Plans for music and arts space in village linked to David Lloyd George

Dale Spridgeon Local Democracy Reporter

A village which has long provided inspiration to writers, poets and artists –  and with links to a famous Welsh Prime Minister – could  soon get a music studio and creative arts space – if planners agree.

Proposals have been submitted to Gwynedd Council to develop a site adjacent to Tŷ Newydd –  now the National Writing Centre of Wales –  at Llanystumdwy near Criccieth.

The village was the childhood home of  David Lloyd George and the house Tŷ Newydd was where he retired to and he died there in 1945.

Application

An application calls for the development of”a live/work unit comprising a purpose-built studio space, associated service spaces and one bedroom living accommodation…used solely in direct association with the studio”.

The scheme proposed by Daniel Baker, of W Thomas Baker Ltd,  through agent Andrew Casey, of Tŷ Ni Architecture,  concerns land to the rear of Ty Felin, Min y Mor, Gwynle and Bwthyn.

The proposal says: “This provision offers potential to complement the existing literary focus of Tŷ Newydd, while being integrated into the existing landscape and sensitive to the setting of the listed building.”

But it notes that while the proposal was seen as a “natural fit with the existing uses on the Tŷ Newydd estate, it should be noted that Tŷ Newydd Writers’ Centre is an independent organisation, owned and run by Literature Wales and separate”.

A new development would replace an existing storage building that forms part of a small complex to the rear of the Tŷ Newydd estate.

Plans explain how the main house at the estate was originally built in the late 16th century, before being significantly enlarged in the 18th century.

“It was then further extended and altered by [Sir] Clough Williams-Ellis in the early 1940s to form a retirement home for the Liberal politician David Lloyd George,” a report said.

“It was a working farm during this time with market gardens, stables and milking sheds. The milking sheds were converted into cottages in the 1960s.”

Writing centre

The main house was converted into the Writing Centre in 1990 and is now owned and run by Literature Wales.

It is considered a “nationally important literary institution”.

The centre has been hosting writing courses and residencies,  as a “creative refuge for generations of Wales’ most celebrated writers and poets,” the studio design document states.

The application site is described as being the north-east part of the Tŷ Newydd Estate, currently comprising a block-built storage shed sitting on the edge of an overgrown field.

It lies behind a range of agricultural buildings previously associated with Tŷ Newydd.

The application notes “the vision” of the application “is to create a unique, one of a kind music and creative arts studio that provides a bespoke acoustic and electronic music studio and creative arts space”.

It hoped to offer comfortable accommodation for exclusive use with the studio space and includes a unique space for writing, rehearsing and recording music, not available in the local area.

It is also hoped to “offer potential to compliment the existing Tŷ Newydd Writers Centre” and would be “designed to be highly sustainable and nurturing of creativity”.