THE owner of a country mansion once thought to be the most expensive house to go on sale in Wales wants to add an outdoor swimming pool to its garden, reports Local Democracy Reporter Twm Owen.

Court Saint Lawrence, on the outskirts of Llangovan near Monmouth, is an early 19th century house built on what is thought to be an early religious site, which was extended in 1802 to create a small country house estate. 

The house, which is at the end of a 500m private drive, is Grade II-listed and, when it was placed on the market in 2005, it had a £2.25 million price tag and was reported to likely be the most expensive house ever to go on sale in Wales at that time. 

Property websites suggest its current value could be as much as £4.2 million.  

Owner, businessman Mark Rose, has applied to Monmouthshire County Council for planning permission for the pool and a single storey pool house with a paved terrace. A listed building consent application has also been made. 

The 15×4 meter pool is a replacement for a previous outdoor pool, which was removed when the kitchen was extended and will be dug at the back corner of an existing walled tennis court, which the application states will result in the minor extension to the residential curtilage. 

Though the area is listed as an agricultural field it is already being used for domestic recreation. 

The pool, which will have a maximum depth of 2.1m at one end, is for the private use and the application states it is “most likely only (to be used) in the warmer summer months.” 

It is also stated it will not detract from the setting of the house as it will be low lying, to the north of the existing garden wall, with “views from the principal windows of the main house maintained across the open garden and to the countryside beyond.” 

It will also be a “considerable” distance from the main house and won’t be visible from the driveway or the front of the house with the application stating “it therefore has no detrimental effect on the property or its listing”. 

The existing “ha-ha wall” which runs from behind the garden shed across to the corner of the existing stone wall will be extended around the north side of the swimming pool. 

The pool house will accommodate the swimming pool plant room, ground source heat pump plant room for heating the pool, and a small changing room. 

The pool will be drained every five years for cleaning and maintenance purposes, which will be done during the drier months to ensure groundwater is low, and pool treatment is intended to remove phosphates. It will be a “natural pool” with no chemicals required. 

A separate drainage approval application will be made.