Property description

This is the sort of house that you can fall in love with. It has supported our family through thick and thin for 18 years and we’re so sorry to be leaving it, but we’re not using it to its full potential anymore, so it’s time for it to look after someone else. An engraved marking on its front would suggest that building dates from 1798, the year Nelson was victorious over the French navy in the battle of the Nile, and when John Adams was in his second year as the second us president.

There are three floors, plus a huge attic, each floor has four main rooms arranged either side of a two metre wide main hallway running front to back, with extra smaller rooms here and there. Each main room is roughly four metres square, with ceiling heights on each floor of 2.6,2.4 and 2.15m. The big windows help to keep the whole house light and give a sense of space and freedom. The energy rating is currently band D, with potential to get that up to band B. Our neighbours are all lovely – they’re all happy to chat or leave you alone, whichever you prefer.

The great thing about this house is its flexibility. If you need lots of bedrooms, you got ‘em. If you need activity rooms, throw out a few beds! The ground floor is wheelchair accessible except for the kitchen, with wide doorways and level floors.

On the ground floor, the rooms currently used as a sitting room, a music room, a play room/home cinema and a disabled-friendly bathroom, with a small kitchen and toilet to the rear and a small room currently used for laundry leading off the play room. The wooden double door between the music room and the playroom can be opened or even removed for more music, more play, or just a bigger space.

Stairs at the rear of the hallway lead to the first floor, which includes two bedrooms, one with two large windows, and potential to add an en-suite bathroom. Also on the first floor is a kitchen, a dressing/fitness room and a bathroom with separate toilet.

The second floor currently consists of two bedrooms, an office, an art room, a small library, and a bathroom/toilet. The bedroom at the front used to be a nursery, with security bars at the window. The bars have been removed, but will be part of the sale. We understand the library used to be a tack room, but we’re not sure why they’d put it on the top floor!

An access hatch leads to the insulated loft space, which is currently used for storage, with flooring panels in place in some areas. The roof has been re-slated and felted in recent years.

Outside, there’s a large, sunny garden, currently laid mostly to grass (so easy to maintain), with a flower border on one side and a slightly out-of-control vegetable plot on the other, with a brick and stone wall around it. The soil is really rich, black, drains easily and is very fertile. Visitors always comment how quiet and secluded it is in the garden: A truly secret place in the middle of town. We also have a 30’ by 10’ poly tunnel, which may be included in the sale by separate arrangement.

There’s access for cars from the roadway to the back of the house through an alleyway and a double gate, with space to park four cars. To one side of that area, there’s an old two-storey brick and stone coach house (6 x 3m), which is in a poor state of repair, but which is ok for storage. To the other side is a more modern single storey, brick, block and stone-built building (5.2 x 4.5m), currently used as a Jacuzzi and Sauna, with toilet and shower, with pine tongue and groove panelling to walls and ceiling. Bizarrely, this building is also acting as temporary storage for a motorcycle belonging to one of our daughters! With planning permission, we believe these two buildings could be converted to provide independent accommodation (“granny flat”) and/or holiday accommodation, and our chats with the planning people have raised no objections, but you should confirm. Another idea would be to convert the Jacuzzi building to a garage. We’ve also investigated the possibility of building on the garden. Again, you should check yourself, but the man from Cadw told us it would be ok as long as they had the chance to dig up the garden first, which is what has been done elsewhere on Priory Street.

The streets around the house are full of history, with a 14th century church around the corner, a roman amphitheatre further up Priory Street, a 12th century castle in town and rumoured tunnels running under the streets from castle to church. Carmarthen itself is known as the oldest town in Wales, and its former port used to handle produce and materials from South Wales and around the world. The town’s vibrant shopping areas include Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Wilkinson’s, Charlie’s, as well as a popular market and many smaller shops.

A note of caution though – the house is over 220 years old, so it isn’t a Persimmon box. That means it has a few quirks, and although we’ve brought the maintenance up to date, there are creaks and cracks, some uneven floors and the doors aren’t all the same, but that all adds to its beauty. We’re also in the process of packing ready for you to move in, so there are some boxes around, and the listing has been published a little earlier than we’d like, so i’m afraid the top floor needs cleaning. We’ll be on the case for those issues over the next week or so. We’ll be adding more photos soon, too. The house is listed by the local authority as grade 2.
When enquiring please quote IATA18039
Amenities

A house with a soul

Flexible, convenient and very good value

Loads of space

Sunny garden

Outbuildings

Parking for four+ cars

Property Reference: 18039