'The House Likes To Have People In It

ON LEARNING of his father's death, Jasset Ormsby-Gore found himself confronted by a life-changing decision. Working in London at the time, he needed to make a choice over the future of the family's 17thcentury manor house in Gwynedd.
Glyn Cywarch is a Grade II*- listed gem between Talsarnau and Harlech which had been owned by the Ormsby-Gores for centuries. But was in a terrible condition, almost at the point of no return.
At the age of 29, the new Lord Harlech was suddenly at a crossroads in his life. Should he leave behind London to take on a restoration project that would eat money and cause years of stress?
Jasset said: "Very sadly the house got into a bad way and various forms of wildlife, both flora and fauna, had moved in - all manner of creatures. Many of the ceilings had fallen down and there was a lot of water ingress in places - not just damp but water pouring in. The house felt very sad."
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The property, dating back to 1616 and afectionately abbreviated to "Glyn", was awarded the higher star-level listing by Cadw in 1952. The Welsh heritage body recorded it as a "major early 17th-century gentry house, its architectural ambition and social status marked in a fusion of regional traditions and renaissance ideas, retaining original interior detail of exceptional quality".
Despite its poor condition, the property's historic value and the family's long connection meant Jasset felt dutybound to take on its restoration, reports WalesOnline. It was 2016 and Jasset's life was about to shift to an entirely path.
"I stopped what I was doing, gave notice on my job, and drove up to Glyn," he said. "Obviously I was dealing with my grief but also having to make some big decisions pretty quickly and at 29 it was a lot to get my head around.
"I should have thought that a restoration project was just too big. But at 29 I was stubborn enough and naive enough to think, 'No, it's not going to end with me. I'm going to take this on'.
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"I don't think I realised at the time how difficult the journey was going to be. But I knew I wanted to restore it. I wanted to make it a home for as many generations as possible and take this project on."
Restoring a heritage property is never a straightforward process. Very quickly, Jasset realised it was going to be an epic journey that would need lots of expert help along with plenty of patience and resources.
To help pay for it all, Jasset auctioned more than 500 treasured family heirlooms, from antiques and art to a vintage car. The sale, in March 2017, raised more than £2.5 million.
Any visitor to Glyn will instantly realise why he and his family were desperate to save the home. He said: "I think what makes it really special to us is the building and the gardens, of course, but also the setting and location. It has this incredible location on the edge of a forest, on the side of a mountain.
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"If you look one way you can see Eryri National Park, if you look the other way you can see Harlech Castle, and the Rhinog mountains are behind you. It's a very magical and enchanting place that's the hard to convey unless you visit. T. Here's a series of stone circles on the surrounding hills too - it's a very mystical place."
The house forms part of a complex of buildings on the family's farm estate. As it had always been hub around which estate life had revolved, anything short of a full restoration was not an option.
Jasset said: "I'm pretty sure the original owners, the Wynn family, built it as a house to entertain - that's very much the history of the house and the people who have stayed there.
"It's a house that loves visitors. It always feels happiest when the fireplaces are lit, there's music playing, people are in the kitchen, kids are running around the lawn playing football - it just seems a happier place when it's full of people."
But the idea of a happy house was in the very distant future back in 2016 when Jasset embarked on its seven-year restoration.
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To ensure it could once again become a fully functioning family home for generations to come, this meant doing things the right way rather than the fastest or cheapest way. Jasset said: "I knew with the listed status and the age of the building I was going to need professional advice.
"So I interviewed a series of conservation-accredited architects and found this brilliant Welsh firm called Dyfi Architecture, which is experienced in working with old buildings and working within a national park. They were invaluable in guiding us through the whole planning and listed building process but also advising on the right methodology and the right materials to use and the right method of using them.
"We stripped everything right back to the bones of the house and used lime for breathability. We used hemp and wool and we used Welsh slate to make it as watertight as possible. But we had to accept that water was still going to get in somewhere, so it was really important the building breathes and doesn't hold the water in."
" In a mountainous area with signficant rainfall, excess water is a running theme at Glyn. While it can be a threat, it's also a resource and it's now been put to good use by the family.
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Jasset said: "We had ancient 1960s boilers that were burning energy, so we took a decision to investigate what going down the renewables path would look like. We are really lucky because it was a working estate for a long time: in the past they'd built a series of holding pools and streams that went dow...