The series two finale of Charlotte Church's Dream Build is full of people rushing about the house doing last minute snagging jobs, the builders are off the renovation site in three days and there's still so much to do — and there's still no sign of planning permission. But the place looks fantastic.
The Welsh singer-songwriter is renovating Rhydoldog House, Powys into a wellness and retreat centre. The sometimes tortuous 15-month journey from rundown to remarkable has been broadcast across two series by discovery+ and the Really Channel and it's been a bumpy road for Charlotte and her team. Charlotte said: "I've just constantly got to readjust my expectations around what's going to happen and keep trying to make myself OK with the uncertainty of it all. But really, I have total faith that everything will come good."
But while the wait for planning permission continues, the team keep ploughing ahead with finishing the epic renovation and transformation of Rhydoldog House, in the past the home of legendary Welsh designer Laura Ashley and her family, to its completion. The last day of work arrives, the rooms are ready, and the builders depart. And a tour around the house reveals just how far Charlotte and her team have come in those 15 months, which have included mountains of work in the garden and on the land, as well as transforming the house into the dream healing and wellbeing retreat that has been Charlotte's guiding vision - a vision that she never steered away from even when the project got challenging and other people doubted.
The Refectory
This welcoming ground floor reception space is designed to be a place where people can gather and break bread together, sitting next to the statement fireplace, whilst enjoying the views and connection to the garden via a set of doors, tickled by the fresh Welsh air that meanders inside. A new addition to the space will be a record player and a large choice of music so the connected eating zone and The Cwtch next door are flooded with music as well as chat and relaxation. Charlotte says: "A lot is going to happen in that room: after people have had breakfast here we'll probably have our morning meeting so it's going to be a bit of an information point as well as feeling like this slightly ancient, slightly mystical gathering place."
The Cwtch
The builder's knocked through the wall to connect the refectory to the adjacent Cwtch, which can also boast direct access to the garden terrace and stunning views. Charlotte says it's a space where people can cwtch down and snuggle up, whilst enjoying the delicate scent of the dry flowers.
The Healing Room
The largest room in the house has been dedicated to providing a versatile space for group sessions and has been stripped back to its most natural state - the glorious marble period fireplace remains and the fancy ceiling plasterwork still crowns the space, but the stripped back floorboards, nature-based fabrics and materials, and natural tone on the wall cocoons the space in a delicate calmness.
Charlotte says: "Already it feels like a really purifying space. There's lots of lovely, big white linen curtains and fabrics, so it feels quite soft, unfussy, simple, white - about purification. It's naturalistic, mellow, and unfussy; I love it."
The Dawn
Up to the first floor and this room is all about its position within the house - it gets the best view of the sunrise across the land of the Elan Valley and so the main core of the interior design in this shared bedroom is about bringing the glory, energy and warmth of the sun into the space, and Charlotte thinks that the sunrise fabrics in this room definitely do this. She says: "This room has been made to honour the sun and this sacred time of day."
The Moon
The old master bedroom has gone from plain and simple to planet based and spiritual. Charlotte says: "In reverence to the moon, it's calm, feminine and invokes ancient temples of moon goddess worship, and look at that bath, some serious recuperation can happen in there!"
The Mushroom
There's one word to describe The Mushroom according to Charlotte, and that is magic. She says: "Its rustic textures, classic lines and vintage accents make The Mushroom feel more of a masculine space, and who can forget the gorgeous shower, a fitting tribute to the always interesting mushroom kingdom!". Charlotte's self-confessed obsession with mushrooms and all things fungi is well-known, which is why her choice of costume for her secret appearance in ITV's The Masked Singer was, of course, a mushroom - find out more about that here.
The Womb
Arguably the most talked about transformation space in the house, this room has baffled the builders with its flesh-toned walls and drapes, and a shower shaped in homage to a vagina. Find out more about this here. But despite all the doubts of others, Charlotte kept to her design visions and now loves the space. She says: "A sumptuous cocoon-like space where our guests will feel nurtured and restful in a room that celebrates womanhood in all stages of life."
The Mystic
Up to the top floor to visit the space that Charlotte thinks is the best room in the house, full of life, colour and texture, from the tactile exposed brick and stone walls that the house brings to the interior design, that have been lavished with sumptuous fabrics brought to the scheme by Charlotte and her team. Charlotte says: "The intricate sarees give a preciousness to the room that I adore, and then of course, there's the balcony - oh, heaven on Earth!"
The Forest Spirits
This space takes its inspiration from Japan whilst enjoying a connection to the woodland that envelopes the house and provides the mystical, visiting spirits, and Charlotte thinks the interior design in this room strikes a balance between nature and design. She says: "It's huge, comfy bed looks directly onto the ancient forest."
The Wanderer
The final bedroom to discover is the first one to be completed, many months ago and was the space that showed Charlotte that she could actually bring her dreams into the real world. A mix of warm tones and natural materials, the space is a place for relaxation sprinkled with boutique hotel style and luxury.
The Print Room
And finally, the last room to be completed is the one that intertwines the home's past history into its present design. The Laura Ashley brand has created a bespoke wallpaper just for Charlotte's retreat using a pattern found on one of the designer's classic dresses.
The company have enlarged it and printed it just for The Dreaming, in a heart-warming homage to the home that once belonged to Laura and the Ashley family.
Charlotte reveals she also has framed black and white photos of the Sladons, the family who lived at the property for over a hundred years, to display in this space too, and so bringing two chapters of the property's past back into the continuing story of this truly remarkable house.
The builders have gone, after a wild award ceremony party held in the grounds of the estate, and the home settles into a calmer and more tranquil phase, where the family can take a breath before beginning the process of launching The Dreaming officially. Find out more about that here.
Charlotte looks back on what she and the team have created and says: "I just wanted to give people an experience where, just because you're going to a healing retreat centre, doesn't mean it's all got to be plain walls and no mirrors, that it can be totally beautiful and sumptuous and decadent and rustic and all the things the whole house is.
"I wanted it to feel really special and really worldly as well, that reflects, I suppose, some of my favourite countries and places where I've been."
Husband Johnny couldn't be prouder of his partner and has been impressed with the journey of this epic renovation. He says to Charlotte: "Witnessing your development in this, in particular how you've held the entire project with seemingly unlimited wells of energy is amazing. What's so great is that you've turned a place that was not welcoming, where nobody was, and you've brought it to a place where you're going to be welcoming all sorts of people."
On the ambience that Charlotte has aimed to create at Rhydoldog House using her design ideas, she says: "This house that was once a derelict shell has now been filled with creativity. In terms of the décor and how each room is themed, and each room really has a personality, I really want people to feel very cared for and nurtured when they're here and it's almost like... I've tried to make all of the rooms feel quite precious, and so for people to feel really like.. precious."
Charlotte's dad James, who has always supported her but also worried about the business and the renovation, visits the house and land and says with tears in his eyes: "It's amazing, absolutely gorgeous. She's got some strange ideas, but they are fantastic ideas, as soon as she talks about it she's got passion. Charlotte is 100% hippie, she's just massively into nature, she comes alive when she's around nature; she's found her calling here."
For Charlotte, The Dreaming is all about creating beautiful and meaningful experiences for people, and now that the project is on the final stretch to fully realising her dream she sums it up, saying: "It feels so good to put the jigsaw together. I feel like it really is a little slice of heaven."
The whole family are so proud of what Charlotte has achieved at the house and within the land, but maybe it's toddler daughter Freda who best sums up the outcome of all the hard work, challenges and stress with her simple but perfect review of Rhydoldog House - 'happy home'.
Charlotte Church's Dream Build the second series is currently streaming on Discovery+ with this final episode on the Really Channel on Wednesday, November 23 at 9pm. And never miss the best property, renovation and interiors stories – sign up for the Amazing Welsh Homes Property Newsletter here and sent to your inbox twice a week and join the friendly Amazing Welsh Homes Facebook group too.
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