THE latest phase of singer Charlotte Church’s transformation of a stunning stately home in Radnorshire is underway.

The Voice of an Angel star is encouraging wellness and healing practitioners in the Powys area to get in contact and join her at Rhydoldog House as she prepares to open a healing retreat in just a few months.

She paid approximately £1.5 million in May last year for Rhydoldog House, located just outside Rhayader and owned previously by fashion icon Laura Ashley. She soon announced plans to transform it into a wellness and healing retreat – as a way to help people recover and get back to nature following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The trials and tribulations that encompass trying to turn this dream into a reality featured on a TV programme called Charlotte Church’s Dream Build, shown earlier this year, an eight-part series in which 36-year-old Charlotte spoke of her concerns about getting the home ready to open by June.

A few weeks ago, Charlotte revealed on her Instagram account that the Rhydoldog retreat will be known as The Dreaming, with a new website launched. And now she is looking for local people to join her in her stunning Elan Valley surroundings.

County Times: Rhydoldog is the former home of Laura Ashley at Cwmdauddwr, near Rhayader Rhydoldog is the former home of Laura Ashley at Cwmdauddwr, near Rhayader

“I am looking for local wellness/healing practitioners in the Powys area, who'd like to work with us or host themselves at @thedreamingretreat,” said Charlotte in a post on her Instagram stories today (April 14).

“Our vision is to host a rich tapestry of people, practitioners and cultures at @thedreamingretreat, so if you or anyone you know may be interested, please follow the link below.”

On launching The Dreaming three weeks ago, she’d said: “It is with extraordinary excitement that I draw your attention to our website for The Dreaming, a retreat I’m opening in the heart of Wales.

“Please follow @thedreamingretreat and find the website link in my bio and register your interest if you’d like to come and stay with us.”

On the new website, The Dreaming is described as an “elegantly curated reverie, manifested in water, earth, plant, fire and stone; a landscape vibrating with existential symbols, ready for voyagers to embark on a deep exploration of the self, and the noble work of crafting the soul”.

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With a capacity for up to 15 guests within a community of residents of staff and volunteers, The Dreaming is described as a retreat where spiritual healing happens.

Curtained by two waterfalls (among many smaller ones), with red kites circling above, and beneath an internationally recognised dark-sky, The Dreaming is immersed in 47 acres of ancient forest that teem with diverse life, from mosses and lichens and fungi, to polecats and beavers.

A number of sacred spaces allow for ceremonies that follow the changing of the seasons, while hidden within the woods are peculiarities that “elevate the magical character of The Dreaming”, including the cascade shower set into a waterfall, bird’s-eye meditation platforms (‘The High Priestess’ and ‘The Fool’), a bed within the pines for outdoor sleeping and a wind phone.

There are several gardens dotted around the estate, which have been designed in collaboration with Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist Juliet Sargeant; these include the Moon Garden (a collection nocturnal flowers that open their petals to the night sky), the Physic Garden (providing medicinal herbs and plants for the kitchen), the Artisan Garden (specific plants that can be used for crafts) and the Pollinator Garden (grown for bees).

Communal meals are served three times a day in the refectory, while the community at The Dreaming offers activities on a daily basis – including yoga, sound healing ceremonies, foraging, storytelling, stargazing, bird spotting, cold water immersion, singing at dawn, painting, meditation and night-time forest bathing.

For more information about Rhydoldog, The Dreaming retreat or to apply for a place, visit https://www.thedreaming.co.uk/.