If bank holidays and weekends mean DIY projects for your home and garden, then you might have gained in confidence and fancy tackling something a bit bigger. So how does a 26 bed property in need of renovation sound?
This incredible building is not for the novice DIYer or even someone with a basic level of competence, this Gothic-style castle for sale is for someone with experience and imagination to unlock its unquestionable potential.
Called Bryn Corach, this Welsh castle, complete with a turret and castle wall protecting it in the garden, is a Grade II listed beauty that offers history as well as a unique and breath-taking location.
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This property is so unusual and remarkable it has three separate listings attached to it, according to website British Listed Buildings.
Firstly, in 1981 the gate piers and walls of the former back drive that appear on the 1889 Ordnance Survey map achieved a Grade II listing for their 'group value with the house and its garden walls'.
These distinctive garden walls were also given a Grade II listing in the same year for their special interest 'as garden walls and turrets of definite architectural character, and for their contribution to the setting of the house'. The wall also includes a memorial plaque to Thomas Arthur Leonard, founder of the Co-operative and Communal Holidays Fellowship.
Finally, of course, the main house is listed too, again Grade II and achieved in 1981, for 'its social historical interest as a hotel specifically designed to provide open-air holidays for workmen and their families, and for its special architectural interest as a late C19 villa of definite character'.
Views aren't listed but if they were the panoramic feasts waiting for you from around the site of Bryn Corach would surely get the top Grade I status.
The main view is mesmerising and includes the majestic structure that surely inspired the unique style of this house and garden; Conwy castle.
But house hunters who like a water view too can also get excited. As well as a birds' eye view of one of Wales' most magnificent castles dating back to the reign of Edward I, plus the pretty patchwork for rooftops of Conwy town, the sparkling water of the River Conwy and the Irish sea on the horizon add the final flourishes to this inspiring vista.
But detach yourself from that absorbing view and you will discover a 2.6 acre plot of property and land that shouts potential from every single brick and stone.
The property package is more than just the 19th century castle house with croquet lawn outside and period features inside, the site also offers more than you expect when you initially travel up the private, tree-lined driveway.
There's a former lodge house that is a bonus building that offers a ground floor lounge, separate kitchen and shower room. The agent selling the property states the cute lodge house needs renovation but would easily provide a self-contained studio apartment.
Once updated, the lodge could be the perfect and very handy place to live while you renovate the rest of the site - it certainly beats a leaky old caravan in the garden.
Once the lodge has introduced itself to you, then maybe you spot the special surprise - a three-storey accommodation block that was added in 1963 that offers 26 bedrooms, some with an ensuite, and the potential to renovate into something very special.
The agent suggests this building, although in need of some repair and upgrading works, offers potential for conversion to holiday apartments or a lucrative holiday letting business, subject to relevant planning consents of course.
But if this truly unique house is just too wonderful to want to share with someone else, and you don't have the need for it to earn you an income, the agent says there is planning permission in place to demolish the 1960s accommodation and reinstate the site to a private family home.
And who wouldn't want to call this fabulous, historic Gothic building their new home? Standing at the windows, in the turret, or on one of the garden verandas, you would surely feel like the king or queen of the castle, with Conwy town and castle below you, and the river estuary, coast and mountains all stretching out before you.
To crown the site off and make it a potential regal purchase, although work has started, the bulk of the renovation project is yet to be done and gives a new owner the chance to make it their own, perfect palace - subject to listed building consent.
The front facade of the historic house is a pretty welcome, offering a large front parking area flanked by the croquet lawn and the turret as a special starting point to linger and take in the uniqueness of the building, its garden and its elevated position.
Then commence your tour of the inside of the house and get inspired by what it could become - it is bursting with possibilities to be a truly magnificent home; your own Welsh castle but with modern plumbing and power, and no king's army piling over the border to attack it.
Into the reception hall and an amazing first impression. The space has been raised up to, and into, the roof structure, exposing the beams and creating a wonderful triple-height space. Many people neglect the first impression impact of a special entrance hall - this house has not.
The central section of the house is an open-plan reception room that runs from front to back and includes doors out to the rear and the front verandas, offering multiple choices for easily wandering outside.
There's a dining room next door with a feature fireplace, picture rails, cornices and views of the garden, and a separate drawing room that could be the best home office in the area, with its own double set of French doors to the veranda.
Arguably the best spot in the entire house is the turret. A wholly private place on the ground floor, the room has three arched windows within its circular structure creating unique, beautifully framed pictures of the view.
Maybe this is the best place for a quiet study and office - if you can wrestle it from the clutches of other family members, who are bound to want it for themselves.
On the first floor the turret becomes part of one of the five bedrooms. Again it has three windows, and would make a superb reading nook that would keep calling you to visit, or maybe it's a perfect place for a dressing table, with the circular space flooded with light.
The holiday accommodation in the garden might currently offer 26 bedrooms, but the main house can offer a family five bedrooms that all have distinctive windows, shapes and views that make each one unique.
There's a family bathroom on this first floor too, as well as bedroom five bagging itself an ensuite that the largest, adjacent bedroom might want to steal for itself, just by moving the access door.
Bryn Corach is not your normal renovation project - it can be elevated to a level fit for a castle due to its Gothic-style, history, size, location, and abundant potential. It's now just looking for the right king or queen of renovation to buy it, love it, and live in it like royalty; it's what both the property and the new owner deserve.
The property is on the market for £1.25m with Dafydd Hardy, call their Llandudno branch on 01492 884484 to find out more. And if you don't want to miss out on dream homes, unique properties and renovation stories, join our twice weekly sent out Amazing Welsh Homes newsletter here.
