HR5 3NT

Cwm Gwyddel is a Grade II listed building originally dating back to the 15th century but now provides spacious accommodation over two floors. The property also includes a Grade II Listed stone barn with four bays, plus two additional outbuildings currently used as a garage, store room and workshop. The property is located in a very tranquil setting, on a private lane with wrap-around gardens, a pretty brook and wonderful views across the surrounding countryside. A cruck-framed hall-house, dating from the 15th century, originally stood on this site. It was open to the rafters and had a central open fire without a chimney. Sometime around 1500, an extravagant, storied cross-wing, known as a solar-wing, was added at right-angles to the hall and this contained private rooms for the owner and his family. At the so-called “high end’ of the hall was a dais (platform) for the high table, standing in front of the still extant, close-studded dais partition. The structure of the solar wing, which survives intact, is extremely rare in Wales, in that the close studding consists of posts (9 inches) which are wider than the panels (6 inches). It contains arched doorways and massive principal rafters. The high-ceilinged first-floor solar room, now subdivided, would have provided private sleeping accommodation for the family. Routine business deals were also conducted in the solar. There is a squint which enabled the master of the house to keep an eye on what was going on in the hall below. The cruck hall was demolished in about 1800 and rebuilt in stone but with a chimney, thereby enabling the construction of a first floor containing several bedrooms. There is a large open hearth in the main parlour. At the end of the 19th century a byre with hayloft was added in line with the house and the present owners have converted this into one large, 16 feet high music room. The ceiling, walls and floor are fully insulated, and the room has its own heating zone. The house stands in approximately 0.7 acre of garden beside a fast-flowing mountain stream, the Afon Gwyddel, known locally as Gladestry Brook. A private foot-bridge provides access to oak woodland. Beyond the house is a track leading to a vast area of hill country and, thanks to the grazing rights which are allocated to the house, the owners have free access to walk, ride or drive along many miles of tracks. For those looking for peaceful country living this property provides the ideal package.