Bobbi MeddingsArtist · maker · creative host

Stories from the cottage

Journal

Notes on art, home, food, memory and making a life from what is already here.

Restore & Transform

The slow restoration journey of Y Bwthyn

Our cottage is not a finished project. It is a living, breathing transformation.

Y Bwthyn is being restored slowly: room by room, object by object, layer by layer. The journey holds the same spirit that runs through Bobbi’s art, food and teaching: attention to what already exists, respect for weathered materials and a willingness to let repair remain visible.

This is where the Wabi Sabi foundation of Bobbi’s creativity becomes tangible. Beauty is found in the worn threshold, the uneven surface, the rescued fragment and the patient work of making a place feel more fully itself.

The blue door of Y Bwthyn, an old Welsh stone cottage, framed by whitewashed walls.
Thresholds, repairs and the welcome of the blue door.
A cottage doorway surrounded by wildflowers and weathered stone.
The cottage softening into its garden and seasons.
Weathered ceramics and wildflowers arranged as a quiet still life.
Worn, handmade and imperfect materials as creative companions.
01

Restore

To honour what has survived: stone, timber, patina, memory and the marks of use.

02

Transform

To let neglected corners become warm, useful and soulful without erasing their history.

03

Wabi Sabi

To find beauty in imperfection, age, repair and the quiet evidence of time.

Current project

The old slated garden wall

The current restoration project at Y Bwthyn is the old slated garden wall: learning new skills, using lime mortar for repairing and repointing, and working in sympathy with traditional building techniques and the preservation of heritage buildings.

At some point in the past, parts of the wall were badly restored with concrete and cement, a no-no for listed or old properties. This work is about gently undoing that damage, letting the wall breathe again and keeping its history visible.

The project will also feed into future workshops around repair, transformation, rescued materials and the Wabi Sabi practice of finding beauty in weathered, imperfect things.

Old slated garden wall under hessian with a work platform below.

Setting up the wall repair

The old slated garden wall protected under hessian while careful repair work begins.

Weathered slated garden wall partly covered with hessian in bright sun.

Keeping the wall damp

Hessian helps slow the drying process while lime mortar cures.

Corner of an old stone and slate wall showing cracked cement repair.

Old cement damage

Previous cement repairs left hard, cracked areas that need careful attention.

Cracked wall surface with a small stone face planter below it.

Cracks and character

The wall's scars show where inappropriate repairs have stressed the old fabric.

Old garden wall with tools on a work platform and hessian over the top.

Tools, dust and patience

Repairing and repointing begins slowly, with small tools and steady attention.

Close-up of cracked old wall surface with moss and weathered mortar.

Reading the surface

Close inspection reveals moss, cracks and the older material beneath.

Close-up of slate layers and repair mortar under hessian.

Slate layers and lime

Thin slate courses are repaired in sympathy with traditional building methods.

Latest notes

From the blue door

A growing collection of stories from Bobbi’s studio, kitchen, garden and creative practice.

Handcrafted beaded curtain in a blue cottage doorway.

Doorway art · 6 min read

Why I Made My Own Welcome Curtain

The search for a beautiful doorway screen and the beginning of a new idea.

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Open blue door in an old Welsh stone cottage.

Place · 5 min read

What Hiraeth Means to My Work

Home, longing, memory and the emotional pull of belonging.

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Repaired handmade ceramics and wildflowers.

Materials · 7 min read

Wabi-sabi, Clay and the Beauty of Imperfection

How sculpture, ceramics and teaching shaped Bobbi’s eye.

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Miniature mixed-media assemblage using Charlotte's 1901 letter and a tiny Snow White figurine.

Sacred Scraps · 4 min read

Snow White would you like to dance?

A miniature assemblage made from family ephemera, decoupage and a Snow White keepsake from a sideboard drawer.

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Stan and Alfie sitting beneath summer flowers at the blue cottage door.

Cottage life · 4 min read

The Cottage in Bloom

The blue door in summer: baskets, supper at the table and Stan and Alfie keeping watch.

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