If you've lived in an area long enough and you have a tendency to notice buildings, chances are you will get to know the stand-out properties that surround you. But some stand out for the wrong reasons, such as a grand house that is starting to look a bit rough around the edges.
In 2019 Portland House, arguably the most striking house on one of the now famous colourful streets of the coastal town of Aberaeron, was on the market and it didn't go unnoticed.
Sian Stewart would often walk past Portland House and gaze at the three-storey period house. She says: "We'd walk by looking at the holes in the roof, and watching the pigeons flying through these and the broken windows. Who on earth would buy this I used to ask? The answer came to me in a flash when it came on the market: me!"
Sian was in love, now all she had to do was convince husband Billy. She says: "I took my builder to see it that very first morning and made an offer by lunch time! My husband was working in Cardiff at that time so when I rang him that evening I told him to pour himself a drink and sit down. I have some news!"
It sold for £330,209 but the state of this Ceredigion property was such that surely the budget required was going to add a hefty figure onto the purchase price? And that was a major issue - to completely renovate the whole of this substantial house was going to be very expensive.
But undeterred and determined, Sian had a plan - renovate the lower ground floor into a stylish apartment to rent out as a holiday let and generate income to finish the rest of the house as the couple's forever home.
Billy must have had that strong drink and agreed to this property adventure, as the couple picked up the keys as the new owners shortly after, but the rose-tinted glasses quickly fell off when they went inside after the sale was completed.
Sian says: "We felt totally elated as we had got it, which gave way to horror when we unlocked the door to discover that it had not been cleared and there were piles of rubbish and dead and live birds throughout the house!
"Our close friends and current neighbours immediately named the house ‘Pigeon S**t Manor’! But maybe the most common reaction from family and friends was ‘poor Billy!' and various versions of 'good luck, you will need it!'
"The local community were hugely supportive though because we were saving the building and that it would become our home. Most other bidders in the sealed auction wanted to turn it into five or more flats."
Sian is a 58-year-old retired NHS chief executive who went to school in Aberaeron and has known Portland House since she was a child, and Billy is a retired 64-year-old IT manager from Glasgow. The couple are relishing the fact that they are now the latest custodians in this new chapter of the colourful house's history on this equally colourful and historic street.
Research by the couple has found that it was built in 1853 by Benjamin Evans, a farmer turned slate and timber merchant also known as Bensha. In 1859 he became Aberaeron's first postmaster and the post office was located in the garden floor of the house until after his death in 1874.
Sian says: "Bensha's ancestors lived in the house until the 1950s when, like so many large houses of its type, it was turned into multiple occupancy. In the early 2000s the lower ground floor, by then in two flats, was condemned as unfit for human habitation. That, and the main house, continued to decline until it was virtually derelict."
According to Cadw's website Portland House was Grade II* listed in 1961 for being at that time 'a particularly well preserved terrace' and for its group value with the rest of the pretty period houses on the street. But it was 2019 not 1961 when Sian and Billy picked up the keys and the work list was long, even just to bring a piece of the house back to life.
Sian says: "Our first priority was to make the house wind and water tight which included re-slating the roof, restoring over 40 doors and windows, hacking off all the plaster and lime rendering across three elevations, and digging out over 150 tons of earth from the garden.
The slate floor in the main bedroom of the garden apartment, now known as Glenara, was identified as of particular interest to Cadw but every time it rained water rose through it, as it was just sitting on bare earth.
Sian says: "We were therefore given approval to lift it to put in a damp proof course and underfloor heating, subject to putting them back in position. The painstaking job of scrubbing and sealing it fell to my husband. The damage to his hands meant he was unable to play his guitar for weeks."
Now the couple can have a quick break, at least until they start the mammoth job of the upper floors, as Glenara is complete and offers up to four guests two double bedrooms, with luxury ensuites that ooze style.
The garden apartment has a fully equipped kitchen with a sociable lounge and a dining area that looks out over the garden, and has direct access to the private terraces via bi-fold doors. But it definitely doesn't provide wet feet when it rains in the bedroom anymore; for paddling you'll have to go for a short stroll to the town's beach and harbour.
Sian says they have just completed the second and last stage of the apartment renovation, using great local craftsmen to turn it into a luxury holiday rental. She comments: "It is as eco-friendly as possible with a huge amount of insulation and an air source underfloor heating system throughout."
And don't worry about trying to have a lie-in during building work above because Sian adds: " We have completed all the work in the garden and on the ground floor of the main house immediately above the apartment to ensure that sound is at a minimum.
"There is a huge amount of sound insulation between the apartment and the main house and it recently passed a formal sound test with flying colours."
The couple have also been thoughtful enough to repay the community for their support by using the apartment as a gallery to showcase original Welsh contemporary art by three local artists: Natalie, Lola and Harriet Chapman. Sian says: "Whilst they are from the same family their styles are very different indeed and their work will be on sale to our guests."
But before the couple complete the rest of the house, the biggest piece that will become their home by the sea, they had to think of a name for their new apartment and it had to be meaningful. It is an Aberaeron tradition for the town's sea captains to name their homes after their ships and the couple have kept this going at the apartment.
Sian says: "We have named the garden floor apartment Glenara after one of the ships associated with the house. The Glenara of Aberystwyth was shipwrecked off the African coast in 1865 and drifted towards Malta.
"Ben Davies, Bensha's son-in-law and an experienced captain, was sent to Malta to oversee extensive repair works and then went on to captain the ship for a further three years.
"His journeys on the ship included those to Constantinople, Alexandria, Shanghai and Odessa. Ben and his wife often lived in Portland House on those rare occasions when he was not at sea."
It's a lovely thought and illustrates perfectly the love and care this couple are lavishing on this house - it's a very lucky property indeed.
To find out more about the apartment and to book a stay of three, four or seven nights which starts from £190 per night, go to the Glenara website. And don't miss the best dream homes in Wales, auction properties, renovation stories, and interiors - join the Amazing Welsh Homes newsletter , sent to your inbox twice a week.
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