Our Welsh Chapel Dream

Keith Brymer Jones and his partner Marj throw themselves into the restoration of a derelict chapel in Wales. As they explore their new home, it seems they're not alone...

Keith and Marj submit their application to transform the chapel into a home, pottery studio and events space. While they anxiously wait for the news, they turn their attentions to ripping out rot, learning some Welsh and opening the chapel to pitch their audacious plan to the local community.

Now that permission has been granted, Keith and Marj start work in the main chapel hall, removing the pews, parquet floor and large pulpit. Keith visits a fellow potter, and Marj makes a discovery in the once-pigeon-infested Sunday school ceiling vents.

With the chapel being unliveable for many more months, Keith and Marj have come up with a radical idea to sleep onsite a lot sooner, in the shape of a shipping container in their car park, which they hope to transform into their first official finished bedroom.

The Great Pottery Throw Down's master potter Keith Brymer Jones and his partner Marj Hogarth are back with a new series, as they continue their quest of turning their 163-year-old chapel in Pwllheli into their dream home, complete with a pottery studio and a community hub. With planning permission approved for their audacious plan, Keith and Marj set out to transform the downstairs of the Sunday School into their living accommodation. With their hearts set on a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and snug, first they must rip out the fungus and try to control the dreaded dry rot that has infected the chapel. The rot's biggest victim is the original staircase, but Keith and Marj are determined to see the loss as an opportunity, and set out to instil some original character back into their now blank lobby, by rescuing the hall's century-old pendant lighting. The plan is to cluster them together as a feature fitting to go into the space where the old staircase once stood. Local builder Hew Owens is the man helping to bring Keith and Marj's living accommodation vision to life, starting by transforming one of the Sunday School offices into a kitchen. Keen to re-use and recycle, Keith and Marj source an 80-year-old English Rose kitchen, heralded as a British design classic. And to celebrate British craft, Keith and Marj are planning to install a sink with a difference. It's then a race to get the kitchen into shape so that they can finally enjoy a home-made cup of tea in the heart of their new home. 

The new series continues, as The Great Pottery Throw Down's master potter Keith Brymer Jones and his partner Marj Hogarth continue their quest to turn their 163-year-old chapel in Pwllheli into their dream home, complete with a pottery studio and community hub. Keith and Marj set their sights on turning the old school room into their snug. Marj restores a baroque French chair, while fellow Pottery Throw Down judge Rich Miller helps Keith to make brutalist tiles for a feature wall. And Keith and Marj take a break from forging the chapel's future to visit the National Library of Wales to discover Capel Salem's fiery past...

The new series continues, as The Great Pottery Throw Down's master potter Keith Brymer Jones and his partner Marj Hogarth continue their quest to turn their 163-year-old Pwllheli chapel into their dream home, complete with a pottery studio and community hub. This time, with Capel Salem slowly becoming a home, the next room for transformation is the Victorian-inspired parlour bathroom. For their black bathroom, Keith and Marj take inspiration from Coventry Cathedral, with Keith making a giant clay candlestick holder, while Marj sets about making her dream lampshade for the bathroom's standard lamp. 

The new series concludes, as The Great Pottery Throw Down's master potter Keith Brymer Jones and his partner Marj Hogarth continue their quest of turning their 163-year-old Pwllheli chapel into their dream home, complete with a pottery studio and community hub. In the final episode of the series, Keith and Marj focus on the last thing they need to do to finally call Capel Salem home: bringing the bedroom inside the building! Marj gilds a vintage French mirror, while Keith takes on storage solutions and they both reflect on their journey so far by visiting a Welsh love spoon workshop. 

Keith Brymer Jones and his partner Marj Hogarth finally move into their 163-year-old chapel on Wales' Llyn Peninsula - but the hard work is far from over as they get stuck into the next stage of the renovation, from clearing the stacks of unwanted items and creating spaces for guests to transforming the Sunday school into Keith's pottery studio. But first they must throw a gigantic pottery and vintage clothes sale to raise much-needed funds.

Keith Brymer Jones and his partner Marj Hogarth have grand plans to transform two dark, damp storerooms into a guest suite leading out to a courtyard, where they hope to build a raw concrete fire trench. Keith softens the space by hand, crafting porcelain night lights, while Marj makes a canvas sail canopy in honour of Pwllheli's maritime heritage.

The last space to be finished in Keith and Marj's living quarters is the entrance lobby connecting the main chapel hall to the living space and the soon-to-be pottery studio. The plan is to fit the space out with a clash of styles, so Marj refurbishes an old metal locker, while Keith mounts antlers to bring some baronial flair.

There's one last hoorah in the Sunday school hall before it becomes the pottery studio, as Keith and Marj turn it into a party venue for Keith's 60th birthday, and bring singing back to the chapel.