Work is well underway on a Machynlleth restoration project that’s hidden in plain sight.

Many wouldn’t notice the Hen Stablau building - tucked behind stone walls on the main route through town, the Victorian ex-stable block was at one point almost sold off by the town council.

Instead, work has now broken ground on what is estimated to become a £2.5m project to restore the building to its former glory, and bring the council and town crucial income with it.

The plan is to transform the building into a 36-bed lodge for visitor accommodation, with space for hosting events.

It is projected to make £250k annually from the accommodation alone, with an estimated £250k more in income to the town.

According to Charlie Falzon and Shelagh Hourahane, enthusiastic volunteers who became employed project managers, it was crucial for the final product to make money, as the building has been a drain on finances since it closed as a private residence around 2007.

The last person to live there full-time was the master of the hounds for the Londonderry family, meaning the property is classed as a domestic dwelling which the council pays tax for, on top of hefty insurance for the Grade II listed building.

The council were struggling to keep it secure as vandals graffitied inside and damaged its contents, stole lead work, copper cabling and the external clock face.

Charlie, project manager in charge of fundraising, said: “The town was paying for a crumbling ruin.

“We’re going to turn this liability into a half-a-million-pound earner for the town.

“We’ve had interest from events organisers already to host courses here and when the grounds are restored, it will be an attractive wedding venue.”

Workmen have already almost finished securing the roof which needed stripping and recladding.

A new structure built outside the stables is to become a bike-store-cum-bat-house, to house the rare greater and lesser horseshoe bats that have been the stable's most recent tenants.

The masonry for the 1840s building is also being restored, with pointing work already visible on the outer facade.

Phase two of the work, which the team is currently seeking funding for, will be to carry out the internal work, aiming to complete “the majority” of the work by autumn 2026, “if everything goes to plan”.

This will include maintaining the characteristics of the building, keeping everything from the stone stable floors, turning the wooden stable divides into bedrooms, and even repurposing the old feeding troughs.

Simon Morpeth, a former town councillor who worked with Cllr Andy Tack to save the building from being auctioned off in 2018, said: “We didn’t want it destroyed, it's part of the heritage of the town.

“We managed to do a feasibility study on what to do with it.

“We felt it’d be a great bunkhouse for cyclists and walkers, an ideal point on the coastal path, Sustrans cycle routes 81 and 82, in a place with little affordable accommodation for 20 miles.”