The Covid-19 pandemic has forced many people to re-evaluate their lives, including their careers, and those working in the creative and performing industries have had to use Zoom to perform, write and record music in spare bedrooms if they don’t have home studios.
But for one Welsh music legend, lockdown has given him time to think about how he can support his songwriting and performing career with a second job that will provide a stream of income – so he swapped the microphone for a spatula and the guitar for a frying pan.
Sian Evans is the lead singer and songwriter of electric pop rock band Kosheen, who have been churning out hit songs, albums and tours since the success of their first hit single Hide U from their platinum debut album Resist in 2001. If you would like to receive real estate news twice a week in your email inbox, sign up for the real estate newsletter here.
READ MORE: Mobile sauna opens on one of Wales’ best beaches
READ NEXT: England’s worst seaside town revealed and it’s in Wales
Still touring and making music, Sian, who lives in Bristol, decided to leave her life in the UK for good and move back to Wales when the pandemic hit. While searching for her new and permanent home, she came across Sea View, a stunning detached Georgian property in the winding streets of Laugharne in Carmarthenshire, once home to legendary Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin.
Sian says: “It was a very difficult move for me because I didn’t know a single person here and it was a brave move because it was a big old house and it wasn’t what I was looking for – I was looking for land where I could grow my own vegetables and produce.
“My first move was due to the pandemic and I didn’t know where my stage career would pick up again, so I decided to move here and start a new life and business here, maybe “We rented a few rooms and it went really well.”
On paper, the two professions might not seem to go together very well in the eyes of many people – singer, songwriter and performance artist, bed and breakfast owner and landlord – but having been in the job for nearly three years, Sian’s experience suggests she would disagree.
Sian says:Hospitality and performance are the same energy. When people come to my shows, I want them to leave feeling refreshed and energised and having had a great time. It’s not about the artist, it’s about the audience and what they get out of it. It’s the same with B&B. I want guests to eat well, sleep well and really open up about their lives and enjoy the environment that I absolutely love in Laugharne.”
Some people might find the transition from making music for strangers in three bedrooms of her house to making scrambled eggs a little too abstract. But Sian has become quite comfortable with the transformation from singer to conductor and then back again as the demand for the band has increased; she is currently touring Europe and running music workshops from her home in Laugharne.
Sian says: “It’s an old-fashioned boarding house. I answered the door in my nightgown and curlers, or maybe an apron, butGigs are back and they’re back with a vengeance, thick and fast, so now, some days, I don’t know if I’m holding a pan or a microphone! I just drop my bags in the hallway and start a fry-up!”
Seascape captivated Sian from the moment she stepped inside, making her heart spin with the instant connection she felt – find out more here.
MORE ABOUT LAUGHARNE: I stayed in ‘the weirdest town in Wales’ and fell completely in love
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: I stayed at Charlotte Church’s life-changing wellness rural retreat and I can’t wait to go back
He says the house feels even more special when it is full of people, music, laughter and conversation; a creative spirit circulates and fills the rooms, as it has for 150 years.
Sian says:I love it, I organize a breathing exercises camp here, I have given singing workshops and lessons here and my grandfather’s piano is used very well here, even my guests play it after breakfast.
“This house, even in silence, resonates with music, creativity and occasionally past discussions, you can feel that so much has happened in this house, I never feel alone here, even though we are probably very haunted, I am not afraid or sharing the same space with something negative, it is very positive, I think the memories of all the creative nights here, brainstorming over politics and literary discussions.
“I’ve had a few parties here with the community as well – it was a real gift to me to give to the community – every Christmas I have a party here and it’s packed with people, they eat the buffet like locusts and it’s so nice to have that energy back in the house, to have it playing again, to have it singing again and I think this house loves it, it didn’t feel happy when I moved in because it had been empty for so long.”
When most people move into a new home they think about how they will change its design and decor, but Sian says Sea View is almost perfect as it is, with little else to change apart from arranging the furniture and hanging the art.
Sian explains: “I’m delighted with it. The previous owner, Martin, had a great eye for design. I think he designed Brown’s (bar and restaurant) too and it fits in very well with the Georgian feel.”
The extremely welcoming and enthusiastic singer of the house says that he did not spend much time or money to change things inside the house, he only changed the floors and the front garden, there are two dogs living in the house and for this reason he decided to put the carved lawn with mussel shells on a dice, as a tribute to the past of this mussel town.
Sian adds:“Whatever money comes in goes back into the house, the heating and maintenance, because old houses are like old women, they need a lot of tender loving care. And I think he gives that back too.”
The whole house is filled with items from Sian’s travels that mean something to her, including gold and platinum discs displayed on one wall. She says: “Guests don’t usually make the music connection, I have a few discs on the wall, I’m really shy about my achievements – they’ve been sitting in boxes for years but now they’re on the wall and people notice them and say ‘oh, I know that song’ or ‘I know that band’ and I’m like ‘there’s that, that’s me’ and they’re like ‘NO!’ – because, you know, I’m standing there in my apron!”
But Sian’s favourite item in her home is the mahogany dining room table, made for her by her best friend and band member Ron mcElroy. “I love it, I sit here writing songs, just looking out the window and drinking wine. When it’s set up for the eight people staying at the B&B and they’re all sitting around it chatting and laughing and eating and pouring tea, it’s so lovely, it makes my heart burst to have that table at the centre of everything, it’s going to hold all the beautiful memories,” she says.
Sometimes Sian sits at Sea View, in a breathtakingly beautiful place, surrounded by the things that mean so much to her, surrounded by a community that instantly embraces and welcomes her, and she can’t believe her luck. As part of her efforts to give back to the community, Sian says she does her best to keep accommodation at Sea View as affordable as possible, especially for families, compared to the cost of going on holiday abroad.
He says: “Being here It’s very grounding for me, I think it’s a beautiful practice of service and hospitality, it’s a practice of humility and it’s part of my service to this life because I’m so grateful for what life has given me. “It’s actually incredible that a little girl from Risca is living in Dylan Thomas’ house.”
Making a fresh start somewhere is risky and can be challenging but Sian says: “Take a deep breath and just do it, give it a go, if it doesn’t work you can do something else. My whole life has changed for the better because I found this place, because I found Laugharne, because the environment here is so beautiful for me and my dogs. I wake up every morning and I breathe in fresh air and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
For more property and renovation stories join our Amazing Welsh Homes Facebook group.
Find your forever home here: