Finding a pretty cottage for sale hiding in a gorgeous rural location that oozes character and offers an idyllic lifestyle is a pleasing discovery and likely to be snapped up quickly.
A country cottage for sale that is charming and well positioned for country and coast for under £300k might be a challenge, it is not a rare find.
This whitewashed stone beauty is nestled into the hillside along a private, dead-end lane surrounded by trees and views, above the Afon Deri valley, and is well-placed to enjoy all that the three surrounding counties of Ceredigion, Gwynedd and Powys. But it comes with an epic back garden.
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The cottage has a fabulous location. Snowdonia National Park is on the doorstep, and the Gwynedd coastline between Aberdyfi and Barmouth is easily accessible. The village of Corris down the road and more facilities a few miles further to the south at Machynlleth and to the north the town of Dolgellau.
The property is a big bonus too, a pretty cottage that offers a substantial kitchen dining room, a separate living room and shower room on the ground floor. On the first floor there are three bedrooms to find plus a handy cloakroom so no-one has to stumble down the stairs in the middle of the night to use the facilities.
All very lovely, but it's outside where this cottage offers something to a potential buyer that no other property in Wales can - an epic miniature Italian village built into the hillside of the back garden.
This cottage has its own version of Wales' Portmeirion, famous for its Italian-style painted properties and created by world renown designer Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. But this 'Mini Italy' on a Powys hillside was never meant to be known as a bizarre and epic version of the larger coastal village, rather it's a labour of love for one man who wanted to pay homage to the beauty he'd seen on his travels.
The collection of mainly Italian architecture is a monument to the obsession, love and creativity of Mark Bourne and wife Muriel, a built, nostalgic reminder of their Italian holidays that took over 25 years to build.
Mr Bourne, who before he retired owned a caravan site, would often disappear off to Italy for weeks at a time, returning home with sketch books full of architectural drawings and ideas for new structures.
The pint-sized Portmeirion might not be as visually spectacular as the Sir Clough original but it is a truly remarkable discovery within the grounds of this pretty but standard cottage.
In total, there are more than 30 replicas to notice but, unlike a model village, not all are reproduced to the same scale, so some buildings tower over others and that gives the structure an even more distinctive and appealing look.
Amongst this incredible little village is an ivy-covered Leaning Tower of Pisa and further up the slope is a 6ft model of Venice's Rialto Bridge.
Amongst the foliage is a hidden version of the Spanish Steps, and looking out across the valley below is a shrunken representation of Florence's Duomo. Another masterpiece is the sea fortress at Venice, complete with crenellated wall, gun ports and lagoon-blocking chain.
Each structure is said to have taken between four to six weeks to build using chicken wire and buckets of ballast dragged up from the River Dulas, plus any everyday items Mark found and thought could be useful, for example to mould the dome of his Tempietto, he used an old Welsh wash boiler.
More than a third of the site is based on Renaissance architecture that is not inspired by any particular building and Welsh heritage is referenced too, including a Welsh Brick Museum embedded in the hillside.
Before his death North Wales Live reported that Mr Bourne said his unique garden features amused local planning officers but after they visited the site at the beginning of this bizarre build adventure, they left him alone.
Richard Withers, a long-time acquaintance of Mr Bourne, was involved in looking after the garden. When Richard chatted to interviewer David Clegg for website The Keepers Project, he gave an insight into the structure that he calls 'Mark's Folly'. Richard says: "It's a collection of memories stamped onto his hillside garden... randomly. He hasn't done it so people could see them, he's done it because he wants to see them.
"Other people have a photograph album, his was far more tangible. Somebody started the idea... called this place 'Little Italy'... and they said the people in the village call it 'Little Italy', it's not true, we called it 'Mark's Folly' because we thought he was crazy.
On the point that some people call Mark Bourne an important outsider artist, Richard says: "I think Mark would have been slightly chuffed in an odd sort of way, but he didn't think about who might buy them or if it would bring him anything, and when we talked about his legacy, he didn't want one."
Family friend Jonathan Fell was roped in to begin to co-ordinate the rescue of the garden which has included organising volunteers to help repair the village because the structure is starting to feel the force of the wild Welsh weather and the invasion of its neighbouring foliage.
In 2021 North Wales Live reported that Jonathan said: "In Welsh terms, these are a national treasure. On a UK level, they are still Division One. We have perhaps a decade to stabilise them before they are lost forever. It's important that we leave a conservation fingerprint so that we know exactly what was done whilst staying true to the original designs."
The village was not built to attract visitors, but if someone did happen upon the garden it is said that Mark Bourne rarely turned them away. But following a TV profile visitor numbers increased for a short time, until it was 'rediscovered' after its first ever review was posted on Google.
Random visitors are now not welcome to this private garden mainly for safety reasons. Jonathan said in 2021: "Some of the paths are not too bad but the buildings are fragile and the steps are murderous. The structures I can put back together, but I can't do that to people."
The work was funded by the cottage becoming an Airbnb, with proceeds returned to the trust for the conservation work. But now the cottage is for sale with the epic garden looking for an epic person to not just enjoy living in the pretty house but embrace the truly unique garden feature that comes with it.
The cottage is for sale with about 2.4 acres of land for offers in the region of £280,000 with Morris Marshall & Poole, call their Machynlleth branch on 01654 702472 to find out more.
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