North Wales Escape to the Country

Welcome to Escape To The Country.

Today I'm in a part of Britain that's famous for its mountains,

its valleys, its own language

and for possessing some of the most striking examples

of the architecture of the Industrial Revolution anywhere in the United Kingdom.

Where am I? Well, stick around and I'll show you.

In today's show I'll be helping a retired couple say goodbye to their family home

and search for a new lifestyle in the country.

I'm visualising my furniture in here already.

I've got my unit on that wall and our settees'll fit in perfectly.

-Good.

-When can I move in?

We'll be seeing some fantastic houses, but it does, at times, cause a marital divide.

But the colour hits you as soon as you walk in, but that's cosmetic.

-But I like the colour.

-OK, right. Well, forget about that.

And there's a mystery house, but will it make them pause for thought?

Well, today I'm in North Wales and, as you can see, I'm being dwarfed by the wonder that is

the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, one of the great wonders, to my mind, of the Industrial Revolution.

It was built between 1795 and 1805

and designed by the great engineering minds of Telford and Jessop.

Recently it's undergone a £2 million regeneration project,

meaning that, every day, 50 million litres of water flow across it into southern Cheshire.

In neighbouring Denbighshire, they spent 30 million on their built heritage

and, with other numerous regeneration projects popping up all over the region,

this could be a very good place to move to.

North Wales sweeps from English border country

over to the West Coast

and takes in the Isle of Anglesey.

The region, with its gift

of spectacular landscape,

including stunning coastline and the mountains of the Snowdonia National Park,

has ensured tourism is a major player in the economy of this beautiful corner of Wales.

Farming is, however, still a vital industry, with sheep and dairy farms dotted over the hills and valleys.

Great news for today's buyers.

And they are retired sales director Bernard and his wife, Carol,

who can't wait to move for one very good reason.

This is our allotment. As you can see,

it's a decent-sized plot where we can grow lots of fruit and veg.

But when we move we want all of this, but without the noise from the roadside.

This green-fingered couple's home, for the last 28 years,

has been a modern four-bedroomed detached house in Leyland, Lancashire,

but now the children have flown the nest

they're putting their priorities first and an allotment 10 minutes away just isn't good enough.

We want a bigger plot of land, so a huge garden, hopefully.

Yeah, and I want to be able to just step outside the back door

and pick my veg and take it straight into the kitchen.

And if that isn't enough to contend with,

they also fancy the idea of an orchard and keeping a few chickens and pigs.

We want to be very, very rural.

Certainly not next to a main road and not really in a village.

We want to be... Have some seclusion.

Land and seclusion, however, are not the only things they're looking for.

In my new house I would like a nice art studio that I can divide up into different sections -

one for painting, one for sewing, one for card making.

And there's more.

I want a big kitchen. It doesn't have to be as modern as this, but well equipped.

And I would like a pantry, a walk-in pantry.

I've always wanted one of those.

I'd love a huge inglenook fireplace with a wood-burning stove.

We had the house valued about three months ago at around 225,

so the budget for this move, when you take into consideration the sale of this house and our mutual savings,

would be £450,000, tops.

Bernard and Carol are relatively flexible

as to their location,

so we're targeting the area around Ruthin

which should throw up some tantalising properties.

In today's show I'll be taking them on a tour of three beautiful rural gems but, as standard of course,

I won't be revealing the prices until they've given the properties the once over.

The last of the three will be the mystery house which will throw up an interesting proposition.

Well, good morning, guys.

Welcome to northeast Wales.

-So, £450,000 to spend.

-Yeah.

-Now, you have been looking for some time.

-Probably about six months off and on.

And how many properties do you think you've looked at?

About 20, maybe more. I've lost count.

The problem we've had is that if we like a house the garden or the land isn't there, and vice versa.

So we've got to find something that's really going to grab you

and give you the land and the property that you want.

I think we've got to be a bit more compromising

and perhaps even look at things in a different perspective.

-Well, fingers crossed. The sun's out!

-Yeah.

-Beautiful.

-Let's go and have a look.

-Grand, yeah.

So, Carol and Bernard have a budget of...

The first stop on our tour is in Cerrigydrudion,

a half-hour's drive southwest of Ruthin.

Cerrigydrudion is the focal point for the surrounding smaller villages

and St Mary Magdalene's Church is the oldest feature, believed to date back to 440 AD.

The house we've lined up is a former farmstead and is surrounded by beautiful countryside.

Right, then.

Shall we start with this one? What do you think?

-Yeah.

-I'm amazed.

-It's very nice.

-I'm amazed.

-I like that. Yeah.

Now, what sets this apart from everything you've seen before?

-Well, the location, particularly.

-Yes.

We've never looked at anything which has been...

That's had the scenery like this round it.

-It looks really...

-It looks perfect actually, from the outside, anyway.

-Is it perfect on the inside?

-Well, let's see.

-Come on, let's have a look.

-OK.

Now, Carol,

-what do you think?

-Yeah, it's nice.

Crikey! That's a canny little stove there.

-Yeah. A lot of the stone is exposed in here.

-Yes, we like that, don't we?

-Yes, definitely.

-We like exposed stone, yeah.

Yeah? Good! Well, you've come to the right place, then!

Come and have a look in here.

What about it?

Yes, I like this as well.

The colour hits you as soon as you walk in, but that's cosmetic.

But I like the colour!

-OK, right. Well, forget that.

-I do! I do like it.

-Look at that, Carol.

-What? Oh, yeah.

Through fireplace.

-It'll be interesting to see what's back there.

-Let's have a look.

Now, Bernard, what about this, then?

-Crumbs!

-Yeah?

I mean, from back there you just think it's going to be a small room here, but it opens out fantastically.

Dominated by the reverse of the fireplace there.

And you've got this feature which I think is really rather nice.

Yeah, a window seat. I could lie there all day just watching the birds and the animals out there.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Good. All right, a positive start, then.

-Definitely.

-OK, let's continue through here.

-Thank you.

'Carol has found herself a special place already, but how will the kitchen measure up?'

-Carol.

-Mm.

What do you think?

It is a bit small, actually.

I mean, I've got a lot of kitchen equipment and a lot of crockery and

there's definitely nowhere to keep half of it, I would say, in here.

But there is more space through here.

-This is your utility room, which you could do a bit more with.

-What's behind there?

-Now this, Carol, this is a walk-in pantry.

-I know what this is!

-Oh, yeah!

Oh, that's perfect. I've always wanted a pantry like that.

-There you go.

-It puts everything in perspective. I could cope with less cupboards.

'So, the pantry has won Carol over.

'Heading upstairs, they won't be short on bedrooms as this house has four.

'The first two are reasonable doubles which would be handy for family visits,

'and then there's a single, which is being used as a study.

'The family bathroom is just next door

'and has the benefit of a separate shower and, finally, a room with their name on it.'

Right, then, what do you think size wise?

Oh, the size is fine.

Yeah, I like it. I mean the beams are nice and everything.

It's nice. It is a nice room. Nice shaped ceiling, as well.

Nice views out the window, as well.

-It certainly makes the very best of the way the landscape drops away.

-Too true. Yes, yeah.

-You would be disappointed if this room didn't have an en suite.

-I would.

It's got an en suite. Come with me, it's through here.

Now, it's not just an en suite. Come through into this extraordinary space.

-Is that a sauna?

-That's a sauna.

-Oh, for heaven's sake!

-So, if you want a sauna this is one place to put it.

-Can I open?

-There you are. I mean, clearly if you really gutted this area...

-Yeah.

You would end up with a fabulous en suite.

There's a lot of scope for this particular room here.

Having seen upstairs I think I'm going off it a bit.

-What's worrying you?

-I haven't seen anywhere to do my arts and crafts.

'There's a bit of a mixed reaction to this house, but the outbuilding has the potential to seal the deal.

'It's been renovated to provide a double bedroom with a reasonable sized en suite,

'and then there's a fully fitted kitchen, too.

'But the lounge area could be perfect for Carol.'

-Now then, Carol, would this work?

-Yes, definitely. It's lovely.

-Big, plenty of light.

-Yeah.

Yeah, I could be quite happy in here, I think.

You could hide yourself away for hours on end.

I might just lock the door and forget to come out!

So, that's Carol sorted.

Next door is another outbuilding that's being used as a workshop with extra storage above,

and then there's a stable and garage which could provide housing for the animals they're looking to rear.

I'm keen, however, to take a look at the land.

Right, Bernard, come and have a look.

-Well, all and all, you've got an acre and a half.

-Yeah.

-I mean, you get the paddock you can see here.

-Yeah.

You've also got everything up to that wire fence. Is it big enough?

This is probably on a par with our allotment at the moment.

So, yeah, it's perfectly sufficient.

-All right, well, let's have a think about the money...

-Yeah.

What's it going to cost you?

I would like to think that it was on the market for around...

-Well, just over 400.

-OK, Carol?

No, I think it's more than that.

I think 445.

OK. It's on the market for £450,000.

-OK.

-I wonder.

-Right...

-I do like it, I must admit.

-Good. Well, you should, it's a very nice property.

-It is, yeah.

-And it offers you everything you want.

-Yeah.

This beautiful cottage,

in its idyllic rural setting, is bang on budget at...

When we pulled up at the property I was pleasantly surprised, actually.

I loved the outside of the house and the location's fantastic.

Inside, the little hallway is cute and the dining room... I loved the red walls.

The living room is lovely and they've a wood burning stove.

The bedrooms are a good size, but the bathrooms would need some attention.

The land itself was sufficient for our requirements. We'll be growing vegetables.

There's potential, maybe, for some animals.

The outside building, for Carol, was perfect for arts and crafts.

Beautiful big room.

Nice and airy. Yeah, it was perfect.

I couldn't have asked for anything better.

So as the sun melts over the North Wales landscape, the first day of our property hunt is at an end.

We're kicking off our search in Bryneglwys, eight miles south of Ruthin.

The small market town of Corwen is just five miles away.

Sitting at the foot of the Berwyn Mountains,

it's best known for its association with Owain Glyndwr, who burnt Ruthin to the ground.

It was from this nearby stronghold that he led the revolt against the English.

Back in Bryneglwys, the house we're about to see dates back to the early 1900s

and offers views that are second to none.

OK.

Right, then, what do you think of that?

-Good.

-Yes. I like it as well. Is it a modern house?

It's got the feel of a modern house, certainly, because what you're looking at

is the product of three years' hard renovation by the current owners,

but it's got lots of little tweaks and characteristics in it

which have been salvaged from the old building.

I mean, the location looks superb. The views over there are wonderful.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, yeah.

-You couldn't ask for better views than that, could you?

-Good!

Hurrah! That's the main thing. A positive start.

-Let's see what you think of the inside.

-OK.

There we are.

A nice little entrance hall for you.

It's been divided off with these huge great big oak beams.

-It's a nice little feature.

-I like them, actually. I think they look really nice.

-They look good.

-OK, let's have a look at the living room.

Here we are. Well, after you.

-Oh!

-Do you like that? This is more like it. This is definitely more like it.

I mean, as you can see, the whole thing has just been finished, pretty much.

-True.

-The carpets are new, everything is done. You wouldn't need to do much.

-And look at that.

-Yeah, have a look. I hadn't noticed that because I was looking over there. Yeah, multifuel.

-Oh, definitely.

-When can I move in?

I'm visualising my furniture in here already.

I've got my unit on that wall and our settees'll fit in perfectly.

And more here in the dining room going out, as you can see.

-Oh, right, yes.

-I love the colour of that beam.

It looks really nice.

This size for our kitchen table and chairs is perfect.

-Hurrah! Right, then...

-Very nice.

-Shall the get on with the difficult bit, the kitchen?

-Yeah.

-The kitchen.

-Let's get it over and done with.

OK, Carol.

-In you come. I don't want any...

-Success!

Now, this is definitely what I had in mind, definitely.

OK. You see, much more modern though than I had really been led to expect in some ways.

I think that's the trouble. I've come in this house thinking...

to see these houses and I think, oh, I want old fashioned and quirky,

and now I'm suddenly thinking, no I don't!

-I want quite modern.

-And up there you've got this little sort of...

garden room, effectively, which gives you another kitchen diner.

-So, we like?

-Definitely.

-Definitely.

-OK.

Terrific! It's top marks for the modern country-style kitchen

and there's the bonus of a large utility room, too.

But Carol still needs a craft room and I've got just the space.

Right, Carol,

I'm thinking this could be your work room.

This is one of four bedrooms, all right?

And this one is the lighter of the lot.

Would you be happy working up here?

Yeah, yeah.

It's more of a square room.

I mean, the room I've got at the moment it seems big, but it's a long narrow room,

-so I think the furniture would fit round here perfectly all right.

-Yeah.

-Easily.

Next door are two more good sized double rooms which are immaculately decorated.

And the family bathroom, just like the rest of the house, is finished to a high standard.

Their room is last on our tour.

Now, the master suite is through here, Carol. Have a look in here.

-This is the en suite.

-Ah!

It's a great big shower room, effectively, as opposed to a bathroom.

-Yes, very nice.

-Perfectly adequate.

-Yeah.

And that big waterfall thing up there, what more do you want?

What more do you want, exactly. Oh, I love it!

Come through here, then. This is your room.

Here we are.

-What a size this is!

-Come on in, don't be shy.

-There we are. How about that?

-Yeah.

I've had nothing to moan about, have I, yet?

It's great. I'm enjoying the silence!

And, of course, you can wake up to that view again.

-Yes.

-Wonderful. Wonderful. You're satisfied, what about me?

-Vegetables.

-He's been wandering around going, "Where's my vegetable plot?"

-Let's go outside and see if we can find one, shall we?

-OK.

'I'm delighted to see the look on their faces with this house.

'Outside, planning permission and footings are already in place for a garage

'which could double as a craft room, but I want to show Bernard the land he's craving.'

Right, Bernard, you thought you'd been forgotten about.

I knew you wouldn't forget about me, Jules.

Now then, what about that little paddock, there?

It looks spot-on.

Now, all in all,

it's only about an acre.

-A few little more segments with some fences, you could have paddocks for some pigs, some chickens.

-Yeah.

And a sizeable area for my veg, or our veg.

-Ah, but it comes at a price, that's...

-Yes.

There's no problem up to now, but I can see a potential problem looming.

OK. Let's have a think about it. Your £450,000, how far do you think it's got to go, I wonder?

-I would say 470, which puts it well out of our price.

-470. Bernard?

On principle I can't go over 450,

so I'll stretch it to the limit of 449,99 recurring!

All right, so a penny shy of £450,000.

It's on the market for 435.

Yeah? Ooh!

-How about that?

-Go and phone the removal men.

-I can't believe it.

-No. Oh, that's fantastic.

Very pleased. Thanks, mate.

-Pretty good, eh?

-Yeah.

£435,000.

-Bernard, I think you're a little bit choked.

-I am.

THEY LAUGH

-Is this going to be your new dream home?

-I think it is.

Oh, mate! Aw, brilliant!

At 435 this house is 15,000 under budget

and has blown them away. It has...

..and, of course, it comes with first-class views.

As soon as I walked in it, the first room I thought was fantastic.

I finally got my great big kitchen, which is absolutely marvellous. I love it.

I couldn't find a single fault with it, you know, which was amazing.

Room by room we saw everything that we wanted.

We've got land, we've got a beautiful home and a beautiful location.

I was stunned, I was gobsmacked.

And taken over by emotion.

In trying to find a mystery house that will capture the imagination of both Bernard and Carol

I have to confess that at this point I am feeling slightly daunted.

It's perfectly clear they have fallen head over heels in love with our previous property,

so they are going to have to approach the mystery house with very much an open mind.

By way of a clue, it is already a fine family home,

but it also comes with one or two other, and very unusual, furry residents.

Our mystery house is in Rhosesmor, 14 miles north of Ruthin.

Mold, just a few miles away, is a lively small market town

that would offer Bernard and Carol the day-to-day amenities that they are likely to need.

Back in Rhosesmor, I'm delighted to say their immediate neighbours are very friendly.

Well, how about this, then?

Oh! This is a turn up for the books, isn't it?

The mystery house complete with alpacas!

It's a little menagerie.

Goats, chickens, ducks. You name it, they're all here.

Come on then, let's have a look.

Oh, look, I've got some feed here.

They're going to love this.

Hey, you lot, how about this?

Look. Come and meet the gang.

Tremendous.

There we are.

Let's leave them to a spot of lunch because I haven't come here to sell you alpacas.

Let's have a look at that one.

Stone cottage sitting at the end of this paddock.

Let's go take a closer look beyond the farmyard and see what you think.

OK. There we are.

-Yes, it's nice.

-It is, isn't it?

-Quaint, I think is the word I would use, yeah.

-Well, I'll take quaint.

It's a mixture of old and... Well, old and newer. So far, so good.

Who knows, maybe they alpacas will come with it. I'm sure you could make them an offer.

Well, if not we'll buy some new ones.

Wherever you end up living!

Right.

-It's warm in here.

-Oh, right.

A great example of a wood burner.

-It fits in well with this little room, yes.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

You can imagine here in the winter, it would be really cosy. Yeah.

We've also got you a little study area running off through there.

Let's get down to the business of kitchens.

Yes, always...

Always an important issue, aren't they? Come through here.

-There we are.

-Oh, it's nice, yeah.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, yeah.

-What do you think, Bernard?

This is more like what I expected, a traditional farmhouse kitchen.

I mean, through here we've got a little sort of outdoor lobby, you know, coats, boots etcetera.

There's a utility area through there.

-OK, right.

-It probably does want a breath of fresh air

-just to tart it up a bit.

-But the basics are OK.

-I think I could actually cope with it, yeah.

-All right.

Well, let's see if you can cope with the rest of it. After you.

'At least Carol is being open minded about this one.

'Back off the central hall is a second reception room

'that could make a good dining room, and off here is another room.'

-OK. This is currently being used as something of a guestroom.

-Yeah.

-It has a store area in there and a dressing room which could be store for your arts and craft stuff.

-Yeah.

There's also a downstairs shower room and toilet there,

so your kind of workroom's en suite, almost.

It could work, actually. Especially with that store room in there.

I think that's a good little room to keep all my bits and pieces in.

'Great! I think this space is a real bonus, but time now to take a peek upstairs.

'The first of the three bedrooms currently has bunk beds, but could take a double bed,

'and then there's another double with a vaulted ceiling.

'The cottage-style family bathroom is a good size, too.'

-So, no surprise this being the biggest bedroom in the house - it's the master.

-It is big.

-Yeah.

-Certainly for a house like this, quite a surprising height of headroom, which is quite good.

-Yeah, yeah.

-I think it's fine.

I think when you get your own things in it will be fine. It's all right.

-It's certainly big enough.

-And I love the floorboards, as well.

-Good.

Well, there is an en suite. Oh, yes.

Have a look in there.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Enormous, really. It is. For this size of house.

-Definitely.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Mm, fine.

-Right, fine, he says!

'I'm not sure what "fine" means, it's such a difficult word to judge,

'but, heading outside, our last stop is the garden.'

OK, we've seen the land, we've seen the alpaca home and you can see it is a working premises,

and in that respect, it's worth knowing that this also is a registered smallholding.

-OK.

-Which means you're registered for things like chickens and other bits of livestock.

The other reason it's the mystery house is that there is of course method in the madness.

I know the property itself does need quite a lot of work to bring it up to the spec that you would want.

But the price is going to be all important, all right?

And we know you've got 450 or so.

What do you think it's worth at the moment, Carol?

Well, because of all the work that needs doing on it I think I would go 375.

I'm looking at it from a point of view of location,

it's quite close to Chester and based on that I would say about 425.

Well, you're certainly right to consider that its proximity to

Chester is going to weight it upwards,

but this is the mystery of house. Of course, there's always a little twist to it.

You said 375. You said 425.

-50 grand between you.

-Yeah.

I'm going to better that by another £25,000, because this is on the market for 350,000.

-This is 100,000 quid under your budget which is why we wanted you to see it.

-Food for thought.

-Right then, off you go. I'll catch up with you later.

-Right, thanks.

At £350,000 this property is a massive

100,000 under budget.

It may need some updating but it does have...

..that could accommodate animals and a vegetable patch.

From the outside I quite liked it. I thought, "Oh, it's quaint."

But when I got inside, the rooms were too small and dark, personally, for me.

That price of £350,000 does need serious consideration.

Carol and Bernard's search has thrown up some interesting options,

so there's plenty to mull over.

-Well, then, it's done and dusted.

-Yeah.

All right. Well, let's have a review, then, of where we took you and what you made of it all.

-It all started with the grey stone farmhouse.

-Yes, great view.

-Yeah. What happened there, Carol?

-I loved the outhouse place for my studio, but when I walked in the kitchen I knew it was too small.

-OK.

From my point of view the initial impression was really good, with the views,

the look of the house from the outside. Even when I went inside

the dining room, lounge with that wood burner in-between I thought was great.

But, as Carol said, as soon as we hit that kitchen...

Oh, dear. OK, kitchen.

Well, we let you have a sleep on everything

and then we took you to the new build. Something happened there,

-didn't it?

-Yeah, definitely.

The views were lovely.

I always said I wanted an older cottage, but as soon as I walked

in that house, I just changed my mind completely and decided I wanted more modern.

Modern, with still some traditional features in it.

I think that's what made it - the oak beams and the lovely fireplace and the fantastic kitchen.

Hurray!

The land, you know, at the end of the day, with a bit of sweat and tears,

-tears being the operative word...

-Well, more tears because we saw some on the day, didn't we?

-That will come good for us.

-Yeah. All right.

Well, there was, of course, one final property to show you.

-The mystery house.

-I mean, it was a lovely house.

But doing renovation work isn't for us I'm afraid, so...

We've seen them all, we've talked about them all.

I'm going to take a stab in the dark, a wild guess,

and suggest that the new renovation project

-is the one that's really captured your hearts.

-Correct. Yeah.

-What are you going to do next?

-No doubt about it, we'll arrange a second viewing for that house

with a view of putting in an offer, assuming everything is favourable.

-Let us know how you get on and I'll look forward to hearing that you've moved in.

-OK.

You have to say one thing about Wales,

the locals and the animals are incredibly friendly.

You may think that trying to find a house for people is pretty straightforward, but put yourself

in the situation of having to really get into the minds of your buyers.

It isn't that straightforward, I can tell you, and this is a case in point.

Bernard and Carol came out here looking for a nice old characterful property.

As it is, they're going home with pretty much a new build.

It just goes to show you that you can never judge a book by its cover

and if you think a property might be for you even just a little bit, always go and look at it.

I'll see you next time.

Bernard and Carol did revisit the house in Bryneglwys

and have had their offer accepted.

So, if you'd like to Escape To The Country and would like our help,

please contact us through our website at...

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