From fresh cut flowers to freshly brewed coffee, it's widely considered by many people that pleasant smells can help to secure a sale for your home. But arguably the best smell to greet potential buyers on a viewing is the smell of freshly baked bread - maybe a well known sales trick these days but the nose cannot lie - it swoons at this aroma.
However, by the looks of this former valleys bakehouse going to auction, it's been a long time since the smell of anything yummy being baked inside has wafted from the premises.
The stone-built property called The Bakehouse is a surprise to find among the winding residential roads of Maesteg, within the Llynfi valley. Beautiful walks through the rugged landscape could be your daily exercise if you lived here, but there's oodles of renovation work to do first to keep you busy and fit.
With a guide price of just £16,000, the detached property going to auction sounds as tempting as a chocolate éclair regarding the possible purchase price, but step inside and you will see there is lots of extra dough to be spent here before The Bakehouse can be used again.
The building is a single room with a partial first floor mezzanine and this is probably the best layout for a design for any future residential unit. An open-plan lounge on the ground floor with kitchen and shower room tucked under the mezzanine.
A staircase to the mezzanine gets you to the bedroom and there might be the option of an ensuite or the bathroom being located up on the mezzanine, freeing up more space on the ground floor living area. There's more inspiration about renovating and transforming a small building into a home at this successfully converted chapel, which is a similar size and shape to The Bakehouse.
You should also have a look around a former jewellery store that probably used to be a coach house, tucked away at the end of a terrace of houses in Cardiff. Empty for years, it is now a stylish one bed-home.
In this Cardiff property's design the mezzanine idea has not been implemented, the choice has been to construct a whole new first floor, with kitchen and bathroom on the ground floor and the bedroom and lounge found on this newly created first floor. Find out more about this tiny home conversion here.
Of course, any changes from a bakehouse and business to a dwelling will need planning permission and building regulation consent. But if you want to start your baking empire, this might be the perfect place to perfect your pastries and pasties.
So there are plenty of proven designs and methods already in existence to show you that The Bakehouse is a viable option as a home, subject to planning consent, should you bag it at auction when it goes under the virtual hammer with Paul Fosh Auctions for a guide price of just £16,000.
Debra Bisley, who is selling the property for Paul Fosh Auctions, says: "The dilapidated property is located in the primarily residential area of Maesteg.
"The detached property was formerly used as a bake house but is now rather like a crust, or outer shell of a building with no filling but it does appear to have a firm base. It currently loosely comprises of a garage to the ground floor with an open space to the first floor.
"The property could allow for further development, subject to the relevant planning consent and the new owner having a recipe, the wherewithal, and all the right ingredients for success."
If you are inspired by BBC's Great British Bake Off, or you fancy getting your teeth stuck into a full renovation project, The Bakehouse is offered for sale via online auction in the Paul Fosh Auctions sale, which starts at noon, on Tuesday, April 12 and ends from 5pm, on Thursday, April 14. And if you don't want to miss out on dream homes and renovation stories, join our twice weekly sent out Amazing Welsh Homes newsletter here.
