Homes Under The Hammer’s Martin Roberts ploughs £500k into ‘most worrying project he’s ever taken on’

MARTIN Roberts invests a whopping amount of money into local community in the Welsh valleys – and didn’t tell his wife.

The property expert has put half a million pounds of his own money in his most worrying project to date.

He revealed he kept it from his wife Kirsty so she couldn’t talk him out it.

The 59-year-old owns the Hendrewen Hotel in Blaencwm at the top of the Rhondda Fawr valley.

He offers work placements to local college students at the pub and hotel and employment opportunities for local people too.

Martin said: “The Hendrewen Hotel was a much-loved pub, famous in the area for its Sunday lunches.

“But they lost the heart of their little village and that’s heart-breaking, so I thought I would buy the Hendrewen inn, especially as it’s only about 500 metres from one of the tunnel openings.”

Talking about his purchase, he added: “I often act a bit on gut instinct, and possibly don’t always tell my wife because sometimes I think there’s a danger I will be talked out of things because they appear daft on the surface, I only sort of mention it when it’s too late!

“I’ve never run a pub, I’ve never run a restaurant, and I’ve never run a hotel so, hey, what could possibly go wrong?!”

Despite his passion and enthusiasm to improve the community and area, Martin was candid about its challenges.

The Homes Under the Hammer presenter revealed: “I won’t lie, it’s the most challenging project I’ve ever undertaken, it’s the most daunting project I’ve ever undertaken but it’s one that I feel I’ve been given as a bit of a gift and I’ve got to make the most of it.

“It’s been a bit spiritual for me in lots of ways, I can’t really explain it. I just feel it and I felt it when I started to come to Wales in recent times, I just felt this sense of being at home, at peace and happy.

“I’m a Roberts, so obviously somewhere in my deep and distant past I obviously have some Welsh ancestry. My grandmother and granddad moved to Anglesey, they bought a bungalow and I spent lots of my happy childhood visiting them.”

Martin regularly visits the Valleys and has noticed their communities are similar to his hometown Warrington.

His love affair with the Valleys went into overdrive after a trip with his son Scott to BikePark Wales.

He snapped up the oldest farmhouse in the Rhondda Valleys when it went for sale.

Martin and Kirsty renovated the farmhouse to create a character-packed Airbnb that can sleep up to 17 people.

Martin said: “During the renovation I spent a lot of time there, a lot of time with the community, and I fell in love with the place that is just off the scale – the area around there, just at the top of the Rhondda valley – mountains, waterfalls, but more importantly the people, I’ve never come across a community that immediately felt so supportive.

Martin got excited about the former tourist attraction the Rhondda tunnel which is currently closed to the public.

He was amazed by it when he went to visit, he said: “I went down the tunnel, saw it for myself and thought ‘this is absolutely extraordinary.’

“It’s not going to cost that much in the whole scheme of things and it would revolutionise the tourism of the area, because the top end of this Rhondda valley is in danger of losing out.”

An optimistic Martin added: “The society is run by a wonderfully enthusiastic bunch of people, a lot of them ex-miners and ex-engineers, who just passionately want to get this amazing piece of industrial architecture reopened.

“I’m just trying to help to bring people together who we need to get together – to get it done, whatever it takes.” 

Martin and the Rhondda Tunnel Society have planned to engage with the local community is an afternoon presentation in Blaencwm on March 4 from 2.30pm.

There will be a presentation unveiling the developments regarding the Rhondda Tunnel Project and the refurbishment and enhancement of the Hendrewen Hotel.