Warmley House - A Restoration

09/11/2024

Warmley house is now fully restored and what a journey it has been. Ali and I have poured our heart and soul into it (and shed some blood and tears) and we are so happy to say we did it and we are incredibly proud of what we've achieved. We've modernised lots of it but also painstakingly restored most of the beautiful features. The blue plaque is up on the house paying homage to both Daniel Jones and Dylan Thomas. We have been driven the whole time by this history and we both felt strongly that the house should be celebrated as a significant cultural asset in Swansea. The 'Warmley Period' of the late 1920's and 30's is acknowledged as significant in the creative development of both Daniel Jones as a composer and Dylan Thomas as a poet.

I have popped a couple of photos on here and in the coming weeks I will share more from inside this lovely home.

14/05/2023

Its international Dylan Thomas day today and I thought today would be a good day to update you all on the progress of the work here at Warmley.

First of all though it's a good day to remind myself of what a wonderful house this is. Because Ali and I live in it while restoring it we can sometimes forget the cultural importance of the house. 70 years ago today Dylan stood on a theatre stage in New York and performed under milk wood. He became a world renowned performer and broadcaster and I'm proud to say that this career started here at Warmley with Warmley Broadcasting Corporation. I took the photo below this morning of the room in which this took place.

On to the progress of the house. It is fair to say that the whole project has taken far longer and cost more than Ali and I ever anticipated. The majority of the 5 bedrooms have been completed and the large living room is almost complete with just the restored slate fire surround to go in. Work has started on the kitchen but it is still a shell at present. The new bay windows and fascias are now in and they look quite beautiful, hardwood box sash in slaked lime white.

I am currently working on documenting the photos of the work and I will post these in due course.

Finally, I am thrilled to say that Swansea Council have agreed to a blue cultural plaque for the house. We just need to agree on the wording as it is important to recognise Warmley as Daniel Jones home but also as the environment in which Dylan Thomas tried out his poetry and broadcasting in the formative years leading up to the publication of his 18 poems.

24/12/2021

The second of 5 double bedrooms at the house to be completed. This large double was completely lacking any original features and we painstakingly put them back in with window detail, coving and ceiling rose. Painted with Little Greene China clay deep and slaked lime finishes what is now an elegant and relaxing space.

04/08/2021

Lovely write up in about Swansea and Gower. We are so lucky to live in such a vibrant, diverse and beautiful place. Swansea has changed so much in my lifetime without losing its working class, post industrial heritage. Then you add the beauty of Gower, the bay, the parks and you have a recipe for a great place to live! https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2021/aug/04/i-could-be-by-the-med-car-free-short-break-swansea-dylan-thomas-gower?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

27/06/2021

A perfect early morning. A walk to Pwll Du for breakfast and a swim at Caswell.

17/04/2021

New attic bathroom nearly finished. Just putting the finishing touches on - Velux blinds and just painted the bespoke skirting ready to be fitted later.

25/01/2021

A long overdue blog post about developments at Warmley

It has been some time since we have done a blog post but we thought it was time for an update.

23/12/2020

It has been a while since my last post. I've been so busy with work that doing the house has been such a slow process. Anyway, I am happy to say that I have finished one room! The first room of our restoration to be finished. There's a heck of a long way to go though. This is the smallest of Warmley's five bedrooms (possibly the maids room) and although we will probably move into it at some point soon so we can decorate our existing bedroom we will use it as a quiet room, somewhere to listen to the radio or do a bit of yoga (Ali, not me, I'm about as flexible as a turnip). We stripped back the floorboards and although not perfect we painted them in to match the walls. It's a gorgeous colour. We have put up our wonderful original 1960's bus blind from lollybirdvintage in Swansea as a focal point. One room down, thirteen to go!

27/10/2020

Today is Dylan Thomas birthday. It still blows my mind that I am restoring the wonderful house that shaped a great deal of his creativity in his formative years.

17/10/2020

Lovely morning down

06/10/2020

On this day in 1949 the BBC recorded 'Swansea and the arts' for the radio. This picture (later painted by the wonderful Jeff Phillips) appeared on the front cover of the Radio Times and features Dylan Thomas, Vernon Watkins, Alfred Janes, Daniel Jones & John Prichard at The Grove, Uplands.

21/08/2020

What a wild and beautiful place we live in. this morning.