Nightmare neighbours chuck MUD on Grand Designs-style home & annoy guests – they say it’s an ‘eyesore’ but they’re wrong
NIGHTMARE neighbours have allegedly harassed and thrown mud on a Grand Designs-style home, with residents calling the property an "eyesore" - but the owner claims they're wrong.
Karl Jones, the owner of a luxury holiday barn conversion in the Welsh countryside, revealed a village has shunned him after complaints that he turned it into an "alien ocean liner" where guests parade naked.
The property developer is furious with locals who protested about his £300-a-night barn makeover.
He claims he was forced to call the police after mud was thrown at the house and guests were allegedly harassed during their countryside breaks in Wales.
Villagers have complained their lives are being ruined by “rowdy visitors playing loud music” and the “noisy” use of a hot tub.
Locals say the 18ft glass windows in the barn end make it look like an ocean liner, not a country barn.
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Owner Mr Jones claims the accusations are “unfounded” and “fabricated” - and some guests say people have been “trespassing” and “verbally harassing” them.
His barn at Penisarwaun, North Wales, has had a back-dated planning bid thrown out.
But Mr Jones blasted: “As someone born, raised, and still proudly residing in Wales, my intention has always been to celebrate the beauty of this area and our country as a whole.
“It is incredibly disheartening to feel ostracised by the very community I belong to – simply because I sought to create a better future for my children in the wake of the financial challenges brought about by the pandemic.”
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Mr Jones said he and his team had been “under the impression” that planning had been previously granted.
He added: “The council and their team visited the site multiple times, signed off on the work being done, they were fully aware of the build we were undertaking.
“We were always under the impression all work was approved. We believed the process had been completed.”
The property was hit with a planning enforcement notice in April, ordering it to stop being used as a short-term holiday let, revert to being an annexe of the main house, Plas Coch, and have its windows removed.
He claimed there had also been “two troubling incidents” – involving mud thrown over a hedge, trespassing onto the property and verbal harassment of guests, reported to police on 30 April and 4 May.
Mr Jones said he reported another incident to the police while construction work was underway on the barn.
Fuming neighbours had taken to the council to complain about "rowdy visitors playing loud music" and noise pollution from a hot tub where nude holidaymakers hang out.
When the retrospective planning application was submitted, many villagers objected to it — protesting the “massive” and “horrendous” window.
'MISERY'
One resident slammed the house as having a "harmful effect on a small, quiet area of rural Wales" and described a loss of privacy for residents.
Janet Gayther, 82, whose home is overlooked by the giant window, said she frequently sees guests in their birthday suit - and it's making her life a "misery".
"I’ve seen all sorts - people coming out and getting in the hot tub without clothes.
"I’ve driven past in the car and visitors have been sprawled out in the nude on the sofa.
"They also climb in and out of the bath on the mezzanine floor."
The great-grandmother added: “There’s the noise when they are having fun and games in the hot tub, having a drink and playing loud music.
"It’s making my life a misery at times."
The elusive lodge can be reached only by a narrow road and is advertised as a “haven of tranquillity” in the Welsh countryside.
Neighbours say they've had visitors knocking on their door at 1am, trying to find it.
Michael Sharp, 72, said people "behave really badly" and that it's the luxury hot tub that seems to "provoke bad behaviour".
He said: “We can hear the noise inside the house, even with the doors closed.
"People are coming for a good time. We have had drones flying above our property.
"Some people are completely selfish and not community-minded.”
Mr Sharp told NorthWalesLive: "It just looks like some huge ocean liner all lit up in the night floating in the middle of the countryside. It's an alien structure, it bears no resemblance to the original barn.
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"We would just like the thing knocked down."
A Gwynedd council spokesperson said: “No appeal has been registered in relation to the planning application or the enforcement notice for Plas Coch, Penisarwaun.”
