Tal y Braich

Tal y Braich in Rhosgadfan was a mere shell of a building when the team first arrived. They had just five months to turn it into a habitable tyddyn, furnished as it would have been in 1890.

A team of specialist restoration builders and architects worked alongside the programme's production-designer to recreate an authentic 1890 tyddyn. It needed an entire new roof, new floors, new windows, new doors, a range and chimney, new walls plus a pig-sty, cow shed, storage barns and a temporary outside privy.

The cottage hadn't been lived in since the 1930s. It was a listed building and so had to be restored using traditional materials and methods. This involved keeping as much of the original structure as possible, all under Cadw's strict supervision.

The team battled with the elements on site: unprecedented snow in January, followed by gale-force winds and torrential rain. Seemingly against all odds it was finished just on time for filming!