carries,' he says.

'The meticulous restoration has preserved its heritage while introducing a level of comfort and sophistication that makes it truly unique in today’s rental market.’

That raises an interesting question: as beautiful as it is, who might be tempted to rent a remote castle in Wales for a year or more?

Victoria Boyson, Associate Partner, Head of Lettings at Carter Jonas Mayfair office, says it’s best suited to someone who values space, tranquillity, and rural living, and who has a real appreciation for historic buildings.

She adds: ‘The property may particularly attract those able to work flexibly or creatively, or anyone looking for a peaceful retreat that can be enjoyed as a true home over an extended period.’

That sounds to us like it'd be fit for a bestselling novelist seeking a bolthole in which to pen a new masterpiece, but in these days of telecommuting it's easier than ever for many people to base themselves far from the big cities. And with the Harlech family's connections, perhaps someone from the world of fashion might be tempted? Tallulah doesn’t rule it out, pointing out that those in the industry can be very agile in how they work.

For Tallulah, Glyn Cywarch has the hallmarks of a second home – a restorative place that someone can return to for high days and holidays, just as she once did. She talks of embracing the dramatic landscape – walking, climbing, and swimming in the waterfalls, lakes, and sea.

Glyn Cywarch, in her experience, is ‘magical’. She explains: ‘Maybe it's in the air, I don't know, but there is something that people feel when they're at Glyn. It's always quite an incredible moment of being able to share that with someone.’

Glyn Cywarch is for rent via Carter Jonas — see more details.

The hullabaloo about the launch of the Mansion Tax in the Budget on Wednesday threw up some interesting anomalies — mostly to do with the fact that many houses which will incur the new charge are modestly-sized homes in London rather than palatial country seats with acres of space. We picked on the example of a four-bedroom terraced house on a busy street in Hackney with a £2.5 million asking price, but we could have used almost countless other examples.

There is a flip side to the coin, however: huge and magical homes which fall well below the £2 million threshold at which the new tax begins. And one of them is a place we're marvelling at today: Norton House in Powys, which Julie Harding described in the print magazine this week as 'something of a steal'.

That, I would say, is putting it mildly: Chartwell Noble are asking £1.3 million for this magnificent, 14-bedroom house.

The purchase price buys you an 1858 mansion of almost 16,000 sq ft, built in the 'Jacobethan' style popular in Victorian Britain. It was commissioned by Sir Richard Green-Price, who had the house constructed a part of Mid-Wales which was then, as it is now, fabulously unspoilt, if a little remote. It's not far from the border with England, on the Welsh side, roughly equidistant between Leominster and Llandrindod Wells.

Its grandeur is obvious even as you approach along the gravel driveway — this really is like a miniature Downton Abbey — to a house with a perfectly symmetrical façade, with gabled bays, tall diagonal chimneys, parapets and finials. There's even a pair of lions keeping watch.

Inside, things get even better, with a magnificent entrance hall floored in oak, with marble embossed pillars and a sweeping staircase that you can just imagine people wandering up and down as you host a fine ball. And before you think we're getting carried away, this is literally a house with a ballroom... albeit one which has in recent years been turned in to a huge kitchen-slash-living space.

That is just the start. There is a drawing room and games room, a games room and a plant room, a sitting room, a workshop and an internal courtyard, and so many bedrooms across the first second floors that we actually lost count while looking at the floorplan.

Given its size you won't be shocked to hear that the house was for a long time used as a hotel, and could be again. The agent Clemmie Daborn mentions that it could just as easily be a conference centre or wedding venue... though we'd love to think that it could one day become a simply magnificent house. If the new owners take that route, it's worth knowing that the secondary wing has been configured as a self-contained space that's ideal for multi-generational living, or as a holiday let.

It's also worth noting that it is being sold via conditional auction on December 16 rather than via the open market, and anyone keen to throw their hat in the ring should speak to the agents about the reserve price and conditions of sale.

Norton House is for sale via Chartwell Noble — see more details.

'Has nobody in Grand Designs ever watched Grand Designs?' the actor and writer Robert Webb told The Times a few weeks ago. He wasn't reviewing the TV show, though, but instead musing on the often seemingly-inevitable catalogue of unexpected hurdles, costs, glitches and mini-disasters that are part and parcel of taking on a major project.

It's a lesson that Webb and his wife Abigail Burdess, together with Burdess's brother and his family, found out over a period of six years after buying a derelict Welsh farmhouse, Ty Llwyd, and transforming the 16th century dwelling beyond all recognition. The blood, sweat, tears and money that have been sunk in to the place have left them with a house that is immaculate and charming, set within 25 acres of rolling green countryside on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, a few miles north of Swansea. Rather sadly, it's also a house which no longer fits their needs, but Webb and Burdess's loss will the a new buyer's gain, so long as they have the £1.2 million asked by agents Savills.

Webb and Burdess had been looking for a rural home away from London where they could raise their families in a bucolic paradise, and right from the start Burdess

'Seeing Ty Llwyd for the first time, I understood what people mean when they describe places as magical,' she says of this unusual fortified farmhouse, which was covered by overgrown vegetation and in a terrible state.

'This will sound cheesy… but I got goosebumps,' she adds.

'I had a powerful sense of the age of the place... But it was a wreck, abandoned for some time — an enchanted castle — a Sleeping Beauty.'

It market the start of a true passion project, with local architect Nick Brown working with the couple to find craftspeople and materials from the local area to turn it into the home as it stands now. Along the way they uncovered all manner of unexpected things, from old windows that had been long covered up to a pile of cannonballs in the stone spiral staircase. They even found a pair of shoes in an ancient bread oven.

From the start, Webb and Burdess were adamant that they wanted this to be a project with deep roots in the local area. 'Almost all the materials have come from very close by,' says Burdess.

'The trusses are Welsh oak. The roof is reclaimed slates. Quite apart from the listing, it began to seem almost like we were dissing the house if we used anything but the best materials. We worked with all local trades — stonemasons, plumbers, joiners, electricians, carpenters; the amount of work in the plastering alone is pretty mind-boggling.'

As it stands now, the house is around 2,000 sq ft, with five bedrooms, a country kitchen, a 32ft-long living and dining room and a separate living room in one of the two wings, which were originally the cowshed and the stables.

There's also a space marked as the 'furnace room' on the floorplan, which only hints at the effort that's been made to create an eco-friendly home. The house runs off ground source heat, water comes from a bore hole with a state-of-the-art filtration system, and the house even has its own bio-rock sewage treatment plant. The wiring is set up to be ready for solar panels; while they can't be put on the house itself (which is Grade II-listed), they could easily be installed on the barn. The entire house, in other words, could be lived in entirely off grid.

There are stables, paddocks and a large workshop within the 25 acres, as well as plentiful new trees: 'We are grateful to have been part of building something in the valley — and planting something: five thousand trees, so far, in the lower field and they’ve just shot up,' says Burdess. 'It’s mad how everything grows here.

'It’s a real, living house, and a beautiful one at that. The old magic’s still there — in that reality, and the community who’ve helped us build it. All it needs now is a real family to live in it.'

That brings us back to the lesson of Grand Designs referenced by Webb in the first place: not so much caveat emptor as caveat renovator. But despite costs spiralling against the background of the Pandemic and war in Ukraine, a labour of love is always rewarding, spiritually if not financially.

'We were really committed to all the best local materials and it was made with such care and love that what’s happened is we’ve ended up creating a house for which we are the wrong owners,' Webb concluded in his chat with The Times. Hopefully it'll be some consolation to one day pass the keys on to a family who are the right owners.

Ty Llwyd is for sale via Savills at £1.2 million — see more details.

All good things come to an end, as is the case for the extended Bates family, wool merchants from the West Riding of Yorkshire who became one of Liverpool’s most powerful commercial dynasties in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Their home, historic Grade II-listed Gyrn Castle, set in 67 acres of lakes, woods and parkland on the edge of the ancient Flintshire village of Llanasa, North Wales, is a recent addition to the market and, as such, marks the end of the estate’s 150-plus years in Bates ownership. It’s for sale through the Chester office of Jackson-Stops at a guide price of £2 million.

This imposing, castellated mansion stands on high ground overlooking the picturesque coastline of this part of Wales and boasts magnificent views over the Dee estuary, the Wirral peninsula and the skyline of Liverpool 35 miles away.

According to its Cadw listing, the present house dates from the late 17th century and was part of the important Mostyn estate in the early 18th century. In 1750, it was sold to Thomas Hughes of Halkyn and later to John Douglas, a cotton manufacturer in nearby Holywell. He remodelled it in 1817–24, with the addition of a third storey, the projecting dining room at the north end of the house and the picture gallery and attached tower at the south end. In 1856, Gyrn Castle was acquired as a country retreat by Sir Edward Bates, who appears to have made only minor alterations to the house, although added numerous outbuildings.

Sir Edward Bates, 1st Baronet (1816–96), was a ship owner and politician whose eventful career spanned almost the whole of Queen Victoria’s reign. He began his career in the wool-finishing business started by his father, Joseph Bates, who, following the ending of the East India Company’s monopoly on trade with India, started a company that exported his woollen cloth from Halifax via the fast-growing port of Liverpool.

Edward was sent to Calcutta to join his elder brother and remained in India until 1848, when he returned to England to start up his own shipping business, initially chartering ships for the Bombay trade. By 1870, he had built a fleet of 51 sailing vessels and he went on to own 130 ships in his lifetime. He was awarded a baronetcy by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in 1880.

Sir Edward died in 1896, followed in quick succession by his son and eldest grandson, and, in 1903, 24-year-old Percy Elly Bates, 4th Baronet, became the principal partner of Edward Bates and Sons. Sir Percy went on to become one of the giants of the shipping industry in the first half of the 20th century, most famously for his role, as head of Cunard, in the building of RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth. Sir Percy had his own house at Hinderton Hall, Cheshire, and, in 1922, he sold Gyrn Castle to his brother, Frederic, who moved there following his marriage in 1932.

Frederic Bates had no children and, on his death in 1957, Gyrn Castle and estate passed to his nephew, Sir Geoffrey Bates, 5th baronet. In 1941, Sir Geoffrey joined the Kings Royal Irish Hussars and gained a reputation as a dashing troop leader, winning a Military Cross in North Africa in 1942. He was High Sheriff of Flintshire in 1969 and, according to Christie’s, which held an auction of the contents of Gyrn Castle following his death in 2005, ‘he gave much of his time to the Flint and Denbigh Hunt, often riding his well-known horse, Sam, with the same dash as with the Irish Hussars’.

In 2008, the Gyrn Castle estate was sold to Charlotte Whitelocke-Winter, Sir Geoffrey’s third wife’s daughter from a previous marriage and the wife of the late David Howard of Cerrigllwydion Hall, Denbigh, on whose behalf it is now being sold. A further 297½ acres and two gatehouses are available by separate negotiation.

Most recently used to host corporate events and weddings, the main house offers 16,771sq ft of elegant living space on three floors, including reception and great halls, three grand reception rooms, a small dining room, study, kitchen with breakfast area, domestic offices and staff quarters, extensive cellars, master and guest suites, 10 further bedrooms and four more bathrooms.

In recent years, Gyrn Castle has seen the upgrading of the house and ancillary buildings, including extensive roofing works, the repointing of exposed stone walls, the rerendering of the north-west elevation, removal of wet and dry rot, damp remediation works and the sensitive restoration of many of the windows.

Of particular importance is the installation of a biomass wood-chip central-heating system, which serves the castle, but has the capacity to also serve the self-contained flat and the cottage within the courtyard range of outbuildings.

Gyrn Castle is for sale at £2 million — see more details and pictures.

For those wishing to get away from it all — yet still be able to pick up a pint of milk without a 45-minute round-trip — Peter Daborn of Savills in Telford quotes £1.1m for Mount House at Llanfair Caereinion, eight miles from Welshpool, Powys. It ticks all the boxes of seclusion and beauty, while also being a practical place to live.

This handsome Victorian villa us set in some 10 acres of woodland and pasture on high ground on the edge of the town, with glorious views towards the Welsh mountains.

The house, which is unlisted, was built in 1873 for solicitor Edward Pickmere who, as town clerk of Liverpool, was associated with the building, in the 1880s, of the Vyrnwy reservoir in Powys, which involved flooding the head of the Vyrnwy valley and submerging the village of Llanwddyn in order to supply Liverpool with fresh water.

Meticulously maintained by its current owners during their 28-year tenure, the house, which is flooded with natural light at all times of the day, offers 6,230sq ft of impressive accommodation on three floors.

There are five reception rooms, a glazed orangery (a replica of the 1873 original), a kitchen/breakfast room, cellar and wine store.

Upstairs, there's a hobby room and a sitting room, as well as nine bedrooms and four bathrooms.

Llanfair Caereinion is not a big place — with an estimated population of around 1,800, almost half of whom are spread across the local area rather than in the town itself, it's actually one of the smallest market towns in Britain. Yet a market town it is, with pubs, shops, parks, schools, a leisure centre, and even a local football club: to support: Llanfair United.

There's also a narrow-gauge railway, the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway, which is as close to a real-life Thomas the Tank Engine set-up as we've seen in many years.

Mount House is for sale via Savills — see more details.

The River Irfon flows for 28 miles along the upper slopes of Bryn Garw in the Cambrian Mountains, one of the most beautiful parts of Mid-Wales. It powers through the Abergwesyn valley, runs past the Nant Irfon National Nature Reserve in the hills above the village of Abergwesyn, and continues on through Llanwrtyd Wells to its confluence with the River Wye at Builth Wells. The Irfon valley is spectacular, and a fittingly grand backdrop for the diverse and picturesque 335-acre Cefnllysgwynne Estate.

The estate is centred on the Cefnllysgwynne House at Llanynis, 3½ miles from Builth Wells, and it's is currently for sale through joint agents Fisher German in Worcester and J. M. Osborne in Banbury, whose websites will be able to tell you much more about it than we have room for here.

What they won't tell you, however, is how to pronounce 'Cefnllysgwynne'; we'll get back to that later.

What we can tell you is that the estate combines significant sporting, amenity, leisure and forestry potential with holiday-let accommodation, single- and double-bank fishing on the Irfon.

There are also additional sporting rights over adjoining land, and — as is very sensible in cases like these — the sellers are offering to split it up in to as many as 13 lots, for those who don't want the entire £2.975m property.

Lot 1 comprises Cefnllysgwynne House and grounds, Cefn Cottage, farm buildings, stabling and 17¾ acres of grassland, at a guide price of £600,000. The principal dwelling on the estate, which enjoys the most enviable views across the Irfon Valley, is Cefnllysgwynne House, a three-storey, stone-built, former traditional Welsh longhouse with substantial Victorian extensions.

The pictures here tell is all: this is a lovely, place that's seen better days, full of charm and with a gorgeous location, but now in need of refurbishment and modernisation — and, given that the building is unlisted, there's even the potential for a total rebuild.

Lot 2 comprises Pantyblodau, a four-bedroom stone farmhouse with traditional barns and stabling set in 2¾ acres of permanent pasture, also with outstanding views, for sale at £450,000 — which is much less than £2.975m, and has the advantage of being far easier to say.

Likewise, Lot 3 is Hafod-y-Blodau Cottage, which has a far better vowel-to-consonant ratio than Cefnllysgwynne, and is a two-bedroom holiday let for sale at £300,000;

Lots 4 to 13 are even better, since they don't have names at all. Lot 4 is 138 acres of commercial and amenity woodland, priced at £550,000; and lots 5 to 11 are a mix of small acreages of woodland or grassland, at prices ranging from £90,000 to £200,000. A guide price of £100,000 is quoted for Lot 12, the sporting rights over 378 acres of adjoining land, and Lot 13, 4,697m (15,400ft) of single- and double-bank fishing on the Irfon, has a guide price of £50,000.

There's no more getting away from it though: we're going to have to have a stab at figuring out how to pronounce 'Cefnllysgwynne', and in the absence of a Welsh speaker on hand, let's turn to AI.

Google Gemini sympathises with our plight, bemoaning the difficulty of the 'lateral fricative' in the 'llysg' in the centre of the word (it was more the seven consecutive consonants that tripped us up, but never mind) before coming up with 'KEV-un-HLISS-GWIN-eh'. As for Chat GPT, that simplifies the whole thing in to three portions instead of five, suggesting 'KEVN-hleece-gwin'. I've no doubt that Welsh speakers reading this are, by now, banging their heads on a nearby desk, but surely the main thing is to give it a go, and surely that's probably close enough that the agents will know which property you're asking about when you give them a call.

The Cefnllysgwynne Estate is for sale through Fisher German in Worcester and J. M. Osborne in Banbury.

We here at Country Life Towers are always looking for some of the finest homes and estates from the UK and abroad. It would perhaps not be a surprise to you that a lot of these homes and estates are traditionally quite expensive. As it turns out, buying several thousand acres of Scotland doesn’t come cheap. Not in this economy.

There’s no doubt that wealth can create amazing things. The great country houses of Britain, despite some necessary questions about where that wealth came from, have created great works of art. But I think it’s also important to celebrate good taste and great execution in places you wouldn’t expect to find them, such as at this collection of cottages in Llandysul, Wales.

For sale with Savills for a guide price of £975,000, Brithdir is a remarkable micro estate of some three homes set in about two acres and a mere five miles from the coast at Penbryn and Llangrannog. It might be one of the more inspiring properties I’ve ever seen.

The estate comprises the main house (Felin Brithdir), a historic mill (The Old Mill) and a blacksmiths cottage (Ty’r Gof). There is also a lakeside cabin, two Dutch barns, a lake (what use is a lakeside cabin without a lake, after all) and beautiful gardens and grounds.

The main house offers three bedrooms, the cottage one bedroom, the Old Mill two bedrooms and the lakeside cottage also can be slept in. Room for you, your family and plenty of friends.

You might think it’s a lot of work looking after four properties and you are probably correct. The good news is that the current owners have done it all. All the properties have been lovingly restored to a high standard, and feature all the hallmarks of the West Wales vernacular: solid stone walls, quarry-tile floors and timber-panelled walls. Where modern touches can be found, they blend seamlessly with the period charm in the very DNA of these properties.

And the icing on the cake is surely the gardens, centred around the fabulous lake. Lots of lawn, beautiful borders, mature trees and places to sit and enjoy it all. Perfection from start to finish.

Felin Brithdir and its micro estate is for sale with Savills for £975,000. For more information and pictures, click here.

The hill above the ancient village of Llanfair Talhaiarn, one of many hidden villages that line the lovely valley of the Elwy in North Wales, is the idyllic setting for the historic 507-acre Garthewin estate. This is an ancient part of an ancient land, which for centuries belonged to the Wynne family, descendants of Marchudd ap Cynon, the 9th-century founder of the eighth Noble Tribe of North Wales.

Today the estate and the grand house at its centre are for sale for only the second time in its history, with the Chester office of Fisher German quoting a guide price of £4.5 million for the 507 acre estate.

Garthewin Hall itself, the sprawling mansion that's the centrepiece of this property, first appears in the historical records in the 14th century, when, according to Cadw, it was the home of a junior branch of the Wynne family of nearby Melai, descendants of the aforementioned Marchudd ap Cynon. In the early 17th century, Robert Wynne married Margaret Price, the heiress of Garthewin, after which the Elizabethan farmhouse that replaced the original house was knocked down, as was the Jacobean house that succeeded it.

In about 1700, Dr Robert Wynne, chancellor of St Asaph and vicar of Gresford, rebuilt Garthewin as an elegant, nine-bay country house, incorporating some of the earlier 17th-century building in its rear pile. His house is essentially that which survives today, although a new façade and various cosmetic alterations were undertaken between 1767 and 1772 for Robert Wynne, the chancellor’s grandson, who was High Sheriff of Denbighshire in 1769. These were carried out by Chester architect Joseph Turner and involved the addition of a three-storey brick façade and a pedimented entrance.

Between 1800 and 1810, a single-storey ballroom was added at the south-west corner and a picturesque tower behind the ballroom on the west side was built in about 1870. In 1930, following a period of neglect, the house was restored for R. O. F. Wynne by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, creator of nearby Portmeirion. At this point, the façade was stuccoed, the entrance was moved to the west and a new paved garden-front terrace, with a pavilion designed to visually balance the ballroom extension, was added. At the same time, a workshop was converted into a chapel and the stables into a private theatre.

The glory days of the 1930s were a distant memory when, in 1995, Menna MacBain, the last of the Wynnes to own Garthewin, abandoned the unequal struggle to maintain the increasingly dilapidated property. The following year, Grade II*-listed Garthewin Hall and its surrounding estate were acquired by Michael Murray Grime.

Mr Grime spent much of the rest of his life — until his death in September last year — renovating and restoring the 11-bedroom hall and its Grade II*-listed outbuildings, together with the terrace walls, steps and gazebo, the chapel, Garthewin Farmhouse, The Book Room (a charming two-storey cottage) and a ruined dovecote, all listed Grade II.

The hall and its self-contained, three-bedroom flat provide more than 14,200sq ft of living space in total, including four reception rooms and 11 bedrooms in the main house, with further accommodation in five tenanted cottages and houses.

Gardening was Mr Grime’s great passion and, from the outset, he set about restoring Garthewin’s eight acres of formal gardens originally laid out in about 1710, ‘but just a bog surrounded by overgrown trees’ when he first arrived.

The formal south-facing lawns sit to the front of the house, with a croquet lawn linked to the main lawns via a bridge through the ha-ha wall. To the south-west of the house are two ornamental lakes surrounded by established shrubberies, including some wonderful native trees and many exotic specimens — only some of the countless trees planted at Garthewin during Mr Grime’s tenure.

The land includes 248½ tenanted acres at ring-fenced Ty Mawr Farm, with 60 acres of let grassland and rough grazing behind the hall and a further 10 let acres of grazing and woodland adjoining the gardens and grounds.

A further 117 acres of upland grazing is let on a farm business tenancy, with some 52 acres of commercially managed woodland retained in-hand by the owner. For selling agent Michael Harris of Fisher German, ‘the sale of Garthewin is a rare opportunity to acquire a spectacular upland estate, which offers immediate income from its cottages and farmstead, with considerable potential for further diversification and income creation’.

The Garthewin Estate is for sale via Fisher German at £4.5 million — see more details and pictures.

Houses are often marketed as having ‘a substantial history’ but more often than not that history is not as interesting as it sounds. Previous owners of note might be the third son of the Duke of somewhere, but I do not know who that is or what they did. Maybe the third son of the Duke of somewhere should have been more interesting or perhaps I should read more books.

I do read some books and I have listened to lots of music, which makes the substantial history of The Argoed in Monmouthshire particularly fascinating. It was in this home, for sale with Knight Frank for £2.6 million, that George Bernard Shaw wrote The Man of Destiny and Mrs Warren’s Profession.

It is also here that Beatrice Webb, founder member of the Fabian Society hosted prominent friends and guests at the end of the 19th century. It is also, and I am not one to choose favourites but this is my favourite, the former home of Robert Plant, who once sang in a band called Led Zeppelin.

Now that is some history. George Bernard Shaw, Beatrice Webb and Robert Plant are like a dream dinner party. And the even better news is the house is pretty nice too. Per Knight Frank, the property is ‘unquestionably one of the most prominent private residences in the Wye Valley’. Well there you have it.

It’s hard not to agree. Hipped roof, lots of chimneys, beautiful red ivy-clad walls. John Newman, architectural historian, called it ‘tantalising’. Inside, the interiors have been renovated to a delightfully high standard, retaining the farmhouse feel while offering all the modern comforts a family might need.

I like how the kitchen/breakfast room bridges the two wings together, bringing new meaning to it being the ‘heart’ of the home. I also like how the principal bedroom suite occupies the entire eastern wing of the property.

The gardens aren’t too shabby either. Listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, they are substantial and beautiful. Of note are the many lawned areas with their spectacular views, the Japanese garden, a ha-ha and a well established arboretum. Which makes sense, considering that the English translation of Argoed is ‘by the wood’.

Monmouth is about two miles to the north, while the River Wye itself is about a mile to the east. A splendid location to match its undoubtable charm and astonishing history.

The Argoed is for sale with Knight Frank for £2.6 million. For more information and pictures, click here.

Buckinghamshire — £4.5 million

Listed Grade II, nestled in picturesque Dorney Village and with 10 bedrooms in total, there is much to love about 17th century Boveney Court.

A great location, for a start, beautiful gardens and grounds and a full refurbishment all elevate this delightful property into a standout family home that's just down the road from one of the country's best schools.

For sale with Knight Frank. See more pictures and details for this property.

Gwynned — £15 million

Three cottages, farmland, woodland and a wealth of natural capital. That's the dream at the Nannau estate near Dolgellau. At 3,784 acres, here is a rare opportunity to acquire one of the most significant holdings in the Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park

For sale with Savills. See more pictures and details for this property.

Monmouthshire — £2.6 million

Is there anything prettier than an ivy-clad home bursting with exterior colour? We don't think so, and The Argoed — a seven-bedroom home in the Wye Valley — is a sublime example.

Visited by Charles I during the Civil War, the home is steeped in a wealth of former owners, including Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, and Beatrice Webb of the Fabian Society. The interiors and living spaces are sublime.

For sale with Knight Frank. See more pictures and details for this property.

Somerset — £2.85 million

Hope House is a 'distinguished family home in a highly sought after village,' says lead agent Lindsay Cuthill. We are inclined to agree. A picture-postcard of Englishness in East Coker, the property offers seven bedrooms and more than two acres of splendid gardens. Divine.

For sale with Blue Book. See more pictures and details for this property.

West Sussex — £2.65 million

We love a home with endless potential. Step forward Aldsworth House near Emsworth. Already on offer are nine bedrooms, outstanding period interiors, stunning gardens, a swimming pool, fives court, an engine house (for all your engine needs) and a coach house. From there, the world is your oyster.

For sale with Strutt & Parker. See more pictures and details for this property.

I’ve never known much of the Teifi Estuary or Cardigan (other than that my dad wears them) but, having now gazed upon the yellow walls of Brynymor House, I would like to know more. Such is the power of good photography and an even better subject.

It’s odd to think that a building that is essentially a box with a hipped roof could be so beautiful. There is elegance in simplicity. And Brynymor is nothing if not extremely elegant. It is for sale with Country Living Group for £1.9 million.

In about 1800, when the property was built, Cardigan was the busiest port in Wales. As a result, Brynymor was built by a successful sea captain as a ‘statement house’. And what a statement it is. Listed Grade II*, the property had been in the same family’s ownership for generations, until it was purchased off market by the current owner, who has spent a significant amount of time and money restoring it. As such, it is probably in the best condition it has ever been in. Just take a look for yourself.

Situated over three floors, the property offers six bedrooms and two large reception rooms, as well as a large kitchen with island. The kitchen is also home to a wood-pellet fired stove, which provides heat to the home as well as cooking meals. There is also a basement. The majority of the bedrooms and the two reception rooms take advantage of the glorious views out towards the estuary.

The interiors are nothing short of outstanding, decorated in a playful and colourful style all while paying respect to the period features of the house. I would like to know where the current owner gets their wallpapers, that’s for sure.

Outside, the property sits in 4.5 acres of gardens and grounds, most of which is woodland. Its position takes advantage of the astounding scenery, and the formal areas of lawn lead right down to the water’s edge, where you’ll find a boat shed and private slipway.

Elsewhere on the property, you’ll find a large and productive kitchen garden and a bespoke greenhouse, while the footprint of the original stone cottage that occupied the site remains and provides an ‘exciting opportunity’, according to the agents. Two timber-framed garages can also be found adjacent to the driveway.

The centre of Cardigan is walking distance away, which is surprising given the private nature of the property. Cardigan has a wealth of amenities and recent investment has seen the restoration of the castle, an award-winning theatre and cinema and a large range of shops, restaurants, and cafés.

Brynymor House is for sale with Country Living Group for £1.9 million. For more information and pictures, click here

The postcode W1B may not mean an awful lot to you, but its real estate will undoubtedly be familiar.

This London postcode, which stretches from Piccadilly Circus all the way up to Regent’s Park, and takes in Regent Street, is home to some of the capital’s most iconic architecture from flagship shops and swish restaurants to elegant boutiques and luxurious hotels.

The distinctive Liberty London department store? Yes. The five-star hotel, The Langham? Yep. Park Crescent, the curved row of Grade I-listed townhouses designed by John Nash? Yes, that too. They are all in W1B.

And new figures reveal that the postcode is also — unsurprisingly — home to the most expensive bricks and mortar in England and Wales.

The average sold price last year in this very, very rarefied corner of the housing market was a cool £4.375m, according to prime London property broker Jefferies James, who analysed Land Registry data for 2024 across England and Wales.

Fancy getting onto (or moving up or down) the property ladder here? Along from The Langham and Treehouse hotels is this three-bedroom flat in W1B. It features an open-plan reception room, kitchen, utility room, lift access, and day concierge service. It’s on the market with Knight Frank for £4.5m.

Or, go up a notch with this five-bedroom townhouse on sale nearby for £18.5m with Sotheby's International Realty. As you’d imagine with this price tag, the house has luxe interiors and top-end features, including a gym, and a bar and wine cellar.

The postcode in second place is also in the City of Westminster: W1K. We’re talking about glitzy Mayfair here, the turbo-charged neighbourhood that’s sandwiched between New Bond Street and Hyde Park. Buyers in this postcode had to pay an average £3.65m last year.

Many homes go for far more than that, though. Take this three-bedroom flat, which is on sale for £11.95m, a price which will let you make a bold entrance on the striking bespoke glass staircase. It leads to the bedroom floor, ‘where a lavish primary suite benefits from its own private terrace, an extensive walk-in wardrobe and a steam room’, says selling agent, Beauchamp Estates.

The Kensington & Chelsea postcode of SW1X comes in third in the top 10 ranking, with an average sold price of £2.8m. This is a chichi fusion of Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Chelsea, where at the moment you’ll find a traditional white stucco Belgravia townhouse, with a landscaped garden that's split over different levels. It offers a blend of period architecture and bright, modern interiors. The five-bedroom terraced house is on sale with Strutt & Parker for £10.5m.

The W1J postcode, which claims a large chunk of Mayfair north of Piccadilly, ranks as the fourth most expensive postcode in England and Wales. A home in this pocket set buyers back an average £2.675m last year.

I suspect you’re getting the drift here. London dominates? You’re right. Nine of the top 10 most expensive postcodes are in London. And they’re all clustered together in three boroughs: City of Westminster (with no less than six of the most expensive postcodes), Kensington & Chelsea, and the City of London.

According to Simon Barry, Head of New Developments at Harrods Estates, London boasts some of the most expensive postcodes ‘due to its unique combination of global influence, historical significance, and unparalleled amenities’.

He explains: ‘The presence of major financial institutions, high-profile businesses, and a thriving cultural scene makes it an attractive destination for high-net-worth individuals and international investors. But it also means the availability of land to build on is infinitesimally small, whilst the competition from both residential and commercial users is huge.’

For Nick Carter, CEO of Harding Green, neighbourhoods such as Mayfair, Knightsbridge, Kensington and Chelsea ‘continue to attract ultra-high-net-worth individuals due to their proximity to world-class amenities and top-tier schools’.

He adds: ‘We're seeing strong interest from international buyers, particularly the U.S. and the Middle East, looking for investment opportunities and a foothold in one of the world's most desirable cities.’

There are some other places where you can still get a relative bargain, according to Liam Monaghan, Managing Director of LCP Private Office. 'We have seen the enduring popularity of Marylebone over recent years,' he says, adding that buyers love 'its village-like charm and bustling high street', as well as a prime location next to more expensive areas such as Mayfair and Belgravia. The word is starting to get out, though: after a long lull prices are rising, and houses here increased 2.7% in the past 12 months. That said, Marylebone prices are still well below their 2015 peak (-11.9% for flats and -5% for houses), and as Liam adds, even at this top end of the property market it's good to feel you can buy 'at a considerable discount which adds to the appeal.'

As for the one postcode in the top 10 that isn’t in London? Well, it sort of is, albeit only just. EN5 is the northern edge of the Metropolis, bordered to the north by the M25 and to the west by the A1(M). It's partially within the London borough of Barnet with the remainder in the Hertsmere area of Hertfordshire.

Homes sold here averaged £1.875m last year, and for those looking in that bracket, this double fronted, five-bedroom family home has period charm and a great open-plan kitchen with bi-folding doors onto the south west facing garden. It's on the market for £1.75m via Winkworth.

Folly, by its very definition, means ‘a lack of good sense or foolishness’. It is used, in my opinion, incorrectly. People always assume an act of folly is a bad thing, because it is unserious. But just because something is foolish, or unserious, does not mean it is not fun. And we can all do with some more fun.

That is why I, and it would seem many others, enjoy the architectural folly, a ‘costly ornamental building with no practical purpose’. All the great eccentrics of the past (and, indeed, present) had follies, for no other reason than it is fun to make ornamental buildings that are nice to look at. If you would like to join them, perhaps Penybont Hall, for sale with Fine and Country, might be up your street. Priced at £1.25 million.

There is a lot going on at Penybont Hall, which is good. The Grade II-listed home stands in about 20 acres of gardens and woodland, and originally dates from the mid-18th-century, but has been remodelled several times. It features seven bedrooms in the main property, with an additional two bedrooms in a semi-detached annexe. It comes with a folly.

The folly was built by a previous owner, John Percy Severn, who was also once the High Sheriff of Radnorshire. I do not know why he built a folly, and I believe it would be rude to ask. Not everything in life needs an explanation.

The main property has been in the care of a family since 1984, and has been a loving family home since that time. ‘Our six grandchildren have had wonderful times here - quad biking on the lawns, building dens in the woods and having sleepovers with their friends in the treehouse and Folly,’ not the owners. ‘Our two children and grandson have had their wedding celebrations in marquees on the front lawn, and we have frequently hosted charity events here.’

Said owners have also undertaken extensive renovations, meaning the property is in superb condition with a wealth of period features. New owners might wish to do some modernisations, depending on their tastes.

Highlights of the interiors include the large snooker room, and the elegant lounge, which is connected to the dining room. It’s a very traditional house, both in its layout and design, and was once even larger, with 30% demolished during the 1950s.

The folly is an expression of eccentricity, of joy. Looking at this property and its magical surroundings, it fits in superbly with the character of this magical home in mid-Wales.

Penybont Hall is for sale with Fine & Country for £1.25 million. For more information and pictures, click here

The village of Trefor sits on the northern coast of the Llyn Peninsula, on the north-western corner of Wales. It's a delightful place with a harbour, a sandy beach and a few places to stop and eat. It's ringed with three towering hills called Yr Eifl, from which the granite is so pure it's used to produce curling stones for the Winter Olympics. 

It's an enchanted spot, in other words, a place where you can go surfing in the morning and climb mountains in the afternoon.

And it's here where you'll find Plas Yr Eifl, a house named after those amazing granite hills, which is for sale at £1.75 million.

It’s a contemporary home built of local materials, and it offers four bedrooms and 3.4 acres.

That’s all very interesting. But nothing is more interesting than the views. Let us stop and stare.

Whoever built this house is clearly no fool. While it may look relatively unassuming from the roadside, the rear of the property makes the most of its location, with vast windows meaning it’s impossible not to get lost looking out to sea no matter where you are, including the bath.

The house itself has been somewhat flipped, and cleverly. For example, three of the bedrooms (one is currently used as a study) occupy the ground floor, with the enormous open-plan kitchen, lounge and master-bedroom suite on the first floor. No prizes for guessing why.

The house itself has actually been there for some time. Originally the home of the quarry manager, and later a hotel, the property was destroyed by a fire in 2007. It has therefore been reborn, using the original materials, with all the modern trimmings you could ever desire, and paying homage to its industrial heritage. 

When asked what they’ll miss the most, the sellers were quite clear: ‘The setting. Having lived in six different countries around the world, we’ve never experienced anything like this. Nothing has even come close.’ Good enough for me.

Plas Yr Eifl is for sale with Fine and Country for £1.75 million. For more information and pictures, click here

Credit: Savills

The grandest townhouse in Britain? A majestic home with Art Nouveau billiard room, ballroom and a spectacular glass dome is up for sale at £2.5 million

Behind the doors of this historic townhouse is an extraordinary interior, with an Art Nouveau billiards room and a glass-domed

Credit: Marcus Newey

Georgian precision and symmetry with eight bedrooms in one of Somerset's best villages

The Wash presents itself perfectly in this Special Landscape Area, and has lashings of amenities on its doorstep to keep

Brecon, Powys — £3,250,000

Strawberry Gothic Ty Mawr is more than the sum of its parts — of which there are many.

Long hallways, arches everywhere, it's definitely home for someone in love with this architectural style (perhaps someone allergic to, say, the sun?).

With six bedrooms, lavish interiors and 17.5 acres of gardens filled with outbuildings, there's plenty of room to stretch your legs (or wings).

For sale with Savills. See more pictures of this property.

Tutthead, West Glamorgan — £1,500,000

They say it's all about location, location, location, and you'll struggle to find a better one than this former coastguard station on the fringes of the village of the Mumbles.

You could be forgiven for knocking the whole thing down and starting from scratch, but there's a certain charm to the original modern structure (I think).

Whatever happens, the interiors will need a complete refurbishment, unless '1970s office chic' is your thing.

For sale with Dawsons. See more pictures of this property.

Amlwch, Anglesey — £800,000

This might be the most northerly home in the whole of Wales, with views to match.

Ocher Las offers unrivalled views towards the headland of Point Lynas and beyond, occupying a special spot on the most northerly corner of Anglesey.

Recently renovated, the property offers five bedrooms, open-plan living and a garage/workshop.

For sale with Dafydd Hardy. See more pictures of this property.

Gelilydan, Snowdonia — £699,950

In the heart of Snowdonia National Park, and just north of Trawsfynydd lake, Plas Penyglannau is a tremendous five-bedroom home that was formerly part of the Oakley Estate.

Built in the 19th century, it retains plenty of period charm, but the interiors also feature an amazing vaulted sitting room to the rear. Other parts of the property have been recently modernised, and it occupies three acres of land.

For sale with Walter Lloyd Jones. See more pictures of this property.

Builth Wells, Powys — £650,000

Built in 2005, Tower House is an unusual home within the heart of the Wye Valley.

Set over four floors, the property offers four bedrooms, terrific views and has its own dumb waiter.

The central focus of the property is the large tower, and it also comes with gardens that lead directly to the Cletwr Brook.

For sale with James Dean. See more pictures of this property.

Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire — £1,750,000

A characterful farmhouse, a three-bedroom cottage and 182 acres of land make up this mixed farm in the Pembrokeshire AONB.

As well as being a handy business, the location offers terrific views out towards St Brides Bay.

If that's not enough, a further 92 acres are available via separate negotiation.

For sale with J J Morris. See more pictures of this property.

Monmouthshire — £3,000,000

Is Glen Usk the grandest country house for sale in Wales today? With its sprawling rooms, ornate decoration and magnificent location, we'd have to say so.

It's not just a house to impress your friends, however: it's a place built for fun and relaxation, with games room, bar and basement carved into the cellar, plus the sort of snooker room and library that a private members' club would kill for.

For sale with Fine & Country. See more pictures and details for this property.

Powys — £2,500,000

Just a few hundred yards within Wales, this simply stunning Regency house is just south of the famed book-lover's town of Hay-on-Wye.

There are six bedrooms, four acres of gardens and a modern addition which houses (among other treasures) an indoor swimming pool. And the whole thing has been done truly beautifully.

For sale with Strutt & Parker. See more pictures and details for this property.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

With gracious country living and the environment in mind, Daniel Rees of Savills in Cardiff (07968 550419) is handling the sale of the unspoilt, 321-acre Trewern estate, near Narberth, Pembrokeshire, which offers considerable scope for development at a guide price of £3.25m for the whole.

Enjoyed for many years by its US-based English owner, who can no longer spend enough time there, Trewern occupies an idyllic and private position on the River Taf near Whitland. The estate is a stone’s throw from the former Norman stronghold of Narberth, a lively small market town huddled around a hillside main street lined with colourful Georgian and Edwardian houses, within easy driving distance of the beaches and seaside towns of Pembrokeshire’s national park.

At the heart of the estate stands handsome, Grade II-listed Trewern Mansion, described in its 1985 listing as ‘a fine, large, early-19th-century house with good late-Georgian interior detailing, the residence of the Benyon family’. Well maintained throughout, the house offers more than 11,000sq ft of living space on three floors, comprising three reception rooms, six bedrooms and three bathrooms on the ground and first floors, with unused attic rooms on the second floor suitable for conversion to additional bedrooms. Estate buildings include a detached three-bedroom cottage, a three-bedroom gamekeeper’s cottage set away from the main house, outbuildings, garages and the semi-ruins of an old home farm.

Trewern estate offers an interesting mix of land suitable for cropping or silage, grazing, rough grazing and rewilding, with large areas of established and newly planted woodland. It also boasts a small commercial driven-pheasant and duck shoot, with generous numbers of snipe and woodcock, and 1½ miles of salmon and sea-trout fishing on the River Taf. Gross receipts from shooting and grazing total some £50,000 a year.

Trewern Estate is for sale with Savills Cardiff for £3.25 million. For more information and pictures, click here

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Property with potential: Renovation projects for sale, starting from just £125,000

From a period drama-worthy stately home to a delightful cottage to a 17-bedroom mansion for sale at just £400,000, these

Norman Foster on the Country Life podcast: 'The Green Belt is one of our greatest inventions'

Lord Norman Foster, one of Britain's great architects, joins the Country Life podcast.

Credit: H Tiddy

12 stunning character properties for sale at under £400,000

Thatched homes in Cornwall and West Sussex are among the many highlights of these gorgeous character cottages for sale.

They say an Englishman’s home is his castle, but prospective buyers of Bronllys Castle in Bronllys, near Brecon, can go one further.

The property, as well as containing a main house (currently set up as two apartments), a two-bedroom cottage, a two-bedroom coach house and a two-bedroom converted barn, also comes with an ancient motte-and-bailey castle.

All of which is currently on the market via Knight Frank with a guide price of £1.7 million.

The gardens and grounds extend to some 13 acres and the Georgian main house is listed Grade II* and currently configured as two separate apartments.

The castle itself is located strategically (should you wish to repel any unwanted visitors), near the crossing of the Llynfi River, and is a Cadw scheduled ancient monument, being considered one of the best preserved 13th-century stone towers typical of the Welsh Marches.

The land and houses provide ample living space, as well as significant potential for holiday-let revenue, and the home is at the foothills of the brooding Brecon Beacons, only seven miles down the road from the famous market town of Hay-on-Wye.

Bronylls is situated in the county of Breconshire which is home to a number of popular towns and villages. Local annual events include the Hay Literary Festival and Brecon Jazz Festival.

The Brecon Beacons National Park is also on your doorstep here, home to diverse, wild landscapes that draw in over 4 million visitors each year.

Bronylls Castle is currently on the market via Knight Frank with a guide price of £1.7 million — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

The village of Norton, two miles north of Presteigne, lies just inside the Welsh border and close to the meeting point of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Powys, 19 miles from Hay on Wye, 23 miles from Hereford and 18 miles from Ludlow. Here, Peter Daborn of Savills in Telford quotes a guide price of £2m for imposing Grade II-listed Norton Manor.

This large country house was built in 1858 for a local landowner, Sir Richard Green-Price, who was MP for Radnor from 1863 to 1869, and from 1880 to 1885. Knighted in 1874, he is commemorated by a red granite obelisk outside the village.

Previously run as a country house hotel, Norton Manor has been divided into three by the current owners, who bought it in 2014 and have painstakingly restored it. All sash windows are fitted with secondary glazing and the 16,000sq ft building is now heated by a modern biomass system.

Built of ashlar stone under a slate roof, the main house is entered by a grand entrance hall leading to the formal reception rooms.

An ornate Italianate staircase leads to seven en-suite bedrooms on the first floor — a feature which is genuinely spectacular, with light pouring in from above and a galleried landing at the top. You can just imagine the erstwhile Victorian residents of this home sweeping down to join guests at a dance.

The kitchen/living area, originally the ballroom and main restaurant for the hotel, is a vast space where the current owners mostly live.

The second part of the house has been set up as an independent holiday-letting unit that includes a modern kitchen and dining room, up to eight double bedrooms and a separate games room.

The previously derelict west wing, now wind- and waterproof, is still a ‘work in progress’, with planning consent for a further five bedrooms and two bathrooms.

So while there's certainly work to be done, the potential is huge to turn Norton Manor into one of the finest homes for miles around.

Norton Manor is for sale at £2m — see more pictures and details.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Constructed in about 1854 to the designs of the famous Shropshire architect Edward Haycock, Penylan Mansion is situated on the outskirts of the small settlement of Llandygwydd, near Cardigan.

One of the finest private estates in Wales, the Grade II*-listed property has been renovated and refurbished over a period of 20 years to the most exacting standards. It’s now on the market via Country Living Group with a guide price of £4 million.

Reputedly once home to the Queen’s second cousin Lady Audrey Beatrice Morris, the 17-bedroom home and its surrounding 13 acres are fit for royalty.

Inside, the countless bedrooms are almost matched by 10 reception rooms, each distinctively decorated. The main staircase hall features a sky light and trompe l’oeil decorated walls; the ground floor is rounded out by a separate courtyard, as well as a gym and swimming-pool complex.

Outside, the grounds sit on the north bank of the River Teifi and feature a wealth of outbuildings that are ripe for conversion into further accommodation. An ‘L’ shaped barn near the mansion houses two self-contained cottages, a two-storey large triple bay coach house, and a two-storey cottage.

The thriving market town of Cardigan is just ten minutes from the estate and provides a wide range of amenities from shops, restaurants, galleries, antique shops and cafes with an arty flair. In the summer months, music takes over and the grounds of Cardigan Castle transform into a venue for musicians and bands.

It’s here you’ll also find beautiful scenery, easy access to the sea and all the quirks and charms of a traditional Welsh market town, as well as a number of renowned schools.

Penylan Mansion is, as the agents note, a historic estate that ‘perfectly reflects the grandeur and opulence of its original design in the painstaking renovation carried out by the current owners. Penylan Mansion represents the pinnacle of the housing market in the region and is a truly stunning proposition for a buyer.’

Penylan Mansion is currently on the market via Country Living Group with a guide price of £4 million — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details. 

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Parc Gwynne, in Glasbury, is being sold on the open market for the first time since the 1960s. The Grade II-listed five-bedroom house was built in about 1800 and, for a while, acted as the local vicarage before reverting back to private ownership in 1940.

The refined stone property is currently on the market via Knight Frank for offers over £1.25 million and extends to over 4000 sq. ft of accommodation. Plenty of handsome period features appear throughout, such as sash windows with wooden shutters, open fireplaces and decorative ceiling coving.

In addition to the principal house there is a separate Coach House also within the grounds that can be accessed via a separate drive way. With a kitchen, sitting room and two bedrooms, it provides wonderful ancillary accommodation for visiting guests, or could be let out as a holiday rental.

The gardens of almost an acre extend to the west and include an elevated terrace that overlooks the River Wye. The Brecon Beacons National Park is a short drive and offers a wide range of country activities, including fishing and canoeing on the river, as well as climbing and walking in the hills.

The pretty riverside village of Glasbury lies just outside the Breacon Beacons National Park, north of the Black Mountains. It’s considered an important crossing point on the River Wye as it connects the historic counties of Breconshire and Radnorshire. Local facilities include a church, general store, pub and the popular Foyles Hotel and restaurant.

Nearby Hay-on-Wye is home to an annual literary festival and offers further facilities such as dental and doctors’ surgeries, pubs, restaurants and cafes, a post office and primary school.

Parc Gwynne is currently on the market via Knight Frank for offers over £1.25 million — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Hugging the shores of Affon Mawddach on the southwestern tip of the Snowdonia National Park is Glan y Mawddach: an elegant Georgian country home where refined architecture and impeccable style come together in a harmonious balance to create a truly exceptional country home.

First featured in Country Life in 1975, the property, from the outside at least, is little changed. Sophisticatedly Georgian, Glan y Mawddach was built in 1820, and approached up a gently winding drive.

This is just the start of over 35 acres of truly exceptional gardens and grounds that were first planted and nurtured by Mrs Keithley, who lived at the property with her husband at the beginning of the 20^th century.

Now on the market via Strutt & Parker with a guide price of £2.75 million, the gardens at Glan y Mawddach have ‘distinct Italian and Japanese influences’ according to the selling agents — as does the house, which looks like the sort of villa you'd see on the banks of one of the lakes of northern Italy. Arts and Craft undertones combine with a number of ‘garden rooms’ — formed of summer houses, fairy-tale like follies and an Arts and Crafts Dovecote known as Dove Castle.

Part of the Panorama Walk — a four mile scenic route to Barmouth — passes through the grounds, bordered by a high stone wall for privacy. Elsewhere, established pines, firs and spruces extend throughout the rich garden, alongside rhododendrons and azaleas.

Terraced areas near the fountain, Japanese and Italian gardens allow you to admire the views over the estuary and farther beyond. Mature woodland rises around the property whilst to the front, the grounds extend along the estuary and include a private quay.

In 1975, Sir and Lady Clayton-Russon acquired Grade II listed Glan y Mawddach, adding the orangery and extensive glasshouses. According to the selling agents, The Princess Royal dined at the property in 1987 during an official visit to Barmouth.

Since then, a series of restoration works have taken place both internally and within the grounds, resulting in a sophisticated house with ‘immense poise and style set within a horticultural oasis.’

A new bespoke kitchen with AGA, secondary glazing over the sash windows and new bathrooms are just a few of the updates in recent years; whilst an abundance of period features remain as exquisite as ever, with marble fireplaces, oak flooring, ornate architraves and a glazed lantern roof light noted throughout.

Downstairs, the spacious drawing room, sitting room, dining room and orangery — in its delightfully pared back and rustic state – all face the estuary and enjoy panoramic water views. On the first floor, four of the six bedrooms enjoy a similar view.

Here you will also find a self-contained one bedroom flat with its own side garden. All the rooms are elegantly proportioned with tall ceilings and large windows.

A number of outbuildings can be found in front and slightly to the side of the main house, including a coach house which has the potential to be transformed into fabulous ancillary accommodation (with all the correct planning consents). Completing the setup are a number of stores, greenhouses, garages and a mushroom house.

Abermaw, or Barmouth, is a popular resort on the stunning Mawddach Estuary. Stretches of sandy beaches, a promenade and breath taking views make it a popular place with visitors. From the estuary, views of the rolling hills at Caernarfonshire open up with mountain peaks towering in the distance.

The Snowdonia National Park — the largest in Wales — is just a short distance away, covering 823 square miles, steeped in culture and heritage. Home to nine mountain ranges, the area is hugely popular with climbers and walkers looking to scale its many peaks or explore the 1497 miles of walking routes through the valleys.

Visit the Italian-inspired seaside resort of Portmeirion, 20 miles to the north, or the numerous castles dotted along the coastline. Stations are located in Barmouth, Morfa Mawddach and Llanaber, and the closest school is Ysgol y Traeth.

A sense of magic envelops Glan y Mawddach and its dream-like setting and refined interiors will undoubtedly capture the hearts of many buyers looking for their own slice of paradise.

Glan y Mawddach is currently on the market via Strutt & Parker with a guide price £2.75 million — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Gothic-style architecture meets long sea views at the Priory, in Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire, which is currently on the market via Savills at a guide price of £1.5 million. 

Set above the bay, this Grade II-listed house, with its soaring chimney stacks, was built in about 1870 and has been beautifully renovated: it now features a profusion of handmade cabinets — the fully fitted kitchen by Barry Wade is especially striking — period-style fireplaces and a David Salisbury orangery that is flooded with light.

Many of the rooms look out towards the sea; the elegant master suite, where a vast window frames the picturesque bay, is particularly notable.

But perhaps the best place to relax and take in the panorama is the lovely landscaped garden, with its flower beds, mature trees and seating areas.

The Priory is currently on the market via Savills at a guide price of £1.5 million — see more pictures, or enquire with the agent for further details. 

Saundersfoot: What you need to know

Location: Saundersfoot is a large village that lies on the Pembrokeshire coast, in Wales. There is a railway station located within the village, with further railways at Kilgetty and Tenby.

Atmosphere: Saundersfoot is a popular designation for visitors, due to its breathtaking scenery and community atmosphere.

Things to do: The sandy beaches of Saundersfoot and Coppet Hall prove popular with visitors and locals. The coastal town is perfectly located for those wishing to get on the water — from sailing to stand up paddle boarding. There are also a number of companies offering 'sea safari's' — the chance to get out on a speedboat and see the local wildlife. If you'd prefer to keep your feet wet, then explore the numerous independent shops, art and pottery studios and cafes.

Schools: Saundersfoot C.P. School and Stepaside C.P. School are both local primary options, with Ysgol Hafan Y Mor as the local secondary.

See more property for sale in the area.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

As a regime of remote or hybrid working becomes a viable alternative to the dreaded daily commute, city-based home-buyers have been targeting Britain’s 11,000 miles of coastline in search of peace and tranquillity.

The launch onto the market of Plas Penhelig, on the west coast of Wales, underlines the enduring appeal of a family home by the sea.

Tony Morris-Eyton of Savills in Telford quotes a guide price of £3.5 million for the immaculate Plas Penhelig, which sits high above the quaint coastal village of Aberdyfi / Aberdovey, four miles from Tywyn and 10 miles from Machynlleth, at the southern edge of the Snowdonia National Park.

Owned by the vendors for 20 years or more, elegant, Edwardian Plas Penhelig, was built in 1908. It stands in just under 12½ acres of gardens, paddocks and woodland and boasts ‘six different views over the picturesque Dyfi estuary’.

Previously run as a successful boutique hotel, Plas Penhelig has been extensively and sympathetically refurbished by the owners to provide 10,600sq ft of stylish accommodation, including three fine reception rooms, a large dining kitchen, a study, gym and wine cellar, plus 10 light and luxurious en-suite bedrooms.

Thanks to the waters of the Gulf Stream, rare plants and flowers flourish in Plas Penhelig’s sheltered valley, where the hillside is planted with a mass of shrubs, flowers and trees—from peonies and azaleas to camellias, magnolias, lavender, laburnum, lilac trees and a monkey puzzle.

The splendid walled garden is bordered with David Austin roses, orange blossom, Virginia creeper, mimosa and a productive fig tree; a series of Victorian greenhouses is edged with arum lilies.

Plas Penhelig is currently on the market via Savills at a guide price of £3.5 million — see more pictures, or enquire with the agent for further details. 

Aberdovey: What you need to know

Location: Aberdovey is a coastal village located on the northern side of the River Dyfi estuary. There are three train stations situated in the area, including Aberdovey, Tywyn and Penhelig.

Atmosphere: Aberdovey is a beautiful village that has a strong community and is popular with visitors all year round. It benefits from fantastic views across Ynyslas, the Dyfi Estuary, Cardigan Bay and the Cambrian Hills. The town has a number of independent boutique shops and cafes on the high street, plus art galleries and a thriving yacht club thanks to the sheltered harbour, which makes it popular for sailing.

Things to do: The famed Aberdovey golf club is certainly worth a visit for any keen golfer, whereas Aberdyfi beach offers long stretches of unspoilt sand. Ynys His Wildlife Reserve is a wonderful place to fully emerge yourself in nature, and spot some of the local wildlife.

Schools: Ysgol Gynradd Penybryn is the local primary school, and for secondary — Ysgol Uwchradd Tywyn.

See more property for sale in the area.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

It's not easy finding homes which tick both the 'rural idyll' and 'easily accessible' boxes on the buyer's checklist, but this place does a fine job. Within 2¼ acres of gardens and grounds in the vibrant village of Penmark, the Old Vicarage offers a slice of country life close to the market town of Cowbridge and within easy reach of Cardiff International Airport. There's even seaside at hand, in the form of the old-school bucket-and-spade spot at Barry Island just a few minutes away.

Dressed in Welsh stone and slate, this elegant period property is for sale through Watts & Morgan at an asking price of £1.35 million.

A gabled porch leads to the impressive interiors, which span more than 4,500sq ft.

Each of the three reception rooms has beautiful details, from the fine fireplace in the magnificent drawing room to the panorama in the sitting room, which looks out on the grounds from two sides, and the dining room, which has a large bay window.

The kitchen and breakfast room has kept intact the original servants’ bell and even the utility room has something special — the original bread oven.

Upstairs are five bedrooms, including the large master suite, which comes with a stylish bathroom and its own dressing room, while the basement cellar provides excellent storage space.

The property is perfectly suited for family living, with extensive interior space and grounds that offer a mix of lawns, woodland and an orchard with a range of fruit trees, as well as a tennis court.

A coach house and stables to the eastern side of the property offer scope for conversion, subject to the relevant planning consent.

The Old Vicarage is for sale at £1.35 million via Watts & Morgan — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details.

Penmark: What you need to know

• Location: Penmark is only a short drive away from Cardiff Internationa Airport and the market town of Cowbridge.
• Atmosphere:Developing along the main road, the village has a lovely mix of houses and a charming pub, the Six Bells.
• Things to do: Fonmon Castle, in nearby Barry,combines architecture with nature walks and a dinosaur hunt that's sure to be a hit with children.
• Schools: Llancarfan Primary School is rated as good Find more properties in the area.

An elegant Georgian country house set in 14 acres of rolling Cornish countryside

Penny Churchill takes a look at a magnificent house near Truro.

A sprawling 1,500-acre estate in the heart of Scotland, full of potential for the future

Penny Churchill takes a look at the sale of the Leckie Estate, a huge swathe of land with a fine

Are you after a home, a business, or a bit of both? If it's the latter, then Grade II-listed Cuffern Manor — in Roch, Pembrokeshire — could be ideal, especially for those who don't mind rolling their sleeves up a bit.

This house, for sale at £850,000, sits in magnificent grounds just outside the boundary of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, within 3½ miles of the surfer’s paradise of Newgale Beach.

Listed on the Wales Heritage Register, it was built in 1770 by landowner John Rees Stokes and later became home to the Massy family, who held great fundraisers for the District Nurses' fund.

The property, which is for sale through West Wales Finest Properties, is currently run as an eight-bedroom guest house, with two self-catered cottages, too, and is ripe for conversion back into an extensive family home.

A portico with Doric columns sets the tone right at the entrance, with the door opening onto the elegant hall that has kept intact its original staircase.

On the first floor are eight guest bedrooms, with the current owners’ accommodation (which includes three more bedrooms) on the second floor.

Additional accommodation is available in a self-contained apartment and in the two stone cottages, which have one and two bedrooms respectively.

The gardens and grounds surrounding the property are an immaculate mix of woodland and lawns and the shrub-lined driveway leading through the trees will surely never grow old.

The walled gardens combines delightful flower beds with vegetable beds and fruit bushes and trees.

This is very much a place for Nature, as the current owners explain, with ‘trees, the company of buzzards and red kites, the annual visit by large numbers of housemartins busying themselves with building nests and feeding their young in the eaves of the house and the spectacle of the starling murmurations each year’ providing endless enjoyment.

Cuffern Manor is for sale at £850,000 via West Wales Finest Properties — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details.

Roch: What you need to know

• Location: Roch stands halfway between the town of Haverfordwest and St David's, which is Britain's smallest city
• AtmosphereRoch is just inland from Newgale beach and the sinuous sequence of dunes and cliffs that makes up the Pembrokeshire coastline. It has a castle that dates from Norman times and was the backdrop to a fierce battle between roundhead and cavaliers. It is now a luxury hotel.
• Things to do: Surf! Newgale Beach is famous for it. But for the non-surfers, there's kayaking and walking along the Pembrokeshire Coast path or in the National Park
• Schools: The local primary is Roch Community SchoolFind more properties in the area.

Credit: Tim Hardy Photography / Knight Frank

A superb country house with a village location, immaculately restored to National Trust guidelines

Penny Churchill takes a look at Gilling Lodge, not far from the beautiful North Yorkshire town of Richmond.

Property with potential: Renovation projects for sale, starting from just £125,000

From a period drama-worthy stately home to a delightful cottage to a 17-bedroom mansion for sale at just £400,000, these

When my other half and I first started looking at buying our own place, viewings quickly turned into a sort of Good Cop, Bad Cop routine. My wife is blessed and talented in many ways, but having a poker face is not among them; the result was that if she came across, say, a set of bright orange curtains, she couldn’t help but pull a face akin to that of a six-year-old being offered a plate of vegetables.

This, in turn, made my toes curl, and I invariably tried to make up for her all-too-evident disgust by affecting a particular delight in, say, the picture in the downstairs loo, or a kitchen table. That, of course, made her toes curl; the end result was that it took us several years and literally dozens of viewings (we probably made it to triple figures) before agreeing on somewhere. Even that compromise was only forced by the impending arrival of a baby.

How long would it have taken us, without the little one’s arrival, to find somewhere we agreed on? I’ve always supposed that it might be a decade or so; and now I have proof, since 10 years on here is a house which I think would have delighted us both: Twr Mihangel, a five-bedroom house in a medieval village near Abergavenny. It’s up at £875,000 with Taylor & Co via OnTheMarket.

Part cottage, part miniature castle, this beautiful little place is full of character and history, and so delightfully presented and furnished that it’s hard not to fall for it straight away. The ceiling beams, fireplaces, leaded windows and original floors — some wooden, some stone — all have huge amounts of character, and yet there are modern touches like lovely bathrooms, fibre broadband and decent mobile phone reception. There’s even a very good primary school in the village.

It’s a big house, at around 3,000sq ft, with the central hallway and staircases effectively splitting the property in half. A kitchen/breakfast room (with range cooker, of course), scullery and dining room are in one half of the ground floor, while a large living room and second kitchen are in the other. The latter leads through to the medieval tower, an octagonal space used as a sitting room.

Upstairs, there are four bedrooms (one en-suite, and one family bathroom) above the bulk of the house. The octagonal room, however, is a little bit special: it’s a brilliantly whimsical bedroom with a four-poster bed and its own bathroom; its accessed only from the kitchen stairs below, giving privacy — and meaning that it can be used as a self-contained holiday let. In fact that’s exactly what the present owners have been doing: this miniature castle was even picked out in a Sunday Times listicle as one of the best three romantic getaways in the country.

The gardens are just as charming as the main house, with a wisteria-clad pergola, various lawns and seating areas, a vegetable garden and patio area.

There’s even a paddock, complete with stone stable block to keep Dobbin in, while for those who prefer different horsepower there are two garages and a driveway big enough to park 20 cars.

The village of Llanvihangel Crucorney itself is an interesting place too, sitting within the Brecon Beacons National Park and boasting an historic pub, the Skirrid Moutain Inn, which claims to be the most haunted in Wales. For more in the way of entertainment the lovely town of Abergavenny is just five miles down the A465, with its independent shops, good restaurants and railway station.

Twr Mihangel is for sale with Taylor & Co via OnTheMarket at £875,000 — see more pictures and details.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

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Dating back some 200 years, it would be easy to forget when looking at its wisteria cladding and beautifully presented and planted front garden, that Leys Cottage sits within the confines of the village of Llanblethian in the Vale of Glamorgan. The cottage is currently up for sale through Watts & Morgan at £995,000.

The property offers four bedrooms and three reception rooms and the interior retains a wealth of period features, although it has been modernised to a very high standard. The agents call it a 'house of immense character and set within an outstanding location' and as the images here show, the charm of the place goes far deeper than what you might discern from the floorplan.

Downstairs there is a sitting room, dining room, study, and kitchen-breakfast room, plus utility room and cloakroom.

Upstairs there is a master bedroom with en suite bathroom, three further bedrooms and family bathroom.

The garden extends to about half an acre around the house and, at the back, includes a further lawned area, bordered by mature trees, which leads down to a brook, two stone outbuildings and a greenhouse.

Further amenities are on offer at Cowbridge (one mile) and Cardiff, which is 13 miles away.

Leys Cottage is currently up for sale through Watts & Morgan at £995,000 — see more details and pictures.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

When the first Severn Bridge was opened by The Queen in 1966, it was hailed as the dawn of a new economic era for south Wales, slashing what had been a 12-hour journey to London’s West End.

Although removing bridge tolls in December 2018 – saving commuters up to £1,400 a year – might not have felt quite as momentous, agents say the change has fuelled a spike in interest in Welsh property.

‘It’s noticeable – there’s definitely more activity,’ says managing director at Stacks Property Search James Greenwood.‘There’s also a lot more traffic on the roads and a lot of people talking about it. The question is: is that because the tolls came down or because the pressure on price on the English side of the Severn is so great that people have been squeezed west?’

Dan Rees at Savills Cardiff responds: ‘For people who don’t know Wales and didn’t perhaps grow up there, I’m sure the scrapping of the tolls has widened their search. If they’re commuting, they haven’t got to worry about that extra cost.’

Most new activity, say agents, has been focused towards the middle to lower end of the market. ‘We’re talking about the sub-£300,000 level, especially new-builds,’ says Anthony Clay of Fine & Country Monmouth.‘What will cost you £350,000 in Bristol will cost you £250,000 here, and it’s also beneath the raised tax levels of Wales. People who work in Bristol in the middle end of the market will commute, bridge tolls or no bridge tolls.’

‘If they’re not Welsh, I think people are surprised by how beautiful south Wales is,’ muses Leah Mullin of Knight Frank Cardiff. ‘If I wanted to go and walk in the Brecon Beacons one weekend, it only takes 40 minutes to get there; if I want to go for a swim in the sea, it’s 30 minutes away. The mix of amenities is a massive pull.’

For buyers willing to widen their search, tempted by the new ease of the bridge, budgets will still stretch further across the border. ‘There will always be a bit more value for money in Wales compared with England,’ says Mr Rees, with Savills research showing Welsh properties are nearly £100 cheaper per square foot than on the English side of the bridge.

‘Initially, there was a bit of a surge and a scramble for properties and I think the values did go up a little bit. But, as time has gone on, things have flattened out.’

Monmouthshire, often considered ‘Wales light’ – ‘not too Welsh,’ explains Mr Clay – boasts the popular market towns of Usk and Monmouth; the latter is home to the Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools, a major draw. Crickhowell, the other side of Abergavenny, is also in high demand, with its high street enlivened by independent shops.

Agents advise sticking near to the bridge for a daily Bristol commute; the realistic commuter belt is between Chepstow and Newport near the motorway, including popular Caldicot. ‘You also have the Severn Tunnel Junction or Newport train stations on your doorstep here, and can be in London in two hours on a fast train,’ adds Mr Rees.

Why not take the plunge? ‘It’s a bit of a cliché, but people can be surprised by how warmly they’re made to feel at home in Wales,’ says Mr Greenwood. ‘There are slightly different attitudes and values to money on the other side of the river. It is a more relaxed place.’ Take me to the river... and beyond.

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When the first Severn Bridge was opened by The Queen in 1966, it was hailed as the dawn of a new economic era for south Wales, slashing what had been a 12-hour journey to London’s West End.

Although removing bridge tolls in December 2018 – saving commuters up to £1,400 a year – might not have felt quite as momentous, agents say the change has fuelled a spike in interest in Welsh property.

Only yards from the town centre of popular Crickhowell, crowned the UK’s best high street in 2018, is 18th-century Dan Y Castell, on the market with Bidmead Cook for £1.35 million.

A wonderful example of an 18^th century townhouse, Dan Y Castell is set in magnificent gardens, with beautiful views out over the Welsh countryside. One of the most important houses in Crickhowell, the majority of the Georgian townhouse dates from around 1734 with some much earlier origins evident that gained it its Grade-II rating.

Sitting in the Brecon Beacons National Park, the Dan Y Castell is in prime position for anyone who enjoys outdoor pursuits. Riding, fishing, hiking, paragliding and bird watching are all minutes from its doors – as well as hundreds of walking trails in the surrounding area.

As with many older properties, Dan Y Castell has seen some extensive remodelling to bring it in line with the times – firstly in the early 20^th century and more recently in the early 21^st century. The house may need a few licks of paint to bring it into line with its new owners tastes, but with a bit of work it's sure to be an incredibly family home.

The six-bedroom property already benefits from a conservatory, cellar and domestic offices, with views from the garden over the glorious Brecon Beacons.

It's an exciting adventure, there's no doubt about it. So, have you been convinced to start a new adventure in Wales? If you're looking for something further afield, we know there are a few Scottish castles for sale...

Dan Y Castell is on the market through Bidmead Cook for £1.35 million. Click here for more information and images.

Credit: On The Market

Picture-perfect country cottage with a dreamy English country garden

Church Cottage is the idyllic countryside family home for everyone, including Alexandra Fraser, who takes a look at its many

Credit: Strutt & Parker

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Smallwater has been diligently cared for by its current owners and restored to a state of perfection - it's now

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Only three of John Nash’s Welsh country houses still stand, of which Grade I-listed Ffynone, set on high ground near Boncath, Pembrokeshire, is the most westerly — and the most spectacular. Its survival is a testament to the efforts of its owners over the last couple of hundred years; today, it’s seeking a new custodian. The house is on the market via Savills at £1.95 million.

The present owner bought the house, set in 34 acres of landscaped gardens and parkland, in 2017 and embarked on a further programme of restoration and refurbishment. Unfortunately, his business is now taking him abroad, hence the re-sale at short notice of Nash’s Welsh masterpiece — with all contents included — at an eye-catching price for a house which has also been expanded and improved by Inigo Thomas. The house as it stands today encapsulates the genius of two great designers of the Georgian and Edwardian eras.

Ffynone is huge: there are 13 bedrooms, six reception rooms — among them a library and a fine drawing room.

There is also a remarkable music room, originally Inigo Thomas' ballroom — who worked on the house in the early 20th century — which features an impressive vaulted ceiling with its extravagant plaster work and an imposing fireplace.

The beautiful, cantilevered staircase rises to a first floor that has a master suite and four further bedrooms; there are four more on the second floor.

If you need further accommodation there are also three apartments within the network of buildings. The Cook's Apartment and the Garden Apartment have three bedrooms each; the Stable Apartment has five bedrooms.

A lot of work has been done of late, but the job is not finished. ‘The owner has done much of the boring, unseen work that needed to be done, such as installing damp courses and so on,’ says Lindsay Cuthill of Savills.

‘However, there is still more to do and what the house needs now is an enthusiastic owner who will live there full-time.’

It’s not for nothing that the original Welsh name of the estate was Ffynnonau, meaning ‘wells’, which abound in the area. Over the years, Welsh water and Welsh weather have been Ffynone’s greatest enemy.

According to the architectural historian Richard Haslam (writing in Country Life in November 1992), ‘that [Ffynone] is still there is due to the persistence of Lord and Lady Lloyd George, who recently had to tackle a legacy of dry rot to save it from the fate of the great majority of country houses in that far peninsula’. Since the Lloyd Georges’ day, a further handful of dedicated owners have expended time and money to ensure the survival of this remarkable house.

In the late 1700s, a vogue for small, sporting Welsh landowners to build grand country houses in picturesque settings — ‘elegant, perhaps, although often beyond their means,’ Mr Haslam observes — led to a series of commissions for Nash in the three south-western counties of Wales and in old Monmouthshire, between 1785 and 1795.

Ffynone stands high on a hill that’s shared by Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire — on a spot carefully chosen to make the most of the glorious open views. Here, in 1792, Nash was commissioned to build a rigorously symmetrical villa for Col John Colby, whose uncle had bought the estate in 1752.

The house remained in the Colby family until 1927, by which time the building had been remodelled and enlarged for John Vaughan Colby by the architect and garden designer Francis Inigo Thomas.

To be more precise, the work was commissioned in 1902 by Colby’s wife, who took advantage of her husband’s extended absence on a bear-hunting trip in Siberia to let her own and her designer’s imaginations run riot. Thomas adopted an Italian Classical design to build two new wings, decorating the rooms in each in Italianate Baroque style. Outside, he created a long stone terrace with grottos and water features. Estate accounts show that some 60,000 trees were brought in from a nursery in Norwich; some of these survive to this day.

‘The contrast between the extreme reticence of the Nash design and the full bloom of its Edwardian re-clothing is fascinating,’ marvels Mr Haslam. ‘No longer a typical West Wales squire’s house, perched white among long, green hills, Ffynone was given a new scale that enabled it to preside over an amazing Italian formal terrace to the south, a Roman Beaux Arts extravaganza realised in slate.’

Colby died in 1823 and, within a few years, large sums of money had to be spent on strengthening Ffynone against the weather; the roof was recovered in north Wales slate and hardwood window sashes fitted. The stables and ornamental clock tower were probably added at about the same time.

The Colby family’s involvement finally came to an end when Colby’s grandson, John Vaughan, lost his only son in the First World War and his daughter eventually sold the estate in 1927. Happily, their legacy has been respected by successive owners, who have preserved the house and buildings in their entirety, as well as renovating and modernising according to both the letter and the spirit of its Grade I listing.

Ffynone is for sale via Savills at £1.95m — see more details and pictures.

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Principally designed by John Nash, Warrens at Bramshaw in Hampshire is surrounded by the New Forest.

Credit: Chris Curl

A beautifully restored Regency castle, standing proudly over the wetlands and estuaries of West Wales

Glandyfi Castle is a John Nash style Gothic Regency country home, skillfully restored in a fairytale location. Penny Churchill reports.

In West Wales, clever investment in silver and lead mines in the late 1700s allowed Edward Jeffreys of Shrewsbury to purchase a picturesque hillside overlooking the Dovey estuary and Cardigan Bay. There, in the early 1800s, his grandson, George Jeffreys, built romantic Glandyfi Castle in the dramatic Regency Gothic style favoured by John Nash. The castle has survived alternate periods of ‘feast and famine’ and now, impressively restored by its current owners, is for sale through Strutt & Parker at a guide price of £2.85m.

Belinda Hutchinson-Smith of Strutt & Parker in Shrewsbury first set foot in Glandyfi Castle, near Machyn-lleth, when it last came onto the market in 2006. ‘It was like walking onto the Marie Celeste,’ she recalls. The house was being sold following the death of its owner, an elderly lady who had lived there for years, and everything in the house had been left exactly as it was on the day she died – with bedrooms untidied and books left open where someone had put them down years before.

Now, following a skilful restoration by its present owners, the castle, set high on its wooded hillside overlooking Glandyfi village and the original Aberdovey Castle on the wetlands of the estuary below, stands every bit as proudly as it did in George Jeffreys’s day.

A barrister, he inherited his grandfather’s estate on his soldier brother’s death in 1812 and set about building the castle in the Regency Gothic style that was all the rage at the time. He and his wife, Justina, entertained lavishly in their grand new home; among their friends was the author Thomas Love Peacock, who was married from Glandyfi Castle in 1820.

George died in 1868, his son Edward in 1888 and Edward’s brother, Charles, in 1904. In 1906, the family sold the castle, together with 370 acres, to Lewis Pugh Pugh of Abermad, who kept the land and sold the house with 43 acres to Maj R. J. Spurrell, origin-ally of Bessingham Manor, Norfolk.

Since then, the castle has had a series of owners, the most newsworthy of whom was Sir Bernard Docker, the flamboyant businessman and chairman of British Small Arms (BSA) and Daimler cars. He arranged for BSA to buy Glandyfi for £12,500 in the 1950s and spent twice that refurbishing it, before being forced to step down from his post when shareholders rebelled. The castle was then resold with little alteration.

According to its listing, Glandyfi Castle is the only castellated country house in Ceredigion. It is said to be similar to Stanage Park, Knighton, which was built in about 1810 by H. Haycock of Shrewsbury, who may also have been the architect at Glandyfi.

Today the castle stands in some 31 acres of wonderful landscaped gardens, pasture and woodland, and still enjoys gloriously unspoilt views across the Dovey estuary to the mountains of the Snowdonia National Park.

The main house offers 8,280sq ft of gracious accommodation on three floors, including entrance and reception halls, four opulent reception rooms, a contemporary kitchen/breakfast room, a newly created atrium living-and-dining area, 10 double bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and a recently renovated lodge.

A range of barns set away from the house could be converted to residential use, subject to the usual planning consents.

Glandyfi Castle is on sale through Strutt & Parker at a guide price of £2.85 million. Click here for more pictures and information.

Credit: Savills

The enchanting family house and gardens near Edinburgh with a hint of fairytale castle

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Credit: Savills

A fairytale castle in Wiltshire which could be straight out of Sleeping Beauty

Credit: Strutt & Parker

A Georgian townhouse with perhaps the best views in Bath and not a small amount of history

Surviving a World War II bombing that destroyed half of its crescent, indiscriminate postwar ‘redevelopment’ and 45 years of neglect,

Credit: strutt & parker

A magnificent beachfront Scottish castle with 28 acres of wonderful woodland– all for less than a small country cottage

This stunning estate housed a naval captain, a Canadian mounted officer and the Profumo family.

The last time that Grade II*-listed Gwysaney Hall and its 1,640-acre estate near Mold, Flintshire, was seen on the open market was in 2009, when the credit crunch put paid to any realistic chance of securing the sale of the estate as a whole.

This time around, owner Richard Davies-Cooke and his family, whose ancestors have owned Gwysaney for more than 450 years, plan to ensure the estate’s long-term future by selling the hall, set in 26 acres of landscaped gardens, grounds, woodland and paddocks. It is for sale at a guide price of £2.75 million through the Chester office of Strutt & Parker.

Few historic Welsh houses can boast a history as rich or as well-documented as that of Gwysaney, which was summed up by Christopher Hussey in Country Life (May 14 and 21, 1943): ‘The story of Gwysaney’s ups and downs — built under James I, battered by the Roundheads, little valued and deserted by the family for 200 years, then repaired, and now a cherished home again — is typical of many an old house.’

Gwysaney Hall stands high on a 600ft plateau overlooking the Dee estuary, with far-reaching views across the estuary and the Wirral peninsula to Liverpool, 17 miles away; on a clear day, you can even see the Cumbrian hills.

It might have been neglected at one point in its history, but for the last couple of hundred years the hall has been cherished by successive generations of the Davies-Cooke family and, today, as it returns to the market for only the second time in its long history, the house has never looked so well.

The front door leads to a fine panelled reception hall, which was part of the original house. A panelled drawing room with a wide, square bay window at one end gives wide-ranging views over the adjoining parkland and beyond.

The fine chimneypiece is believed to have been created using material from the original 16th-century staircase, surmounted by an ornamental overmantle that is believed to have come from the chapel within the original hall.

The everyday reception rooms at the front of the house include a sitting room, with a massive carved stone chimneypiece, part-panelled walls and a window seat, and a study, with an ornate carved chimneypiece, both of which have wonderful views.

The impressive dining room has a fine stone arched recess at one end. Doors from the central corridor lead to a large kitchen/breakfast room, with a beamed arch opening into a secondary kitchen; a stone floor with underfloor heating runs throughout the kitchen and garden room. Such modern touches can be found in many parts of the home, as the bathrooms demonstrate.

Upstairs, the central landing leads to a large bedroom with a date stone of 1603. The master bedroom, accessed through a great oak door, is light and airy, with views of the front park and the Cheshire Plains.

In all, the house offers some 17,000sq ft of interior living space, which comprises three halls, four main reception rooms, two kitchens, 13 bedrooms, four bathrooms, a shower room, a staff flat and four attic rooms.

Included in the sale are two three-bedroom cottages, five stables and an outdoor manège.

The garden, which dates mainly from the 1800s, lies mostly to the north, behind the house, where it merges into a large arboretum developed from 1820 onwards.

The Chapel Garden on the east front includes a former chapel once attached to the hall, with original walls and stone-mullioned windows. There’s also a colourful rose garden, a dramatic water garden, a former walled garden and a kitchen garden.

According to Christopher Hussey's 1943 articles, the Hall one of several important houses around Mold that were built by Flintshire squires in the Elizabethan period or early in the 17th century.

The present hall is thought to have been built near the site of an earlier, 16th-century house by Robert Davies in 1603. Its original H-shape design is said to be similar to that of the vanished mansion of Llannerch at St Asaph in the nearby Vale of Clwyd, built by Sir Peter Mutton, Chief Justice of Wales, at about the same time as Gwysaney.

In about 1640, Robert Davies married Sir Peter’s elder daughter, Anne, who brought him Llannerch as part of her dowry. Davies celebrated their marriage by installing a new front door at Gwysaney, decorating it with his initials and those of his bride. Five years later, the lower part of it was battered to bits by Sir William Brereton’s Roundheads, forcing its Royalist garrison to surrender.

The damage done to his home by the Parliamentarians was probably the reason why Davies moved to Llannerch and why his son, Mutton, made the elaborate terrace garden there instead of at Gwysaney.

In any event, the old hall remained out of favour throughout the 18th century, which no doubt contributed to its condition in about 1820, when the east wing, which overhung a steep slope and included a chapel, threatened to collapse and was taken down, together with the top storey.

By this time, Gwysaney had passed to the Davies-Cooke family of Owston, near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, but it was only when Philip Bryan Cooke married the daughter of the renowned Sir Tatton Sykes of Sledmere in 1862 that Gwysaney was again considered as a suitable home for the elder son. The reclaimed stone from the rooms that had been pulled down a generation before served to build a new wing on the west side of the house.

Gwysaney Hall is for sale at a guide price of £2.75 million through the Chester office of Strutt & Parker – see more details and pictures.

Wrexham – £895,000

Wynnstay Hall is a majestic, Grade II*-listed house dating to the 17th century, and full restored in the last few years – and this property, The Library, is one of the largest parts of this fine old building.

There are seven bedrooms and four reception rooms, but it's the extra touches which mark this out as something special.

There's a fully-equipped gym, a pool with one of those jet things you swim against, and all manner of beautiful period features – not least the extraordinarily pretty arched ceilings.

For sale with Savills. See more pictures and details about this property.

Pwllheli – £750,000

One for the hopeless romantics – but what an incredible opportunity there is at Ty Uchaf, the remains of a farm set within over 200 acres of land in the spectacular Nant Gwrtheyrn valley on the Llun Peninsula in north-west Wales.

The sale includes a dilapidated yet still reasonably solid-looking farmhouse, an old quarry, a stretch of beach that's almost a quarter of a mile long and endless views of hill, vale and sea. Spectacular.

For sale with Carter Jonas. See more pictures and details about this property.

Nantyderry – £3,750,000

Perhaps the grandest country house currently on the market in Wales, Llanfair Grange is a Georgian manor house with views across the Brecon Beacons near Abergavenny.

The house has 12ft ceilings, vast windows, a pillared portico entrance, country-style kitchen with Aga, and seven or eight bedrooms, depending on how you want to configure things.

There's also a bar area in the basement with a pool table and dance floor, while there are stables, tennis courts and an open air swimming pool in the grounds – the latter having a poolhouse that's designed as a Greek-style taverna.

For sale with Savills. See more pictures and details about this property.

Pembrokeshire – £1,350,000

An elegant eight-bedroom home a few miles outside Haverfordwest and on the fringes of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Sutton Lodge has been completely refurbished and comes as more or less a blank canvas.

From the pictures you won't be surprised to hear that the place was once run as a country house hotel, but it's very much a home now with grand entrance hall, formal lounge, orangery, study, library and a dining kitchen, plus seven bedrooms and a one-bedroom annexe.

For sale with Town & Country Estates. See more pictures and details about this property.

Abergavenny – Price on application

Llanfoist House is six-bedroom home within Ty Mawr, a classic Georgian country house located just outside the charming town of Abergavenny.

The accommodation is spread over five floors, from substantial cellars through to a large loft space currently used as an art studio.

The grounds are also worth a mention: there are formal gardens, a kitchen garden, orchard, paddocks and enchanting areas of woodland with a stream and large pond.

For sale with Sunderlands. See more pictures and details about this property.

Pembrokeshire – £1,500,000

A relatively newly-built country house in the neo-classical style, Bonvilles Court is just under 50 years old and has a great mix of character features with modern comfort.

The wonderful main hall with its curving staircase looks for all the world like a set from Gone With The Wind, while the 12 acres of grounds have been pleasantly landscaped. The location is good too: just 5 miles from the irresistible seaside town of Tenby, there's also a railway station close by.

For sale with Savills. See more pictures and details about this property.

Anglesey – £1,099,500

An 18-acre headland to call your own is what just over the £1m mark buys you at this house in Amlwch, on the northern edge of Anglesey.

It's a breathtaking spot that delivers all you could ever imagine in the way of clifftops, sunsets and even dolphins playing in the Irish sea.

The main house is modest with three bedrooms, but there are two further cottages to make this a superb potential investment – the cottages currently bring in £57k per year in holiday rental revenue.

For sale with Williams & Goodwin. See more pictures and details about this property.

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Cardiff – £2,950,000

On the western fringes of Cardiff is Sant-Y-Nyll House, a majestic Georgian home set in 12 acres of idyllic countryside that's still just 15 minutes from the city centre.

It's a six-bedroom house – including a master suite with a huge separate dressing room – with all sorts of wonderful features, including an orangery (pictured here), magnificent wine cellar, a library and stabling.

For sale via Fine & Country. See more pictures and details about this property.

Newport – £1,950,000

This must be one of the most interesting property mash-ups we've seen in a long time. A stone-build former hunting lodge dating back to the start of the 18th century which has had a distinctly 21st century extension built.

The views across the south Wales countryside are breathtaking, taking in the full 360 degrees from this hilltop location. Equally striking is the internal mix of old and new, masterminded by architects Davis Sutton.

For sale via Savills. See more pictures and details about this property.

Abergavenny – £1,700,000

In one of Wales's most charming towns is Tredilion Park, a sprawling property of simply immense potential in all sorts of ways. The nine-bedroom manor house with its magnificent grand hall is at the heart of the property, but there are three further houses within this 78-acre estate.

There are also two lakes, tennis courts, a sunken walled garden, stables and a paddock. You'll have to act quickly, however: the agents have already received an offer over the asking price, and interested parties have been asked to get in touch as quickly as possible.

For sale via Newland Rennie. See more pictures and details about this property.

Anglesey – £1,375,000

A working lighthouse is included in the sale of this peninsula on the north side of Anglesey, an entire 17-acre headland to call your own.

As well as the lighthouse there is a main three-bedroom residence and two holiday cottages within the castellated walls. The two cottages alone generate rental income of £42,000 a year, making this a fine option for someone looking to start a new life that can pay for itself.

For sale via Williams & Goodwin. See more pictures and details about this property.

Pembrokeshire – £1,350,000

Sutton Lodge is an eight-bedroom Georgian mansion set in just over four acres of idyllic lawns, woodland and meadows.

The house has previously been used as a country hotel and restaurant, and has been completely renovated. Now, it just needs a few personal touches to make it a comfortable family home once more.

For sale via Town Coast & Country Estates. See more pictures and details about this property.

Haye-on-Wye – £895,000

In the village of Boughrood, just down the road from Haye, is this delightfully-finished five bedroom house in gardens that are nothing short of magnificent.

There is also stabling and five acres of land for those who wish to run the place as an equestrian facility, while planning permission has been granted for three further homes within the grounds.

For sale via McCartneys. See more pictures and details about this property.

Imposing views, Jacobean-style turrets and grand features to make you sigh – and all for an auction guide price of £1.5-£2m, money which would just about get you a nice detached house on the nearby Wirral. Yet Westbury Castle is a place with a huge amount for prospective buyers to get their heads around – something which no doubt accounts for the fact that it's being sold by auction.

This beautiful old pile on the North Wales coast stands a few miles from Chester, just across the mouth of the River Dee from Hoylake.

It was built by the Mostyn family – specifically the 7th Baronet – between 1825 and 1829, to a design which largely ignored the late-Georgian fashions and instead created something closer to a Jacobean castle. It's that look which saw it get dubbed rather fancifully 'the Welsh Downton Abbey' during a previous effort to find a buyer. (Of which, incidentally, there seem to have been several in recent years, each with varying amounts of land and associated property– again, something we'd imagine contributed to the decision to go to auction.)

Sadly, the Mostyns of Talacre – who originally named the house Talacre Hall – enjoyed less than a century in this grand and beautiful house. The deaths of two Baronets in quick succession prompted the family to leave the house in 1920, after which it became a Benedictine convent.

At the end of the 20th century, however, the nuns moved out and Westbury Castle became a home once more.

Yet it's not quite a 'home' today – or not one home at any rate, since the castle (which is set in just under four acres of land) has since been split into no fewer than 11 separate dwellings.

The grandest by far is the Mansion House, an incredibly grand nine-bedroom home with grand entrance hall, three reception rooms plus a dining room, pool room and conservatory. It boasts access to a separate, self-contained two-bedroom flat and also to the adjoining chapel that you'll see in the pictures.

Sadly, it's the one part of this property that you won't be able to live in. At least, not yet: it's currently rented out at £3,950 per month, on a lease which runs until the end of 2021.

That said, there are five further apartments to choose from (plus a further four which are also rented out) in a property which runs to almost 24,000 sq ft in total.

Confused? We were too. The floorplan helps a bit to get your head around things though (click on the pic to open it full size).

At the moment, Westbury Castle is run as a successful wedding venue –there is almost £70,000 a year in rental income alone, despite five of the flats currently lying empty.

Those numbers make the £1.5 million to £2 million auction estimate seem very good value, particularly when you consider that there is clearly scope to do far more with the place for the right investor with appropriately deep pockets (and, of course, the necessary permissions).

The auction takes place on Thursday 15 February – you can find out more about Westbury Castle at the Strutt & Parker website or see the auctioneer's listing here. 

On the face of it, the asking price of £1.75m for this seven-bedroom house in north Wales might seem rather a lot.

After all, £875,000 buys you a seven-acre estate with houses racking up a total of 15 bedrooms near Cardigan Bay.

And this 11-bedroom house in Llanbedr is under half a million – and before you ask, it's superbly done out inside.

So what makes Craig y Don worth almost four times as much?

As you might expect, it's a very special combination of factors. Let's start with the location: the house enjoys an utterly delightful spot on the Menai Strait, with frontage straight onto the water.

The views across to the snow-topped mountains of Snowdonia are utterly entrancing:

The grandeur continues inside the house, however, in a property that dates back to the 16th century. It boasts rooms that are quite enormous and rich in period details; take the drawing room and billiard room as the prime examples.

Both offer rare quality with high ceilings, wooden panelling, delightful windows and huge fireplaces.

The billiard room has two bay windows, one of which has a curved arch which is reflected in the fireplace across the room.

As you can tell from the pictures, there is work to be done. The present owners have taken on a lot of work and much of it is complete, but there are still many areas which need attention.

The most obvious of these areas is the south end of the house, which has been re-configured and partially re-built. It's described as a 'blank canvas' by the agents, who describe it as 'a fantastic everyday living and entertaining space with a suite of rooms suitable for use as a study and kitchen off which would be seating, snug and dining areas, all enjoying a lovely light aspect over the gardens and with pairs of French doors opening to a south facing terrace.'

All of which is true – it will offer a delightful, sprawling space one day – but there is a lot to be done here before any of that can be enjoyed.

That said, once the work is complete this would arguably be one of the finest houses in Wales, with one of the finest settings. There are simply so many things fundamentally right about the place; all but one of the eight bedrooms have been built to enjoy views over the Strait, for example, and who could resist the lure of a spiral staircase up to a crenellated tower?

See more details and pictures of the house – including five acres of grounds and woodland – which is for sale via Jackson-Stops & Staff.

A beautiful island to call your own, for the price of a one-bedroom flat

A budding Robinson Crusoe is needed to take over this gorgeous island, which lies just off the coast from Portmeirion.

Credit: Strutt & Parker

A seven-bedroom mansion for the price of a south London flat

Many of us dream of swapping a city flat for a mansion in the country - and this extraordinary property,

‘Low key’ and ‘unpretentious’ are probably words not readily associated with grand, Grade II*-listed Wynnstay Hall at Ruabon, near Wrexham, North Wales. The former principal seat of the Williams-Wynn family, it stands high above the River Dee, overlooking the Vale of Llangollen and the Berwyn mountains.

In the mid 17th century, the estate passed to Sir John Wynn, although, of this period, only the stone tower of 1706 survives. In 1736–8, the house was enlarged and remodelled by Francis Smith of Warwick and his son William, who also designed the stable block. A large assembly room was added in 1770 and Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown was engaged to lay out the estate’s parks and gardens between 1777 and 1782.

In the early to mid 19th century, another ambitious building programme ceased when a fire destroyed much of the building and, in 1858, the architect Benjamin Ferrey was commissioned by the 6th Baronet to rebuild the mansion in its present French Renaissance style.

After the Second World War, heavy death duties forced the Williams-Wynn family to leave the vast mansion and, in 1948, their 200-year link with Ruabon was finally severed. Much of the estate was put up for sale and the house became a private school, which closed due to bankruptcy in 1994, after which the building was converted to luxury apartments.

Twenty years later, however, the central, 6,640sq ft Library was in a dire state of repair when, in 2014, the brothers Omar and Dafydd Gomez-Evans, founders of London-based design company Concept Bespoke Interiors, bought this dominant part of the Hall and set about restoring it as a family country retreat.

Following a painstaking, two-year refurbishment by local builder W. D. Stant, under the watchful eye of the Gomez-Evans brothers and the listed- buildings officer, The Library boasts three reception rooms, a kitchen/ breakfast room, seven bedrooms, four bath/shower rooms and a leisure complex with an indoor swimming pool and gymnasium.

It comes with access to communal tennis courts, an all-weather sports pitch, landscaped grounds and is for sale through Strutt & Parker in Chester (01244 354880), at a guide price of £995,000.

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Formerly part of the Dôl-Haidd Isaf estate, this is a rare opportunity to acquire a stunning stretch of the River Teifi in Carmarthenshire which is renowned for salmon, sea trout and brown trout fishing, along with a handsome five-bedroom farmhouse overlooking the river and four self-catering cottages.

The pretty stone farmhouse has been extended and renovated over time. Reception rooms on the ground floor include the dining room, a small sitting room/snug, and the conservatory which enjoys majestic views of the river, as does the kitchen/breakfast room. The sitting room adjoins the rear hallway and leads to two bedrooms, including the master suite, and an office. There are three further double bedrooms and a family bathroom upstairs. Period features include a large inglenook fireplace in the dining room.

The fishing

Around 1380 yards of fishing-includes over 185 yards of double bank fishing. The land comprises over 35 acres of grazing with stables and a tack room.

Spring runs are not heavy, although fish up to 18lb have been landed. Large sea trout run early in April and May followed by the school sea trout in June, with July and August the best months, especially on the fly.

Good catches of brown trout can be made on any day of the season. The autumn rain in September and October brings good runs of salmon with the record fish caught at Dôl-Haidd Isaf being 24lb.

The location Dôl-Haidd Isaf is set in the Teifi valley in the county of Carmarthenshire in west Wales just 16 miles from the beautiful sandy beaches and coves along Cardigan Bay. To the south are the beaches of Carmarthen Bay and the vast seven mile sandy beach at Pendine.

The guide price is £925,000. Contact Savills (01865 680650; http://countrylife.onthemarket.com)

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The original Kemeys Folly was a hunting lodge, dating back to the 1700s and at one point owned by the Sherrif of Monmouth. This Grade II listed folly has now been completely renovated, while the new extension, linked by a tasteful modern hallway, adds further contemporary living spaces with modern comforts like underfloor heating.

The house now offers a total of six bedrooms, three in the old house and three in the modern extension; the master suite is an exceptional space, which takes up a whole floor of the tower and has its own roof terrace. The cinema room in the older part of the building has a more traditional feel and is a brilliant family space.

The living and entertaining spaces are located in the contemporary part of the house, and are laid out in an open plan fashion. These spaces include the modern kitchen, dining area and family room - doors on two sides of the space can be pulled back to bring the panoramic views right into the home.

There is a large Pool House with generous pool and changing facilities within. There are four stables that back directly onto a paddock that benefits from a ménage. Also outside are 23 acres of beautiful woodland, gardens and grounds.

Kemeys Folly is located between the country lanes of Langstone and historic Caerleon. It’s just 15 minutes to Newport, while Bristol and Cardiff are around a 45 minute drive.

The guide price is £1.795m. Contact Chewton Rose on 029 2227 9095 or visit www.countrylife.onthemarket.com.

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Braich Y Celyn Hall is a notable 400-year-old historic property which is believed to have previously been a farmhouse, with a third floor added in the Regency era.

Inside, the magnificent galleried hall creates a central point in the house and provides access to ground floor rooms including the sitting room, which spans the entirety of one gable, and benefits from two French windows letting in lots of natural light. The drawing room is also an attractive room for entertaining, and is built to make the most of its views out to the estuary.

The lower ground floor has a games room, wine cellar and game larder, while upstairs the master bedroom suite with its fine open fireplace lies on the first floor, as do two further double bedrooms. The second floor boasts three further bedrooms served by a family bathroom.

Accommodation in total comprises: entrance hall, kitchen/breakfast room, dining room, drawing room, games room, wine cellar, game larder, master bedroom suite, five further bedrooms and three further bathrooms.

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Outside, the driveway leads up to the house through glorious woodland and the surrounding 4.5 acres is a mixture of woodland, walled garden, lawns and well-stocked borders and include some rare shrubs and trees.

Braich Y Celyn Hall is located on the north fringe of the pretty village of Aberdovey, on the southern edge of the Snowdonia National Park. Nearby is Machynlleth which has useful amenities and Welshpool is 50 miles.

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The guide price is £1.2m. For further information please contact Strutt & Parker on 01743 284200 or visit www.struttandparker.com.

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AChinese armorial bowl that doubles as a chamber pot and a Military Cross dating from the First World War are among the lots at an auction of pieces from one of Wales's oldest estates. Following the death of Joy Stepney Gulston, chatelaine of Derwydd Mansion in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, last year, a number of the family's treasures are going under the hammer.

Many are intertwined with its history-the Military Cross (estimated at £400-£500) was awarded to a relative, Lt A. S. Gulston, and the chamber pot (£1,200-£1,500) is decorated with the arms of Stepney. The auction will take place on March 19 under the auspices of Anthemion, specialist in Welsh art (029-2047 2444; www.anthemionauctions.com).

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Formerly the chief residence of the Bishops of Llandaff until 1706, Mathern Palace is an impressive country property in Wales was restored at the end of the 19th century and now offers outstanding accommodation near Chepstow. Inside, the period features are wonderful and the reception rooms and family rooms are all excellent spaces for entertaining or more relaxing times.

In the early 20th cenutry, the house was owned by Country Life's Architectural Editor Henry Avray Tipping, who remodelled the house and also redesigned the gardens.

There are bedrooms on the ground floor, split into two wings - two of the bedroom suites have sitting rooms and all are a good size.

Accommodation in total comprises: hall, drawing room, dining room, sitting room, library, billiard room, inner hall, commercial kitchens, office space, garden room and the master bedroom suite plus seven further en-suite bedrooms, two further bedrooms and two further bathrooms.

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Outside are two cottages, one with four bedrooms and the second still under construction. The gardens and grounds come to around seven acres and are mainly laid to lawn. Features include topiary hedging, a sunken rose garden, beautiful flower beds and borders and to the north is an area of orchard which leads down to a pond. Beyond there is the paddock, and there is a good deal of storage around the courtyard, beyond which are the old stone pigsties, a stable block and three loose boxes.

Mathern Palace is a historic village in Monmouthshire close to the Severn Estuary, and around three miles south west of Chepstow, which has good local services and amenities.

The guide price is £2.75m. For further information please contact Knight Frank on 020 7861 1707 or visit www.knightfrank.co.uk.

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Gelli Gynan Estate is a very private estate in North Wales just a mile from the charming village of Llanarmon-yn-lal. The principal house is an imposing Grade II listed property which has been sympathetically restored, and has a careful balance of formal rooms for entertaining and the more relaxed living spaces. The updates have thoroughly brought the house into the 21st century with a state-of-the-art electronic and IT system, dust-free environment, and lambswool insulation.

The original section of the current house was constructed in the early 19th century and subsequent additions have added charming modern conveniences. Interiors have been wonderfully preserved and restored, and the principal reception rooms feature high ceilings, period fireplaces and very fine views of the gardens.

The staircase has an elegant Georgian banister which proceeds to a half landing and on to the main landing beyond with an overall skywell from which there is access to the principal bedroom and the second floor: on the first floor are six bedrooms, all with fireplaces, including the palatial master bedroom suite.The second floor has two further bedrooms and an en suite bathroom.

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Accommodation in total comprises: entrance hall, drawing room, sitting room, study, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room, large family room, master bedroom with en suite bathroom and dressing room, seven further bedrooms, four further bath/shower rooms, and extensive cellars.

Outside the cottage has two bedrooms, kitchen/breakfast room and a sitting room. The leisure complex includes an indoor swimming pool, Jacuzzi, and gym.

The gardens include an orangery with peach trees, and the grounds are a point of pride for the house. The woodland has been specifically developed over centuries for shooting and a charming stone bridge sits over a tributary of the River Alyn which flows in the grounds. The estate yard houses an American barn, stables and workshop, as well as the new biomass plant.

The Gelli Gynan Shoot is first class and was let out to a syndicate until around two years ago. The land comes to 82 acres but there are sporting rights over 776 acres.

Gelli Gynan Hall is located within some of the most picturesque and impressive scenery in the UK and near Llanarmon-yn-lal. Chester is just 21 miles and Mold 7.5 miles.

The guide price is £3m. For further information please contact Savills on 01952 239 500 or visit www.savills.co.uk.

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Twr-yGwynt is a period house dating back from around 1920 located by the beautiful Glaslyn Estuary in North Wales. The house has spacious accommodation full of charm, with a guest suite on the ground floor and three double bedrooms on the first floor; the master suite has French windows opening onto a decked balcony.

Downstairs the drawing room has an open fireplace, and the fitted study is an excellent space for working or relaxing. The dining room opens into a panelled family sitting room which also connects to the modern kitchen. The second floor flat is accessed from an external spiral staircase, or through a door in the house off the landing. It can be separate or used as part of the house, and offers a sitting room, kitchen and dining area, three bedrooms and a bathroom.

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Outside is the decked veranda which extends into the garden and offers panoramic views of the estuary and mountains. The front garden has a formal lawn and to the side is a copse of pine trees with a treehouse, behind which is a raised garden with grassed areas, rock outcrops and shrubs.

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Twy-y-Gwynt enjoys a wonderful position overlooking the Glaslyn Estuary against the backdrop of the mountains and the Snowdonia National Park. The house has direct access to sandy beaches and is walking distance from the village of Borth-y-Gest with its natural harbour. There are further amenities nearby in Porthmadog. Caernarfon is 19 miles.

The guide price is £1.1m. For further information please contact Jackson-Stops & Staff on 01244 328 361 or visit www.jackson-stops.co.uk.

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Pant Y Drain is a large period farmhouse in Wales with generous accommodation over two floors plus a cellar. The property comprises reception hall, kitchen with inglenook fireplace, study, sitting room, and four good double bedrooms, plus a family bathroom on the first floor.

The annexe is connected to the main property and offers one bedroom, a sitting room and a galley kitchen. The garden is a lawned area to the north east of the house, and immediately adjacent to the property are a large parking area and a garage.

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A range of modern and traditional farm buildings sit opposite the primary property, and the land, which comes to just over 1,000 acres, can be divided into two main sections: the land to the east is pasture in well-fenced enclosures with several areas of woodland, while the land to the west rises steeply, and is laid to pasture. A number of streams provide natural water for grazing stock. The land immediately adjacent to the river falls within the River Wye SSSI site.

The property is available as a whole or in three lots. Llanidloes is located in the rolling countryside of central Wales between Newtown and Aberystwyth.

The guide price is £3.65m. For further information please contact Carter Jonas on 01248 362 536 or visit www.carterjonas.co.uk.

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