TV stars renovating Welsh chapel into dream home ‘here for good’

The Great Pottery Throw Down judge Keith Brymer Jones and actor Marj Hogarth are on a quest to transform a 163-year-old chapel in north Wales.

Embarking on series three of a Channel 4 show documenting their renovation, Our Welsh Chapel Dream, Jones and Hogarth hope to turn Capel Salem, in Pwllheli on the Llŷn Peninsula, into their dream home.

The couple paid £200,000 in cash to buy the property in September 2022 and moved in over a year ago. But the hard work is far from over, as they take on the next stage of renovations.

Jones said the couple get “quite a lot of drive-by fans” while they are working on the property. People even offer to take the pair out for a drink, Hogarth added.

The Grade II-listed chapel and adjoining Sunday school measures 6,500 sq ft [Cyngor Gwynedd planning documents]

Jones said he started looking for a new place to live during lockdown, including old petrol stations, cinemas and libraries, “anything that basically wasn’t a house”, he said.

“This chapel came up in north Wales, in a place I couldn’t pronounce, which I can pronounce now… we both can.”

He said the chapel “looked amazing” and was listed at a price they could afford.

“We knew it was derelict, it would have been unoccupied for 14 years, but we jumped in the car and went to have a look at it, and that was that really.”

Jones felt like he was coming back to his “roots” as his parents were from Swansea and Cardiff.

Hogarth had never been to north Wales before but found out that her father, who was a salesman of marine engines, had Pwllheli as his patch.

‘Everyone has a story to tell about the building’

The couple said they felt like they had found their tribe in Pwllheli, adding: “It’s not just the individual people, it’s the whole unspoken ethos about community here. It’s really lovely.

“There’s a certain level of acceptance of all people. They’re all very honest with you.”

Speaking on how to preserve the history of the building, Hogarth said: “I think you have to tread very carefully.”

Throughout the decades the chapel has been used for weddings, funerals, christenings – even piano lessons.

Jones added: “Everyone has a story to tell about the building and that’s really lovely, but you have to be respectful of that as well.

“You walk a fine line between understanding people’s emotional connection and creating something that’s sustainable.”

Keith, who has Welsh ancestry, said the couple will be staying in Pwllheli “for good” [Patch Dolan]

The couple have documented the “mammoth renovation” project on their Channel 4 show and said the “biggest curve ball” they encountered so far was dealing with bird poo and dry rot.

Jones said: “We had a load of pigeon guano in the studio hall, or the Sunday school hall, and you literally couldn’t walk in there.

“Your eyes would stream from the ammonia. It was mad.

“The second and the most ongoing challenge is dry rot in the building. It’s so clever and it gets everywhere.”

He said: “We’re kind of up to skip 53 of dry rot, so we’re winning the battle now.”

Despite the bumps in the road, they said it was “great to get our creative juices flowing” and “wonderful to do it with the person you love”.

‘We’re here for good’

Jones and Hogarth have got a lot of attention from fans of the show visiting Pwllheli.

“They drive down and turn their head to see if they can see us. I’m usually lifting something in the yard, bags of clay or whatever,” Jones said.

“There was this couple, they’d obviously been to a campsite for the week and the car came screeching to a halt outside the gate. A woman got out and said ‘Oh my God, it’s you! It’s you! Can I take a picture?’

“She nearly got run over by another car.”

Jones said the couple had to put a sign on the gates, saying: “We get 60 to 80 people a day. If we see you in the yard, we’ll wave, but we can’t stop and say hello to everyone because we won’t get anything done.”

He said the property was the couple’s “forever home”, adding: “We’re here for good.”

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