A man took on the grand but derelict Craig y Don mansion which had been left to decay for years
A huge and historic mansion by the sea stood empty, unloved and alone for many years, shrouded by trees and unruly foliage, hidden from view; alone, silent and slowly beginning to fall into dereliction.
Sadly there are many houses across Wales that replicate this scenario, some remain hidden and hoping for rescue, some are found and illegally entered by trespasses and end up on social media, but very few actually find a historic house hero who will take on such a substantial project to save it, revive it and secure its future for generations to come.
Craig y Don, a striking white-washed mansion sitting high above the Menai Strait within acres of private land, is one of the lucky ones because Mark Ellis found it, fell in love with it, and has spent years and too much budget to even say out loud, renovating and transforming it. For more property stories sent to your inbox twice a week sign up to the property newsletter here.
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It was 2021 and Mark, who comes from the area and visits the Isle of Anglesey frequently, says: “I saw this place come up and knew of it, but I thought it looked pretty amazing. Actually I remember going down and climbing over the gate and having a look and initially, just thinking ‘Oh gosh, it looks like a really big project’- I was a bit scared by the size of it.
“But I sort of reflected on it and, foolishly, an idea started to form. I was thinking ‘this is a pretty good spot and they don’t make land like this anymore’. I ended up looking around it and yeah, fell in love with it, and just couldn’t stop imagining what it might be like.”
The idea that started to gain momentum came from Mark’s challenging experience of trying to find somewhere amazing as a place to rent and stay for a large family celebration.
Mark says: “I think there were 16 of us and I was struggling to find somewhere that was lovely, that was five-star luxury where the whole family could sit around the same fireplace or at the same dining room table. I thought ‘if I’m struggling to find somewhere then surely other people are too’.”
He found there was a ‘surprising lack’ of top-end family places to rent in stunning locations, and that is where Craig y Don started to weave its way into Mark’s future.
After building up a solicitor business and then selling it in his fifties, Mark was not ready to retire just yet and having already done a restoration on a house in Chester, he had been bitten by the renovation bug – all good news for Craig y Don, maybe a bright and lasting future was on the horizon?
But this renovation project was going to be epic. Mark remembers: “It was in a very poor state. It hadn’t been lived on for nearly 20 years but at least the roof was solid. However, there was a lot of damp, black mould, peeling paper, and there was plaster that was starting to fall off.
“And there was no kitchen, just a tiny space with an Aga, but nothing else, not even kitchen units. There was no running water and wires hanging everywhere. Then there were seagulls that had fallen through chimneys and ash that had fallen onto the floors.”
But nothing that Mark saw that day, and on subsequent visits, dampened his enthusiasm, even the ambience of sadness that wafted through the rooms did not persuade him to change his mind and his ambition.
He says: “It felt cold. It felt unloved. It felt damp. But, and this sounds a bit deep, it had a good spirit. It felt like the energy was positive, it just needed some love. And it felt like it had once been a happy place, although it certainly wasn’t now.”
Being from the area and loving the island Mark was keen to use local trades people on the project where possible and now that the renovation is finished he has teamed up with companies in the area to promote local outdoor activities, pubs and restaurants, and places for guests to visit – he is keen that the local economy and employment opportunities benefit from the house being alive again after 20 years of emptiness.
His company Daisy Joy also annually supports three local charities in their endeavours, as Mark is keen to support the community as much as possible. He says: “It comes from a love of Wales and a love of the island.”
But the core driver that ploughed through all the challenges Craig y Don threw at Mark was saving the house so it would survive forever and making it a place to create lifelong memories.
Mark says: “It’s a forever investment. This is not a business for me. I mean, if it was a business, I would be out of business because I’ve done it from the heart and spent more than it’s now worth, but I’ve done it to keep it alive forever.
“I think that if we can be successful and fill it with family gatherings, you know, people celebrating important birthdays and celebrations, fill the house with laughter and happiness again, then I hope that’s a good thing.
“We’re not doing commercial events, we’re not doing weddings, this is about family and friends spending time together and making sure that the grandparents will have as much fun as the grandkids and vice versa. This is a family home, where we want to have family gatherings.”
Craig y Don had been empty for 20 years and on the market many times; no-one was interested, and at some points Mark wished he hadn’t been interested either.
He says: “There have been many nights when I have lain awake and thought, ‘what have I done, I must be bonkers’, and then when I started putting the work out to tender, the quotes were coming back so high because I knew I wanted this to be done well.”
Enter the next house saving hero – a team called Birch Stays who came up with an interesting proposition that benefitted all parties and the house.
The company specialise in offering property owners a complete package to create and run high-end holiday homes from the renovation stage right through to booking and marketing, maintenance and guest services.
Mike Walsh, one of the directors at Birch Stays, says: “We’d been steadily building a reputation for transforming character properties into standout holiday homes, and this was an opportunity to take on something truly special and so we agreed to renovate Craig y Don after just a single tour of the home.
“It had incredible bones, an amazing history dating back centuries and a Grade II listing, but it needed a huge amount of work. Like many heritage properties, it had seen years of piecemeal changes that didn’t really do it justice.”
Mark adds: “I said ‘I’ll pay you a fixed fee for project managing and then I’ll use local trades and pay them directly’ and this was a way I tried to find a more cost-effective way of doing it with them.”
Once the project work was agreed, Mike and business partner Jonathon Leyland and the team at Birch Stays were keen to get started, and emotions were high.
Mike says: “We felt equal parts excitement and respect, to be honest. Projects like this don’t come along often, and you feel a real responsibility to get it right. It’s not just about creating something beautiful, it’s about honouring the history while making it relevant for modern guests. We knew it would be a challenge, but that’s exactly what makes it worthwhile.”
The house was given a Grade II listing by Cadw in 1988 for being ‘a mainly early 19th century small country house with good later interiors and group value with the coach house, the boathouse and the lodge’. The earliest recorded occupant was Colonel Thomas Peers Williams MP in 1845, grandson of Thomas Williams Commander of the Anglesey Light Infantry.
The listing goes on to state that in the mid 19th century Mrs Peer Williams supported ‘a private charity school at the house, founded in 1845, for 12 girl scholars, none of whom had to pay fees’.
The core of the house is said to date back to 1540 but according to the listing the earliest surviving evidence of a previous abode is an 18th century red brick chimney stack visible in the attic.
Since then the property had early to mid 19th century rebuilding, remodelling and extensions with subsequent modern alterations, and Mike says these added to the drama as well as the need to respect and work within the Grade II listed status.
There were many challenges, from peeling back all the work done to the house over the decades, structural issues, and drainage that needed an extensive amount of groundwork.
Inside, the original features have been preserved and restored and the interior design has been spearheaded in a partnership between Mark and company Horton & Co who work extensively on Anglesey and across the area to create an absolutely stunning house.
Mark says: “We had a vast space that was completely empty. It didn’t have any furniture, any wallpaper, anything at all, so we started from scratch. We didn’t want to go out and buy new furniture, obviously we bought lovely new luxury beds and mattresses and it’s been completely redecorated, but we’ve sourced antiques and artwork. And I think the interior design is something worth celebrating in itself.”
The house provided some of the interior inspiration with the Prince Edward bedroom suite and the Lillie Langtry suite, both located in the tower, were created as a recognition of the rumour that Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) and the Victorian socialite and actress Langtry stayed at the house during their affair.
The Prince Edward suite has been designed with a masculine energy, including time spent finding a fabulous four-poster bed of the right age, while the Lillie room is more delicate and feminine and the views from both are outstanding.
A new glass extension has been added at one side of the house to create a social kitchen diner hub with more exceptional views to enjoy and it’s this contrast between old and new that excites Mark the most regarding the home’s new interior.
He says: “We’ve got modern wood and contemporary as well as antiques and old, I think we have achieved that lovely mix of contemporary with tradition.
“Standing in the new kitchen dining space, you feel like you’re on top of the Menai Strait and the water’s below, you can see for miles including all the activity on the water looking over towards the mountains; it is wonderful.”
Another interior space that Mark finds himself drawn to and that guests, now that the house is open for bookings, are enjoying is the visually breathtaking lounge bar found in the former ballroom that Mark describes as ‘extravagant and opulent’.
There is so much to explore at the house even before stepping inside, including acres of private land that includes a boat house and steps down to the water, two hot tubs, and a sun-drenched terrace outside. Climb the distinctive tower to the roof deck at the top and the views are truly panoramic and immersive.
Inside the nine gorgeous bedrooms can sleep up to 20 people in total and each has been lavished with their own unique interior design, and six have their own ensuite.
Time is easily spent and enjoyed in the cinema room, the tranquil drawing room, the library and, of course, the lounge bar in the ballroom. Maybe the games room is the standout play space, offering table tennis, air hockey, and table football plus a space also suited for yoga and pilates.
The mini spa includes a sauna, gym and treatment room and Mark’s company Daisy Joy can even arrange staff to visit for treatments and massages.
It’s taken six years and a secret seven-figure sum to get to this point. Mark says: “At times it has been stressful, it’s just been so much more work to do and the job being much bigger than we expected but I’ve had to just hold my nerve. I now feel a great sense of relief and pride, I suppose, of what we’ve done.”
Mark is still clearly in love with Craig y Don, he finds joy in every space and every element of design and now he is hoping that guests feel enchanted too. He says: “Hopefully I can get some good feedback from people staying there and that’ll be the most satisfying time, when somebody writes to me and says, ‘We’ve had such a lovely time. We all loved it’, and I think that’ll be when I think ‘okay, it was worth it’.
“Because in the daylight hours, looking at the beauty of the location, looking across towards the mountains of Eryri and just visualising how it would be when we finished the project kept me going. But then you go to those dark periods in the night and you’re thinking ‘goodness me, I’ve bitten off more than I can chew here!’.
“But I’m a positive person so I’d stop myself and say, ‘no, actually, this is a really lovely spot, it’s great, and I can do this and I mustn’t give up’ because I actually couldn’t give up, that wasn’t an option.
“All of my family and friends thought I was absolutely mad, and I still do too sometimes because it makes absolutely no sense financially. But you know, it is a legacy because it’s definitely not a business, it’s something that my family owns now and into the future, we will never sell it.”
You can book the whole of Craig y Don for a minimum of two nights via Birch Stays here or Daisy Joy Escapes here. For more property, renovation, and interior design stories join our Amazing Welsh Homes Facebook group here.
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