Page 66
Property Mail
The green
green grass
of Sir Tom
Jones’ home
£850,000
ON THE MARKET... Welsh wonders
COWBRIDGE PETERSTON-SUPER-ELY SULLY
THIS four-bedroom
home in the sought-after
area of Bonvilston is half
an hour from Cardiff. An
acre of land, walled rear
garden and heated pool.
O Pablack.co.uk, 01446
772 857.ON A plot of about nine
acres, this property has
five bedrooms. Part
woodland, there is a
chance to continue a
Christmas tree business.
O Wattsandmorgan.com,
01446 773 500.BARRY ISLAND is a 15-
minute drive from this
four-bedroom detached
bungalow in Sully.
Decked terrace, private
lawn and a games room.
O Peteralan.co.uk, 02920
703 799.£1.195 MILLION £400,000
W
hen Sir Tom Jones
decided to buy a home
in South Wales in the
nineties he knew
exactly where to look.
While many parts of the Principality were
in a state of decline, the Vale of Glamorgan,
which locals refer to as The Vale, was a
different matter.
With its quaint whitewashed villages,
this slice of land to the west of Cardiff,
between the M4 and the coast, is
reminiscent of Devon.
The property that caught the millionaire
singer’s fancy was a refurbished Welsh
farmhouse, Llwynddu house in
Ystradowen, just outside Cowbridge,
which is now back on the market.
‘his late wife, Linda, was in charge of
viewing properties in the area,’ says Colwyn
Jones, a retired estate agent with Watts &
Morgan, who conducted the sale. ‘I
remember she was staying at the Marriott
hotel, Cardiff, and I’d pick her up, together
with her sister, to show her around.’
Security was a priority. ‘They immedi-
ately wanted CCTV, which wasn’t so
common then,’ says Mr Jones, who dealt
with Sir Tom’s son, Mark, who is his
manager. ‘The footpath, which passed
close to the house, had to be re-directed
and Sir Tom also bought several acres of
adjoining land to secure his privacy.’
Linda supervised improvements on
the house itself. A leisure complex
was already in place, but it was Linda
who installed the sunbed for Sir Tom
to keep his suntan topped up.
The house has changed little over the
years, except the furnishings today are
a mix of creams and whites.
The downstairs
rooms include a
lounge, study,
cinema room,
kitchen, sitting
room and garden
room, while
upstairs there
are five bed-
rooms and four
bathrooms, many
with views over the
huge lake. The
leisure suite, which includes a
gym, snooker room and bar, isin a converted barn. Recent owners have
been keen horse owners. What used to
be a tennis court has been turned into a
riding school.
nearer to home the couple had The Vale
of Glamorgan to explore, with its gems of
villages. Colwinston featured on Penelope
Keith’s Village of the Year competition on
Channel 4 last year, because it has such
strong community spirit and St hilary has
its own listed pub, The Bush Inn. Then
there is the Glamorgan heritage Coast
with its dramatic cliffs and beaches.
At the centre of the Vale is Cowbridge.
Once thought of as the market town for
successful retirees, today it has a youthful
vibe, with Bar 44 for tapas and Arboreal, a
bistro that puts on jazz nights.
The Bear in the high Street is traditionally
a favourite watering-hole and this was
where Sir Tom would arrange to meet
friends when he was at Llwynddu house.
The locals still talk of the times the
Welshman would drop in for a pint. On
arrival, he would announce: ‘OK, you’ve got
ten minutes if you want photos, autographs,
then please leave me be, cos I’m going to
sit and have a drink with my friends.’ Locals
would always respect his privacy.
Although Linda, Sir Tom’s childhood
sweetheart, liked to spend time at
Llwynddu house, Sir Tom was too busy to
be a frequent visitor. Linda’s sister and
her husband took care of the house
in their absence.
In 1998, Sir Tom sold it for
£700,000 and bought a mansion in
Los Angeles for £2.1 million. he
sold this for £6.4 million when
Linda died, after 59 years of
marriage, in 2016.
The new buyer bought
everything except their
photographs and some
artwork. At the time,
Tom said he had so
many memories of
Linda tied up in the
house that he had
to sell it all.FRED
REDWOODO LLWynddu House is
priced at £2.6 million,
wattsandmorgan.co.uk.Star appeal: Llwynddu House in the Vale of Glamorgan. Inset: Former owner Sir Tom Jones
Pictures: SOUTH WALES PROPERTY PHOTOGRAPHY / GETTY(^) Daily Mail, Friday, September 6, 2019