The luxury mansion saved from ruin after animals took over and water poured in

Sometimes there's a crossroads in your life and you have to make a bold decision that will change the course of your life, and maybe your families' lives too, forever. For Jasset Ormsby-Gore it was the pain of hearing of his father's death while he was working in London that then threw him into the difficult decision on the future of their ancient family home in Wales.

Called Glyn Cywarch the house has been in Jasset's family for centuries but was in a very poor condition and he knew that to save it from the brink of dereliction was going to take a huge amount of time and money and bring waves 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."

It was 2016 and Jasset felt his life had just shifted onto another path. "I stopped what I was doing, gave notice on my job, and drove up to Glyn. 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.

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"I should have thought that a restoration project was just too big but at 29 I was stubborn enough and naïve enough to think: 'No – it’s not going to end with me. I’m going to take this on.' 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."

The property, nestled into the Gwynedd landscape near Harlech, is a Grade II*-listed gem that dates back to 1616 and was awarded the higher star level of listing from Cadw in 1952 for being "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". But this was not going to be a straightforward renovation to secure the future of the house. Instead it was going to be an epic journey that would need a full and sympathetic restoration with the help of experts and was going to need patience and resources.

Any visitor to Glyn, as it is affectionately called, will instantly know why Jasset and his family were desperate to save the home. Jasset 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.

"If you look one way you can see Eryri National Park, if you look the other way you can see Harlech castle, and the Rhinogs mountains are behind you – it’s this kind of very magical and enchanting place that’s the hard to convey unless you visit. There's a series of stone circles on the surrounding hills too – it’s a very mystical place."

Anything short of a full restoration of the house that forms part of this complex of buildings that comprises Jasset family's farm estate was not an option because he knew that the house was keen to become a hub of excitement once again. He said: "I’m pretty sure the original owners, the Wynn family, built it as a house to entertain and 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 began the seven stressful years of not just restoring Glyn but preserving it too, so the house could be part of his family for many generations to come, and 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 who are 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 it. 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 have to accept that water is going to get in somewhere so therefore it’s really important that the building breathes and doesn’t hold the water in."

Excess water is a theme at Glyn but the substantial amounts of rainfall that the mountainous area endures has been put to good use by the family – a rainy day in Wales is actually a bonus to this building. 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 and in the past they’d built a series of holding pools and streams that went down into the estate yard and originally powered the sawmill. So we’ve added a water-source heat pump with energy blades so we have a renewable energy system powered by the streams – we’re using the fact that we have a lot of rainfall to our advantage for the benefit of the house."

Many renovators say the planning process is one of the most stressful aspects of a project and although this chapter of this restoration story took 18 months Jasset said Cyngor Gwynedd, Cadw, and Eryri National Park Authority were all supportive. The main source of stress was the cost of the restoration that Jasset said adds up to "millions" and was the main reason for the slow progress of the project. He said: "We had to do it on a shoestring budget. We couldn’t just chuck a team of 30 people on it – it was one trade at a time and that meant we could manage our resources so we had to do it piecemeal.

"Plus everything about restoring a listed building is more expensive because you are using master craftsmen and their skills are in short supply and to use the right materials is more expensive. It meant we had to go really slow and steady and watch our finances."

As the project progressed Jasset said his mother and sister brought their invaluable artistic flair to the project to create an interior that was reflective of the past and could sit among the stunningly restored original features but be suitable for the present and future. Jasset said: "My family have been not only supportive but my mother and sister have been integral to the project. They are a lot more creative, they both work in an aesthetic industry, so the colour palette, the finishes, the lighting – everything like that is totally down to them."

Although being a custodian of such a historically important house means constant vigilance to keep it maintained and preserved there did come a day when Jasset could tell friends who asked how the project was going that it was, at last, finished. He said: "Saying that was surreal because it had been such a long project – it didn’t feel real to begin with."

The hard work Jasset and the team have given to Glyn, lavishing it with love, care, and much thought, has resulted in the project being crowned winner of the Historic House Restoration Award 2024, which recognises outstanding examples of work being carried out by private owners to protect and preserve the historic buildings in their care. It's the first time there has been a Welsh winner of this prestigious award, that's been going since 2008 and is sponsored by Sotheby's auction house, and Jasset could not be happier. "To win the award is truly humbling especially in light of this year’s entries and previous winners. It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone who advised and worked on the project with us without whom this project would not have been possible. We truly hope that we have restored the building for many generations to come."

But now comes a new chapter for this enchanting property and its magical surroundings – it has to start paying the family back, to some extent, what they have put into saving it. Jasset said: "We don’t want the house to be a drain on the farming side of the business so the farm is only paying for the repair and upkeep of the house.

"It’s right and proper that the house has a commercial aspect to it so we’re open for a visit for a tour if booked in advance, whether that’s schools, historical groups or individuals, and the house is also available for people to hire for a family get-together or a group of friends celebrating something or a filming location. When we had our first booking to come and stay it was like: ‘Okay – we’re doing this. The house is in a new chapter now.'" Find out more about this here.

That's the financial reason for opening the home's front door to customers to enjoy the character-packed ancient reception rooms, fully-equipped kitchen, 11 bedrooms, six bathrooms, and sociable garden – it's the head telling Jasset the house needs to earn some money but the heart has a very good reason too. He said: "The way that we have restored it is that it should look and feel like a family home. We want to share it because it goes back to what I was saying previously – the house likes to have people in it. That's when it is at its happiest."

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