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Joanne Ridout

The absolutely amazing waterfall shower Charlotte Church has built in her garden

Charlotte Church has been busy renovating Laura Ashley's former mansion and one of the incredible new features is a waterfall shower in the garden.

The Welsh singer-songwriter bought Rhydoldog House and estate in Powys for £1.5m with the dream of creating a nature-based health and wellbeing centre.

Charlotte is sinking her life savings into the renovation of the property and land, with the aim for the business to be open, at least partially, by June 2022.

READ MORE: The Welsh buildings in danger of being lost forever

The woodland hut Charlotte built with the dad (Really Channel/Koska Productions/Discovery Communications)
The enchanting woodland arch - the gateway to the underworld (Really Channel/Koska Productions/Discovery Communications)

TV series Charlotte Church's Dream Build has followed Charlotte's renovation and she has been keen to transform the land as well as the mansion, not by drastically changing it but by letting nature and her ideas come together in harmony.

So she has built a woodland outdoor sleeping deck with her dad James, so guests at the health and wellbeing centre can sleep under the stars and be immersed in nature.

And after a night's rest they can be invigorated by a natural waterfall shower.

The estate has a number of waterfalls where mountain water cascades down the rocks and creates a glorious natural feature.

And Charlotte saw the waterfall as an opportunity for her future guests to experience the joy of a natural waterfall shower, bathing in a pure mountain stream.

The carpentry team set to work creating a platform to and under the waterfall, plus a drying area for guests, with the brief of making it look as natural as possible.

Charlotte has an idea for one of the waterfalls in the woods (Really Channel/Koska Productions/Discovery Communications)

Building a platform under a waterfall is a first for the team and there is some discussion about how popular it will be, but the conclusion is people who love wild swimming will definitely be keen to use this most natural of showers.

Charlotte tells viewers: "I know the idea of it sounds crazy in winter but trust me, it's so refreshing!"

Building the wood and pebble platform (Really Channel/Koska Productions/Discovery Communications)
Completed, the natural shower bathing platform looks 'awesome' (Really Channel/Koska Productions/Discovery Communications)

Using wood from the forest, the trio of intrepid, and probably slightly wet, carpenters finished the shower. The main wooden structure creates a platform of pebbles that protrudes out and under waterfall, plus log handrails.

Charlotte said: "With the platform built, the stones are not only natural and look great but they will help with grip underfoot."

But the lads were not overly keen to try out the freezing cold natural shower once they finished the build - they worked under it so say they know how cold it is.

Charlotte and husband Johnny are shown visiting the waterfall shower once the construction is complete and they both think it's awesome.

Charlotte said: "Wow! It's like a Timotei shampoo advert! That is beautifully done."

Fancy a shower anyone? No takers from the carpentry team (Really Channel/Koska Productions/Discovery Communications)
Be refreshed by nature (Really Channel/Koska Productions/Discovery Communications)

She knows the wooden structure will rot over time and will need constant maintaining and replacing but that's all built into the maintenance plan of the woodland and grounds.

Johnny said to his wife: "That waterfall - it looks like it belongs in an advert - it's really beautiful, a stunning piece of work.

"I think if everything (here) can feel a little bit like that, then you've really created something amazing."

The full series of Charlotte Church's Dream Build can currently be streamed on discovery+.

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