Rusty railway carriage transformed into eco-friendly space
Mr Gadsby said: "Every project teaches me something new.
"I've gone from constructing moveable huts on wheels to modular garden builds that can be delivered and assembled quickly with workshop-level precision.
"It's all about refining the process while staying true to my sustainability goals."
Mr Gadsby turned the carriage into a warm, energy-efficient living space using natural, breathable materials.
Tŷ Green has completed three major eco-conscious builds so far, with a fourth underway.
Mr Gadsby's passion for sustainability was reinforced by a course at the Centre for Alternative Technology in mid-Wales.
The £20,000 loan allowed him to secure workshop space and materials for his first project.
He uses UK-grown cedar cladding, Welsh sheep wool insulation, and locally milled ash in his designs.
His latest build features 100 per cent wool insulation from Wool Insulation Wales and timber from small sawmills such as Coppice & Crown.
Demand for his bespoke huts is growing, and he now hopes to expand by hiring support and taking on multiple projects at once.
He is also exploring planning permission for an eco-friendly glamping site.
Mr Gadsby said: "The Start Up Loan gave me the foundation to get going.
"It funded my workshop space and the materials for that all-important first build.
"I've not taken on any further funding, but I'm now building a strong reputation for bespoke, sustainable huts that speak for themselves."
Jessica Phillips-Harris, senior manager for Wales at the British Business Bank, said: "Spence is a brilliant example of how Start Up Loans can help turn a big idea into a growing business."
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The Sun
24 minutes ago
- The Sun
Little known website could help you earn £1,000s by spotting empty properties
A LITTLE known website could help you earn £1,000s in extra cash by spotting empty properties. YouSpotProperty allows people to earn money by reporting abandoned and empty homes. 1 The website rewards members of the public with a £20 Amazon or M&S voucher when the home reported meets their criteria. But if the company is able to purchase the home, renovate it and get it back into use again, the person who spotted it will receive a percentage of the purchase price. YouSpotProperty says on its website that this could be up to £10,000. Since 2014, it has paid property spotters more than £1,007,538. If you've noticed a distressed property, you can simply go on the YouSpotProperty website and click the orange 'Report a Property' button. The company will then assess the building you've spotted, and if it matches their criteria, you'll be sent a £20 gift voucher. The business's expert research team will then try to make contact with the property's owner in order to try to buy the property reported. If successful, you'll receive 1% of the purchase price. So if the property if bought for £300,000, you'll get £3,000. Although this cash reward isn't always guaranteed, YouSpotProperty says its experienced researchers have a good success rate. They also assure spotters that the length of time it takes to sell the property does not affect the reward, with some purchases taking months to conclude. Amazon 'hiking' prices ahead of Prime Day after shoppers claim company 'great savings' aren't real The company will also donate £500 to a local charity based in the same borough as the property. YouSpotProperty also encourages anyone who owns an empty or dilapidated building to contact them by telephone, and their experts can help bring the property back into use. One user of the website said they had spotted three properties in just six weeks while walking their dog, earning them two M&S vouchers. They wrote on TrustPilot: "I have only recently started using this company & have submitted three properties within the last 6 weeks. "I am pleased to report that two of these met the criteria & I have already received the M&S vouchers for spotting them. "A fantastic bonus for spotting properties whilst walking the dog. Hopefully a sale materialises for a further monetary bonus. An excellent concept & an efficient service. Other ways to make extra cash If you're looking to boost your income amid the ongoing cost of living crisis, there are many other things you can do. Filling out online surveys is a quick and relatively easy way to get hold of extra cash. You can get paid up to £6 per survey, and YouGov and Prolific are two of the easiest to navigate. Mystery shopping is another easy way to earn on the side. Some brands pay you to shop free of charge, and you can even do it online in some cases. You could make hundreds as well - we previously spoke to one dad who makes a whopping £1,500 a year from filling out online surveys and mystery shopping. Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@
Wales Online
28 minutes ago
- Wales Online
I dropped out of university – my business turns over £6m a year
I dropped out of university – my business turns over £6m a year 'I make more in one hour on TikTok Shop than during a day in my physical store' Laura Mallows started off as a history student but now she is the founder of a multi-million-pound company (Image: Matthew Horwood ) Before her skincare brand became a TikTok sensation and hit the shelves of Boots and Superdrug Laura Mallows was just a girl from Cowbridge trying to figure out what to do with her life. "I was a fashion girly – I have done so many pivots in my life," Laura laughs, reflecting on her unconventional path. It is a winding journey that took her from a university dropout to founder of Mallows Beauty – one of the UK's fastest-growing self-care brands. If you've spent any time scrolling TikTok in the past couple of years chances are you've come across Mallows Beauty. Now turning over millions Mallows is instantly recognisable with its playful packaging, intriguing product names, and unapologetic commitment to self-love with its various body products. Yet behind the bright aesthetic is a story far from the glitz and glamour of a thriving entrepreneur but of self-doubt and starting over more than once. The Welsh entrepreneur has seen rapid expansion with her brand which has gone from her kitchen table to the shelves of Boots (Image: Mallows Beauty ) Speaking to WalesOnline from her bubble-gum pink office Laura claims she very nearly went down a different route. "When I was in school I was really good at history," she recalls. "My school encouraged me to go to Oxbridge to do it but I actually ended up picking Southampton because the nightlife was better." Article continues below However Laura quickly came to the realisation that this wasn't what she wanted to do with her life. "Three months into my history degree I was like: 'I don't like this'. I was falling asleep in my lectures. "There was a boy in my class and I told him: 'I'm going to have to copy your notes'. He just said: 'You're not listening in your lectures – you're snoring. This is bad – you need to stop.' "After that I just decided to drop out. I rang my mum and dad and was like: 'I'm not enjoying it.' They asked me what I wanted to do and I said: 'Fashion. I love fashion.'" Laura then switched to a fashion design degree and finally felt like she had found her place. After university she went on to land a job in London's Dune branch buying handbags and accessories. During this time, though, Laura was battling some internal demons. "I have always struggled with my body image," Laura admits. "From a young age I always wanted to be perfect. I struggled with eating disorders, yo-yo'ed in weight and was always trying to fix myself." Not long after her big city move she developed a case of acne, which only served to enhance her self-doubt. Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here . "Every single product that I bought didn't work and every single counter I went to sold this dream," Laura says. "I just kept looking to these models and campaigns and thinking: 'Why don't I look like them? Why is my skin so bad? Why do I have such big pores?' I have suffered with anxiety for most of my life and had no idea why I felt the way I felt or what it even was." Her mental health hit a breaking point prompting Laura to have a complete breakdown. "It was really difficult but I came to realise that that wasn't real. That the girls in the pictures didn't actually look like that – they were airbrushed and filtered." The realisation sparked a question: what if there was a brand that embraced perfect imperfections? Laura says: "I started to think about how cool would it be if there was a brand that was showing spots and showing what real skin looked like – cellulite and stretch marks – so that people could look at their own stretch marks and breathe a sigh of relief." Laura wanted to make a brand everyone could see themselves in This thought stuck with her when she decided to move back to Wales. Laura briefly took on a job as a skincare buyer in Port Talbot. This lasted for just 20 days before she decided to quit with the dream of a genuine self-loving product still very much at the forefront of her mind. "There were so many influencers at the time doing that body-positive self-love thing but there was no brand doing it," she says. "That's when I decided I'd be the one to start it." Armed with little more than a homemade scrub recipe and her parents' credit card she started Mallows Beauty at her kitchen table in her former Llantrisant home. "Very naively might I add," she admits. In August 2020 she released her first product, a pineapple mask, and quickly orders started rolling in from big names like Skinny Dip and Harrods. Mallows can now be found across major retailers across the UK (Image: Mallows Beauty ) As the brand expanded Laura introduced a wider range of products including body butter, scrubs, and shaving butters sold both through her Cardiff flagship store and online via TikTok. A major turning point came in 2023 when Mallows Beauty won Superdrug's Marketplace of the Year award. "I remember it was at the top of the Gherkin. Around that time our TikTok Shop just boomed. At first it was steady but when affiliates really started working, and with the ads function, everything just exploded." Sales leapt from £50,000 a month to around £300,000. "Suddenly we were in 700 Superdrug stores. It just felt like we were going viral, viral, viral non-stop. It felt like magic. That was kind of my year I suppose." Mallows gained a cult following since going viral on TikTok with its brightly-packaged pink products (Image: Mallows Beauty ) When she realised she was making more in one hour on TikTok Shop than in a full day at her Cardiff store she shifted her entire strategy and closed the physical location to focus solely on her digital audience. It was a risk but it paid off. Five years later, at 33 years old, Laura has built a multi-million-pound brand with a fiercely loyal following. On Black Friday in 2024 alone she made £450,000. In the past two years Mallows Beauty has turned over about £6m (including VAT) and is now stocked at major retailers like Boots and Superdrug with a launch set for Morrisons in two weeks time. Online, though, remains a boom trade. "It has connected me with people from all over the UK and I'm expanding," says Laura. "I'm so lucky to have built such a supportive community online." To meet soaring demand the company initially employed 22 people but Laura has since streamlined the workforce to 15. "It was a lot to manage and there was crossover in roles," she explains. "Now it feels right. We're smaller, tighter – a real family. Everyone here cares about the brand. At some point they've all struggled with body image or mental health. They believe in me and the journey, which is beautiful." That shared passion has helped the team develop and launch a wide range of successful products – all rooted in Laura's personal experiences and instincts. "I just do what feels right to me," she says. "For example I wanted to make our pineapple facemasks because I wanted my skin to be glowing to help my blemishes and my scarring at the time. I was obsessed with pineapple enzymes – vitamin C, vitamin A." The Cardiff-based beauty brand has become well known for its quirky packaging and eclectic fragrances (Image: Mallows Beauty ) Her curiosity extended beyond the UK market too. "I saw shaving butters trending in the US and I thought: 'That's a really cool product – can I make it?' The US made them brightly coloured and smell incredible so it really aligned with our brand. So we made them but when I was using it I was using other branded razors so then I thought: 'We need our own.'" The result? A sell-out product. "I think we sold a razor every minute until we sold out of 10,000 units. It was nuts," says Laura. Today the brand has evolved to include everything from hair removal products to accessories like their increasingly popular makeup bags. And it's not just Laura leading the change – Mallows' customers have become co-creators in the brand's development. "Our shave butters are now customer-led," Laura says. "We ask our followers what fragrance they'd like to have next – what sort of product that they would like to see. This year everyone was obsessed with vanilla and they loved ice cream so things like ice cream flavours and banana splits became a priority." Some of the most successful ideas have come from Mallows' community. "Pool Side did incredibly well... I never expected it to do as well as it did. Same with banana, I didn't really think much of it but now I have all banana-fragranced products in my bathroom. We make sure to ask on our Tiktok Lives and make sure we take notes." The brand has taught Laura a lot about 'self-love' and body positivity, which she hopes to share with customers (Image: Mallows Beauty ) Social media, especially TikTok, has been instrumental in building that connection – not just for marketing but for cultivating a brand that feels real. "TikTok and Mallows go hand in hand – it kind of feels like if there wasn't a TikTok there wouldn't be a Mallows. "The massive spikes of success on TikTok come from showing the ins and outs of running the business – the good days and the bad days," she says. The tough days are all a part of the journey, which is what Laura wishes she could tell her younger self. "I'd love to go back and hold my own hand or give myself a hug. Tell myself that it's going to be okay. That I should enjoy the good moments more. "Managing a team, worrying about profits, keeping the lights on... I was always so terrified. I don't think I fully enjoyed the magical moments. That's the advice I'd give myself now: enjoy the journey a bit more. Really soak in the highs." In light of this Laura has clear advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. "If I was an entrepreneur starting out I would be just storytelling as transparently as I can. I saw an amazing new brand the other day and they were talking about their launch, visiting suppliers, how they've held events and no-one has turned up... I think that's the beauty of social media – it's that honest transparency that everyone loves to see and relate to. "It's hard to be that open – it's nerve-wracking. Especially as your brand grows you want people to believe you're doing great. But the community-building is so important – you'll find even in the bad days your fanbase will stick by you. Everyone really pulls together." Mallows is a testament to that having recently ticked off another major milestone with the brand's products now set for supermarket shelves. "Morrisons is a massive thing for me – I said that at the end of this year I wanted to see our product in a supermarket so it's surreal," says Laura. Article continues below From viral scrubs to supermarket aisles Mallows continues to grow not just as a brand but as a movement grounded in authenticity, self-love, and a whole lot of pineapple.
Wales Online
28 minutes ago
- Wales Online
Couple unable to sell 20-room home next to Welsh canal which keeps leaking
Couple unable to sell 20-room home next to Welsh canal which keeps leaking Charles and Patricia Lester say the value of their home has fallen by nearly £500,000 but even then they can't sell up Patricia and Charles Lester of Llanfoist House, Abergavenny, who can't sell their home because the canal beside them leaks (Image: John Myers ) A couple living at the bottom of a steep incline say they've been unable to sell their home for years because the adjacent canal leaks into their land. Charles and Patricia Lester have lived at Llanfoist House beside the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal since 1973. The house which they bought then for £9,000 lies at the base of a very high and steep canal bank 70ft below the canal towpath. They say they have suffered multiple landslides since due to water seeping through the canal banks with the most recent being within the last decade. 'Not that we were aware of the significance of any of this at the time we bought the property,' Mr Lester told WalesOnline. 'Especially as the canal had no record of leaks or collapses in its previous history. But we very quickly realised there was a constant flow of water from the canal bank. 'Our unlined pond was kept full all through the driest periods with leaks from the canal and many leaks into all the neighbours' gardens including our own. At the time we had no idea or warning of the potential danger as would be required these days to be in the estate agent's details. 'The more recent legislation about declaring such things as subsidence or flood potential has made it impossible for us to sell this large house enabling us to move to a more manageable and comfortable property in our old age.' For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here. Their mansion is at the bottom of a steep bank which runs below the canal towpath. The canal can be seen in the image on close inspection (Image: John Myers ) Article continues below It comes after the Canal and River Trust (CRT), which is charged with maintenance of canals and rivers across the UK, said the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal was suffering from a severe water shortage and may have to close. It has led to the Lesters asking where the water is going and claiming the issue is a huge one for homeowners living beside the canal which runs from Brecon to Cwmbran. In an interview with WalesOnline Mr Lester asked: 'Why has the canal never run out of water before? Why are we talking about this now?' Due to the leaks the value of their property has diminished from £1.2m to £750,000. But they're unable to sell it anyway because no-one will touch it once they see the issues the house potentially faces with potential subsidence and integrity of the land around the canal. Former world-renowned dressmakers Mr and Mrs Lester, aged 84 and 83 and who live in the 20-room property which they can no longer properly look after, believe CRT is partly to blame for the leaky canal. They claim the canal has been poorly maintained ever since the first and worst landslide in 1975 which they say almost killed them. The landslide of 1975 as taken by Mr Lester (Image: Charles Lester ) Recalling what happened then Mr Lester said: 'I came home at lunchtime from work and there were great jets coming from the bottom of the bank. Trish and I were standing in front of the bank and 20,000 tonnes of water came straight at us. 'You don't run when something like that comes towards you. You can't. You just pray. "Luckily our lives were saved because the trees came roots-first and hit the stone wall and created a sort of dam which diverted the water and the rocks, boulders, and debris sideways. 'What had happened was the canal had become derelict in the sixties and was closed. In the sixties boating enthusiasts got together and asked British Waterways as it was then if the canal could be opened back up for tourism and leisure and British Waterways agreed to it. 'When the canal was opened originally in 1799 it would have been clay-lined with puddling clay which was very effective and didn't leak. But in reopening the canal to boaters in the modern world British Waterways dredged the canal deeper. 'They did it to make it appropriate for the propellers and engines of the boats but in doing so they took much of the clay-lining out. What you've got now is just continuous leaks all across the network. 'We could not afford any legal support and we were walked all over by British Waterways. We lost our gas main and our sewers were very badly damaged but British Waterways refused to do anything to restore it nor were we offered any compensation. We had to replace and restore our home ourselves.' The Lesters say their horizontal fence shows the land is not stable which they say is caused by the leaky canal (Image: Charles Lester ) CRT took over from the now-disbanded British Waterways in 2012. Mr Lester continued: 'CRT seems to think that they can just dig holes to enlarge the canal but the land is very porous and water soaks away very easily. "Half a mile downstream from Llangattock is a prime example where they greatly enlarged the canal to form a marina yet one can see large amounts of water coming under the towpath into the field." Mrs Lester said: 'After the canal bank collapsed here in 1975 British Waterways dug the canal deeper and steepened the bank. The bank was also concreted but that didn't stop the leaks and we've had issues ever since. Parts of the bank are damp.' She claimed: 'When you have boats drawn by horse that is a very different thing to now with the engines and propellers and it just doesn't work anymore. It really is a case of shoddy engineering and bad maintenance.' The most recent landslide in 2014 caused the Lesters' fence to move several metres down the bank and become almost horizontal. The couple say the danger is that the bank is so steep that it is beyond what is called the safe angle of repose [it rises 23 metres from the garden at an angle of almost 45 degrees] and with the movement it became hazardous because of large stones and debris continually falling down. 'I still feel apprehensive about that body of water,' Mrs Lester said. 'It's horrible. Every time you hear a crack of a branch you fear it's another landslide. 'They've got sensors along the canal now monitoring any movement of the canal and towpath . It makes you think: 'What is going on that we don't know about?' We often hear trees come down at times of calm weather - classic examples of trees coming down because the ground is damp and soft from leaks. It's terrifying.' CRT has installed sensors across the waterway to monitor any movement in the soil on either side of the waterway and has worked to install a deeply anchored metal mesh wiring across parts of the steep banks beside the canal to try to ensure debris doesn't slip down the banks. A huge mesh cage has been installed over the bank beside the Lesters' home. The mesh was installed in 2018 but vegetation has now grown over it in many places and the Lesters claim parts of the mesh has rotted. 'It looks like the mesh you see sometimes on the side of motorways,' Mrs Lester said. Parts of the outside of the canal bank across the network have now been covered in this steel mesh wire to prevent further issues but the Lesters say they still haven't received assurances their home is safe (Image: Charles Lester ) Further issues arrived for the Lesters when they realised they were 'trapped' in the property unable to sell. They said because they legally have to declare the issues beside their home and, they claim, CRT has refused to provide any formal assurances that the house is safe with a written certificate, no-one will buy the property. In 2016 the couple accepted an offer from a potential buyer of £825,000 but the sale fell through over safety fears. 'I'd built our retirement home in west Wales and we had to sell it because no-one will buy Llanfoist House from us,' Mr Lester said. 'That's when we decided to take CRT to court. We have a legal arm on our insurance policy which covered legal costs up to £100,000. We used that to take CRT to court but we got through the lot and basically ran out of time and money. "We were hoping for some kind of compensation and a certificate to say the work that has been done by CRT makes our home safe. That would allow us to sell the house. But they won't provide us with any assurances. We're now in a position where we've had multiple offers withdrawn and we're stuck here.' A spokesman for CRT said: 'The canal is an engineering marvel from the industrial age that attracts visitors from around the globe. Our charity works to keep it open and navigable for people to enjoy and for the benefit of wildlife. "We're constantly carrying out maintenance and repairs including monitoring for leaks or movement in the canal's embankments. All canals have a demand for water to stay open and navigable. "Every time a boat passes through a lock on the Mon & Brec, it takes water downstream to where it eventually will flow into the River Usk. Evaporation and transpiration can also see canals lose as much as an inch of water on hot summer days while an underlying 'sweetening flow' is always needed to support ecology and avoid canals turning stagnant.' The Lesters say the value of their property has diminished from £1.2m to £750,000 (Image: John Myers ) On Wednesday campaigners for the canal protested outside the Senedd calling for water levels to be 'safeguarded' before the canal becomes unusable for boats and the public. Senedd members added their voices to a 14,000-strong chorus of calls for urgent action to avert a 'catastrophic' drying out of the canal. CRT relies on water abstraction to supply the canal, with up to 90% coming from the River Usk, and held exemptions until 2018 when regulations on licensing changed. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) oversees licensing, limiting the volume of water that can be abstracted on environmental grounds to protect special areas of conservation. James Evans, the Tory Senedd member for Brecon and Radnorshire, similarly warned the canal is on the brink of closure due to NRW's "unworkable" decisions. Mr Evans said water levels significantly fell within two weeks of the licence coming into force in March with CRT making clear it cannot afford to spend £1m a year buying water. CRT says it can no longer afford the water abstraction licence to take water from the River Usk to replace the water the canal is losing while in the Senedd on Wednesday Labour's Carolyn Thomas also told members: 'The licence from NRW allows a lower level of extraction than has historically been allowed. 'Within 10 days of these regulations coming into force earlier this year there was a problem. [CRT] have calculated that if the licence water restrictions had been in force in the last 20 years the canal would only have been open for four summers. It also means money is not available for vital maintenance… to ensure the canal remains navigable and leaks get fixed.' This week the future of the canal was discussed in the Senedd but campaigners say they don't have any further answers (Image: John Myers ) Huw Irranca-Davies, the deputy first minister and a former UK minister responsible for canals, told the Senedd responsibility is shared between Wales and Westminster on the issue of water abstraction. He said: 'If there was an easy answer we'd have done it already. "It isn't an easy answer. What this will require is bringing people around the table together. It's not one or the other: we need to find the solutions for the canal while also protecting the ecological status of the Usk.' Mark Flood, member of the the Preserve and Protect the Mon and Brec (PPMB) campaign group who lives aboard his boat on the canal, said: "It's encouraging that, after nearly five months, the Welsh Government has acknowledged the need to actively engage in finding a long-term solution to the canal's water supply issues. I'm hopeful that the upcoming meeting between the government and key stakeholders will lead to meaningful progress. Article continues below "But having heard the deputy first minister's response I'm not convinced that he recognises how urgent it is to find a solution that safeguards the canal so that my home and canal businesses will survive. Like many who live and work on the canal I won't feel truly secure until a permanent solution is agreed and implemented without delay."
