Bettws Lodge

Bettws Lodge is a small country house dating from the 18th century. It is constructed of colourwashed roughcast, concealing coursed stone (the stonework was painted in 1990), with a deep-eaved hipped slate roof and yellow brick end wall stacks. The main three-storey block has three windows, with two-storey, one-window wings set back on either side. A painted plinth and rusticated quoins are visible, along with wide-boarded eaves supported by brackets. Most windows are small-paned sashes, predominantly 16-pane, though smaller panes are present on the centre first floor and upper floor. The first-floor windows on the wings are hornless. The windows have moulded stucco surrounds with keystones and bracketed sills. A central porch features a parapet, pilasters, and chamfered corners; it has a round doorway with a fanlight above a panelled door, and small round-headed lights on either side, flanked by lions in a 'couchant' pose. The remaining exterior is mostly pebbledashed. A stone balcony, formerly with steps leading up to a camber-headed doorway – the original access to the first floor of that wing – is present on the right end. An attached rubble wall defines the boundary between the front drive and the rear stable yard. A lean-to and a cobbled path are located at the left end of the house.

At the rear, a striking bowed stairwell projection dominates the centre of the main block, with a correspondingly rounded eaves line and roof. A 12-pane sash window is visible on the second floor, and a sash with marginal glazing bars below. 20th-century two-storey lean-to extensions are attached to either side, adjoining the cross wings and terminating in gable ends facing the garden. These extensions have camber-headed casement windows.

The interior is largely well-preserved, retaining 6-panel doors, reeded architraves, and panelled shutters throughout. A wide variety of decorative chimneypieces and fire grates are present; the dining room fireplace is fluted, and the fireplace in the main south-facing public room is gilded. One first-floor bedroom has an iron grate depicting swans, lions, garlands, and swags, while another has a dog-toothed grate with a reeded surround. Segmental headed recesses are found on the rear walls of two main rooms, and the small drawing room has reeded skirting. The entrance hall features a good Minton tile floor. A cantilevered winding timber staircase has a simple balustrade. The servants' wing includes boarded doors and a chimneypiece with barley twist columns.