Origins

 Wern Manor dates back to the early 16^th century when Morris Johns began the Wern country estate and laid out the first garden and an orchard. The house then passed to the powerful Wynn family, but in the late 18th century they left it in favour of other houses. After a period in the relative doldrums the property was rented to the Greaves family who owned the Llechwedd Slate quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog. In 1886 Richard Greaves purchased the house and employed the celebrated Chester-based architect John Douglas to create the baronial manor house in the ‘Jacobethan’ Arts and Crafts style of the late Victorian era that you see today. It was also at this time that the grounds were laid out by Thomas Mawson, a prolific garden designer of international repute.

Uses

The Manor was used in the WW1 as an auxiliary hospital and a children’s home in WWII before being passed on to Martyn Williams-Ellis, brother of the famous Portmeirion designer Clough Williams-Ellis. The Williams-Ellis family never lived in the manor and after WWII this Victorian country house had a varied career as old people’s home, residential language school and then a residential nursing home. We purchased it in 2014 with a view to turning this Grade-II*-listed beauty into a large group holiday let. 

About Us

We spent several decades in the south, where we lived, worked, played and brought up our two daughters. For many of those years we would travel to North Wales to meet up with the family, who had stayed ‘up North’ (and thought North Wales was conveniently half way between us and them - we’ve yet to convince them otherwise!). Those holidays were genuinely some of the best: large characterful house in a fantastic setting, great company, great walks, great food and drink and, yes, after possibly a little bit of that drink we started thinking that it was something WE could/should/would do TOO.

The Renovation 

Wern Manor is a sturdy old dame with good solid bones.

After we sorted the main issues (most of them to do with water coming in where it wasn’t wanted) we spend the last ten years stripping out evidence of its institutional past and uncovering its past grandeur and glory.

We hope you feel it was worth the wait.