Inspiration of the Week: love among the ruins at in rural Wales

There’s something about ruins. Their crumbling, tumbling walls force us not just to think of what history may have gone before, but time more broadly. Romantic, poetic and forceful, it’s no wonder so many have been inspired to pick up a pen or paintbrush in an attempt to outline their ageless appeal. But why stop at art? Great architecture in the shadow of such relics is surely a fine way to bear witness to their power – as this house in the Camarthenshire village of Talley, currently on the market, reveals.

The Grade II-listed Georgian farmhouse, built in the late Regency period in a faintly neo-gothic style, would be remarkable on its own, so fine are its proportions, symmetry and character. But the setting – alongside the soaring skeletal walls of Talley Abbey – makes it all the more magnificent. Built in the 12^th century for a group of Norbertines, the now dilapidated monastery was dissolved by Henry VIII in the 16^th, at which point it was mined by the villagers for building materials. Now, only two walls of the tower and few other fragments remain.

But while the abbey may have gone to rack and glorious ruin, the house beside it is in mint condition. Likely first built as a Welsh longhouse, it was souped up in the early 19^th century with Georgian aggrandisements: think arched sash windows, sturdy shutters, stone chimney breasts – all of which remain today. Meanwhile, the stables – now converted into four cottages, able to be let – ensure the layers of legacy continue.

While the house’s age is palpable in its lime-plaster walls, heavy timber lintels and robust stone flags, the current owners have taken great pains to ensure it wears its years lightly. Gentle restoration with fine natural materials, smart paint colours (we love the enveloping inky blue of the sitting room) and an emphasis on comfort mean life here is anything but monastic. Meanwhile, views of the abbey’s rubble lend a rhapsodic air to the place. All that remains now is… Well, that bit’s up to you.