Trust home opens doors to public

The house will be opened to the public

In pictures: Egryn Hall House

A 500-year-old house is opening its doors to the public for a day, before it starts being used as luxury retreat.

The National Trust is holding an open day at Egryn, near Barmouth in Gwynedd, to show off its restored interior.

Once the doors close on Saturday, it will then be used as a luxury holiday home with the profits from guests used to pay for more conservation work.

The trust raised £350,000 to renovate the house which it inherited in 2000 and dates back to 1510.

The home was formerly owned by eccentric north Wales collector and passionate conservationist Rodney Bryne.

He bequeathed the dilapidated home and all its contents to the trust which decided to renovate the property which it has described as a "house of two halves".

This is because from the outside it looks like an elegant Victorian farmhouse but inside it has been described as a "remarkable example" of an early 16th Century vernacular dwelling.

The restoration work took two years to complete and included re-piecing the buildings medieval roof trusses together using local green oak and a 35,000 feet of oak laths to renew its ceilings and partitions.

National Trust spokeswoman Heledd Jones said: "The Victorian half is all evenly-proportioned rooms, high ceilings and classic features.

"Cross the corridor to the medieval half and you have solid, atmospheric, rustic rooms with features including a vast fireplace, ancient stone mullion windows and the stunning medieval roof structure exposed to view."

The huge cost of the renovation programme was met by the trust which also auctioned off many of the items, including nearly 100 farm machines and hundreds of tools and lamps, left at the property by Mr Bryne.

The house, which lies at the foot of the Rhinog Hills on the coast between Barmouth and Harlech, will primarily be used as a holiday home after this weekend's open day.

The trust plan to rent out as luxury self-catering accommodation for up to nine guests at a time who will have to pay between £727 and £2,322 a week to stay there.

All the money made from the venture will be used to restore the property's gardens and an old water mill and several farm buildings at the site.

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