Three years ago, after almost a decade of neglect, we purchased a rather dilapidated and tired old farmstead to create a luxury venue in the heart of Anglesey in North Wales.
Two years and a LOT of hard work later, we can finally say we have achieved our dream in turning the buildings into a luxurious and unique place to say ‘I do’.
Work on the Grade II listed accommodation building started in November 2018 after an arduous planning application process. We began by removing the old doors, windows and the old roof, peeling back layers of broken slate, asbestos and rotten timbers to reveal a very unstable stone shell.
After spending weeks underpinning and levelling the original stonewalls, we could finally start installing the new roof timbers.
Due to the abundance of bats using the building, we had to create ‘bat lofts’, adding loft space above some of the bedrooms, with special bat entry slates on the roof.
Next, the windows and doors arrived, finally creating a fully watertight building for the first time in 10 years! The full height glass windows and doors provide much needed light into the bedrooms.
Every inch of the building was given a full makeover with all the stonework being cleaned and repointed.
On the inside, we repointed all the existing stonework in the smithy, bridal suite and breakfast room and we cleaned and re-rendered all the other internal walls, leaving any original underlying undulations for texture in the bedrooms.
We recycled the old, exterior wood from the original barns to create stunning rustic headboards in three of the bedrooms, keeping the history of Henblas but also reducing our waste on site. We also crushed all the old unusable roof and ridge slates for use in the gardens.
We decided to name each of the bedrooms after their original purpose to keep the history of the building alive; The Smithy, The Old Gift Shop, The Cottage, The Stable - just to name a few!
Final touches such as black and white pictures taken before the renovation and beautiful soft furnishings added the opulence and warmth needed to finally bring the building back to life.
We can’t wait for our wedding guests to see them!
Thanks for reading!