Welsh coastal farm with beach and derelict quarry for sale for just £750,000; its environs were home to an alleged spy in the Second World War
The BBC One hit series Poldark may have been set in Cornwall but anyone wishing to live in a similar setting – complete with its own derelict quarry and beach – to where the programme was filmed might do worse than consider purchasing a 203 acre Welsh coastal farm that has recently come up for sale.
Ty Uchaf, Nant Gwrtheyrn, Llithfaen, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom, LL53 6HL comprises of a traditional Welsh farmhouse requiring full renovation, a granite quarry that closed in 1939, a stretch of shingle beach and 203 acres of mixed pasture, hill grazing and woodland. It could be yours for less than the price of a one bedroom flat in Knightsbridge.THEN: In the Industrial Era the nearest settlement to the farmstead, Nant Gwrtheyrn, became prosperous as its quarries were able to supply granite to use as setts for roadbuilding. By 1886, this previously tiny farming community was home to over two hundred people according to census records.AND NOW: Nant Gwrtheyrn subsequently declined as demand for granite roads decreased. The last of the three quarries in the area closed in 1939 and one by one the families left the village. In subsequent years after hippies moved in and wrecked the cottages, a saviour came in the form of Dr Carl Clowes, a man dedicated to raising his children as Welsh speakers. He established a cultural hub that has since morphed into a renowned Welsh language educational and heritage centre.
Ty Uchaf (try pronouncing that whilst ‘over-refreshed’) is situated in the Nant Gwrtheyrn valley on the dramatic north coast of the Llyn Peninsula in Gwynedd. Originally an agricultural community, the area became a thriving centre for granite mining in the 18th and 19th centuries and one of three mines in the area, the Cae’r-nant Quarry, is situated on the property.
Though the mines and minerals underneath the farm are specifically excluded from the sale, the former quarry is described as “integral [ to the] industrial heritage of the area.” The farmstead itself, meanwhile, is of stone construction under a slate roof and includes a farmhouse and outbuildings that “have the scope to provide a unique family or second home in this beautiful location.”
Also included in the sale is a stretch of shingle beach with views as far as South Stack on Anglesey, 23 acres of pasture grazing suitable for sheep and cattle and 180 acres of heather hill land. There are small areas of woodland throughout with a mixture of mature broadleaf and coniferous trees.
A Mrs Margaret Gladys Fisher from Beddgelert moved into a wooden bungalow in the locality named ‘The Four Winds’ during the Second World War. Her behaviour was described as “strange ”by locals and after her home burnt to the ground and no one could find any remains, it was suggested she was a spy who’d come to the Nant to flash signals to German boats in the bay below. Given the tide was at a perfect height for mooring boats, it became legend that she’d staged her own death and escaped on a ship to Germany.British Pathé filmed a new saloon car becoming the very first car to successfully climb the steep and previously considered unnavigable road out of Port Nant in 1934. Locals supposedly said it would have been “impossible” but the saloon, which had been brought in by boat, managed the feat in just two minutes.As well as being ‘Poldark-esque,’ the remote setting of the property also brings to mind elements from the grim Welsh BBC One detective drama series ‘Hidden.’
Whilst the nearest settlement, Nant Gwrtheyrn, largely emptied when demand for granite setts for road building declined just prior to the onset of the Second World War, it is now once again prosperous and has been developed into a Welsh language educational and heritage centre.
Agents Carter Jonas seek £750,000 ($963,000, €840,000 or درهم3.5 million) for Ty Uchaf.
