The second series of Charlotte Church's Dream Build on discovery+ and the Really Channel continues the stressful and totally absorbing journey of the Welsh singer-songwriter's dream of transforming a rundown Powys country house into a wellness centre and thriving business.
The singer and founder of the Awen Project - a community-focused education programme the singer started at her Dinas Powys home in 2019 - has some out-there visions for her dream project including a mushroom themed room, a moon-inspired room and a shower resembling a vagina. One of the show's highlights is builder Kerry's view on Charlotte's specific and detailed vision, which he has to interpret into reality.
Series one of Dream Build saw Charlotte buying Rhydoldog House in the Elan Valley, Powys, the former home of Laura Ashley in the distant past, for £1.5m and ploughing all her life savings into the project. She had hoped the renovation would cost about £500,000 but so far has cost double that.
The challenges that immediately materialised made the first series a rollercoaster ride of a renovation project, but throughout Charlotte has remained steadfast in driving forward her vision. See what the house looked like before Charlotte bough it here.
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From dumped building waste in the garden costing £10,000 to remove to the long planning application process, each episode was a balance of onsite trauma mixed with calm reflection amongst the beauty of the land that cocoons this very special house. To be fair to project manager Kerry and his team, lots of work happened too. Find out more about series one here.
Now Charlotte is back with Kerry and the gang to let viewers see behind closed doors again every week, to travel on the journey again and see how Rhydoldog is progressing towards its final destination.
With just 13 weeks left until the proposed opening date of the retreat, Charlotte is waking up at 3am every night worrying about what hasn't been done and what needs to happen. But some of the reason that she keeps waking is down to pure excitement of her dream coming ever closer to reality.
Onsite, Kerry and the team are going 'like the clappers' to get each stage of renovation in each room progressed. The first episode mainly explores the themed bedrooms at the wellness retreat that are starting to take shape and make real Charlotte's unique vision as well as the more developments in the garden.
Only one bedroom and ensuite, called The Wanderer, is complete so far so the time has come to push on with the remaining bedrooms, transforming them into the themed interior design Charlotte's imagination and vision is dictating.
She explains each space in great depth and with obvious care and love, and Kerry and his team then turn this into reality, even though it seems they are not always able to visualise the final outcome.
On the first floor, The Moon Room awaits and it's no coincidence that the bath is a perfect circle to pay homage to a full moon and the basin joins in the linked design by being a semi-circle half moon.
Charlotte says: "In traditional mythological terms, but also in Druidic and Celtic traditions, the moon is very feminine and so that room is going to be very soft and romantic and sumptuous."
The Mushroom Room is maybe not an obvious name choice for a space but Charlotte explains: "I'm really taken by mushrooms and fungi because of the role that they play in the existence of the universe.
"Without mushrooms we couldn't exist because without mushrooms, plants can't exist and without plants, we can't exist. It's a little bit more masculine in its feel. We're going to have loads of mushroom memorabilia."
There's a bedroom called The Dawn, for obvious reasons as it is the bedroom that has the access to the largest integrated balcony within the facade of the house that looks out over the sweeping view down the valley - the perfect place to watch the dawn break.
The Mystic is a top-floor room wrapped in silk and saris that during the episode is completed and looks like a soft, flowing space to relax in yet surrounded by warm tones of pinks and reds, oranges and gold to give it a rich and opulent feel. Joining The Mystic room on this level will be the bedroom named Forest Spirits.
And then there's The Womb - a room that has created one of the most unique new features within the house and probably the most discussion amongst the team.
Charlotte is very taken with this room, saying: "This is going to be lush, I think this is going to end up being one of my favourite rooms. Womb is going to be many different shades of pinks and reds; quite fleshy. The idea is that it's almost like a cocoon, when you stay in that room that you'll feel so held.
"And then in the bathroom of the womb there is an interesting shower enclosure. It wasn't designed to be vaginal, but it's turned out a little vaginal!"
Kerry has a strong opinion about this newly created feature in the womb's ensuite. He says: "Well the vagina shower is ridiculous! It looks amazing but it's going to squirt out all of the floor!
"It's safe but it's not water tight. It will literally be all over the tiles, we're going to have to put a curtain up but you give the lady what she wants."
But Charlotte reckons the team secretly loves the shower. She says: "These boys really love the vagina shower, that's the truth of it. At the start they didn't understand, much like the vagina!"
To transfer the interior design vision Charlotte has in her mind and create it within Rhydoldog House is a test of Kerry's skills but he is well up for the job. He says: "She knows what she wants and that's the hardest thing because what she wants isn't a normal thing half the time, it's things where you're going 'are you for real?!'
"But if that's what she wants, you give the customer what she wants. The finished product is not to everyone's taste but I think it looks really good."
Charlotte is now beginning to realise that maybe some of her ideas are unique, but that is what will make Rhydoldog House unique too.
She says: "The builders in general have been pretty perplexed by a lot of my decisions during this build process and I thought that what I was doing was reasonably normal, but the more we got along the more I realised this is highly unusual!"
Charlotte Church's Dream Build is streaming on Discovery+ and on the Really Channel every Wednesday at 9pm from October 5. 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.
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