After 17 years living away from home, banker Dean Berry and his wife, PR consultant Sarah, decided it was time to return to Newport in South Wales with their son Ruben.
In 2005 they saw that a folly, 800ft above Newport, was for sale - and they jumped at it. The 18th century building, with magnificent views onto nine counties, was built by local squire George Kemey in the mid 1700s as an extravagant hunting lodge and was then rebuilt in 1912, when a lightning bolt set it on fire. In the 1960s it briefly became a family home but for the last four years it has been left to fall in to disrepair.
It’s taken Dean and Sarah a year and a half of planning and wrangling but finally, the permissions are in place and they’re back ready to start their new lives. Their ambitious plans for the folly go way beyond restoration, however. They’re building a 270 square metre extension which will provide the bulk of their living space. The challenge for Dean, Sarah and their architect will be successfully combining restoration with brand spanking new.
Work on the folly will be the longer, more delicate process involving a new roof, repaired and re-pointed stonework and the loving resuscitation of the early Crittal windows.
Then Dean and Sarah plan to wrap a low lying ultra modern wing around the old folly. Built out of block work to resist the winds on this steep hill, it will sail out along the ridge in a seductive curve.
On the ground floor there will be a home cinema in the folly and a very big open plan kitchen, dining and living area in the new extension. The existing staircase will lead up to the master bedroom suite, complete with the usual en suite bathroom and dressing room, in a small first floor extension. The full length bedroom windows will open onto a first floor terrace with expansive views across to the Brecon Beacons.
Above, on the top floor, there will be two further bedrooms with en suites. Meanwhile the extension will also house a boot room, two guest bedrooms with en suite bathrooms and an office, all leading off the long curved corridor.
Dean and Sarah paid £1million for the plot and haven’t finalised their self build budget yet.
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