Llanbedr | £1.25 million ($1.64 million)
A five-bedroom country estate on 2.3 acres in a Welsh hamlet
This five-bedroom, three-and-half-bath house with 18th-century origins and modern additions is located about a mile from the hamlet of Llanbedr, in the bucolic Grwyne Fawr valley, about 35 miles north of Cardiff’s city center.
While Llanbedr offers a historic church, village inn, community hall and bus stop, the town of Crickhowell, about 2.5 miles away, has a supermarket, restaurants, schools and other services. A handful of larger towns with extensive shopping and recreational facilities are nearby, including Abergavenny, Brecon, Monmouth and Hereford.
The Grwyne Fawr valley is located in the Black Mountains and is inside Brecon Beacons National Park, which offers activities including zip lining, boating, theater, a narrow gauge steamway and a cinema.
Size: 3,300 square feet
Price per square foot: $498
Indoors: The front door opens into an original part of the 18th-century house, now used as a snug with an impressive stone fireplace topped with a wooden beam mantel. A wood-burning stove sits on a raised hearth, and the ceiling has wood beams. Additions to the home were completed in 1964 and 1978; across the main hallway is a more contemporary living room with a fireplace. The living room is open to a garden room with picture windows and doors to a veranda. An archway in the living room leads to a study with built-in cupboards and bookshelves.
The fully equipped kitchen has wood-fronted cupboards and space for a kitchen table. The family room has a gas fireplace and doors to a side terrace.
Stairs rise from the main hallway to the first floor, where there are five bedrooms, two of which have en suite bathrooms. A third bathroom serves the other bedrooms. An office could be converted to a dressing room for one of the main bedrooms.
Outdoor space: Situated on 2.3 elevated acres, the property has panoramic views overlooking Brecon Beacons National Park. A veranda takes in the grounds, which include a winding stream with small waterfalls, stone terraces and mature trees. A former barn serves as a double garage and workshop, near a separate stone shed and logshed. Next to the house is a wisteria-covered, two-story stone outbuilding with a workshop and studio. An adjacent tennis court is not part of the property, but use or purchase could be negotiated. An option to purchase an additional 2.5 acres is also available.
Costs: The property is classified in Council Tax Band H, which is about £4,053 ($5,320) a year.
Contact: Heather Cook, Fine & Country, +44-187-373-6515, fineandcountry.co.uk
Penarth | £1.25 million ($1.64 million)
A three-story Victorian house with seven bedrooms in a coastal town
This seven-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath, semidetached Victorian house is in a historic neighborhood in the coastal town of Penarth, on the southern tip of Wales, about three miles south of Cardiff’s city center.
Once called “the Garden by the Sea,” Penarth, which has about 28,000 residents, was a popular holiday destination during the Victorian period and continues to attract tourists with its traditional seafront and period architecture. More of a commuter town for Cardiff workers now, Penarth still has plenty of attractions, such as the 1929 Art Deco-style Penarth Pier Pavilion on the Severn Estuary and a pebble beach.
This house is situated near Victoria Square, a green space that houses the architecturally significant All Saints Church and is surrounded by Victorian and Edwardian houses of red brick and local limestone. Restaurants, coffee shops and the Penarth train station are all within a 10-minute walk. The commercial center with supermarkets and other businesses is about 15 minutes away.
Size: 3,368 square feet
Price per square foot: $487
Indoors: Fully refurbished and retaining many original details, the house has arched front doors opening to a quarry-tiled vestibule. Another door opens to a cavernous entrance hall with a fireplace and an imposing staircase with a red carpet runner. The hallway has a decorative arch, ornate ceiling paneling and cornicing, stained glass windows and under-stair wine storage.
Off the entrance hall are a study, lounge, sitting room, kitchen and guest bathroom. The sitting room has an impressive stained glass wall with bifold doors leading to the colorfully quarry-tiled orangery, which opens to the backyard. The kitchen, which is open to a dining room, has an island and granite countertops. Both the kitchen and dining room have double-glazed French doors opening to a patio.
There are four bedrooms on the second floor and three on the third floor. The main bedroom, on the second floor, has a bay window with stained glass panels and an en suite bath. All the bedrooms have period features, such as decorative cornice work and stained glass panels. A third-floor bedroom, currently furnished as a dressing room, has a large bay window with partial sea views.
Outdoor space: The front yard has wildflowers, trees and shrubs, while the backyard has two patio areas and mature shrubs. There is a wisteria-covered pergola and outdoor lighting and electrical sockets.
Costs: The property is classified in Council Tax Band H, which is about £4,006 ($5,260) a year.
Contact: Tomos Gould, Watts & Morgan, +44-292-071-2266, wattsandmorgan.co.uk
Llancarfan | £1.25 million ($1.64 million)
A converted circa 17th-century corn mill in a rural village
This former corn mill, which has parts dating to the 17th century, is in the village of Llancarfan, in the Vale of Glamorgan on the southern coast of Wales. Llancarfan, a village of about 750 residents, is 11 miles from Cardiff’s city center.
Most of Llancarfan lies within a designated conservation area, and there are many historic buildings that attract visitors, such as the 12th-century St Cattwg’s Church with 15th-century wall paintings discovered in 2008. The Nant Llancarfan, a stream, runs through the center of the village and at one time spurred the development of industry that used water power for corn and wool mills.
Nowadays, the village offers a pub, a tennis club, a pétanque piste and a cinema. The scenic coastline is a few miles south. Bus stops and Cardiff Airport are within a 10-minute drive.
Size: 3,746 square feet
Price per square foot: $438
Indoors: The six-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath home was used until 1938 as a working corn mill and still has the original water wheel, along with part of the mill race and internal machinery, all restored and on display on the lower level. The rest of the mill has been refurbished and includes three living rooms.
The front door opens to a split-level entrance hall with a beamed ceiling of almost 17 feet. A short flight of stairs ascends to a landing with three bedrooms on the right and a kitchen, living room and dining room on the left. The kitchen has an island with seating, quartz countertops, two built-in Neff ovens, a walk-in pantry, a stone accent wall and a door opening to the terrace. Beyond, the living room and dining room share a curved brick wall and wood floors, with a massive stone partition delineating the rooms. The living room has a stone-fronted fireplace with a wood-burning stove. The first-floor bedrooms have 13-foot ceilings, and the main bedroom has an en suite bath.
Atop an oak stairway, the second floor has three bedrooms, including a main bedroom suite with glazed double doors leading to a Juliet balcony.
Outdoor space: The 0.75-acre lot includes a detached garage with a workshop and second-story studio, a swimming pool with a deck, a summer house, a dining terrace, several paved terraces, a new greenhouse and a wildlife area with a newly created pond.
Costs: The property is in Council Tax Band I, which is about £4,541 ($5,960) a year.
Contact: David Lakin, Harris & Birt, +44-144-677-1777, harrisbirt.co.uk
The post $1.64 Million Homes in Wales appeared first on New York Times.
