A rare opportunity has emerged to purchase a 1.15-acredevelopment site with full planning permission for 14 units, comprising nine flats and five detached properties. The plot is located within a residential district approximately 0.5 miles North-west of the vibrant market town centre of Carmarthen.

The land, covering roughly 1.15 acres, boasts the impressive Lime Grove House, a significant Victorian suburban house crafted in the Italianate style. Cadw - the Welsh Government's historic environment service - listed the house as Grade II in 2003, recognising it as "a substantial later Victorian suburban house in Italianate style". The listing also provides a brief chronicle of the house on the site, which seems to have originated as a smaller villa depicted on the 1837 Tithe map, and was advertised for rent in 1840, boasting "three parlours and five bedrooms", reports Wales Online.

Cadw reports that the property was remodelled around 1855 by Carmarthen architect William Wesley Jenkins, resulting in a double-depth plan residence, likely crowned with a hipped or near-pyramidal roof, designed in the Italianate style Jenkins preferred for other country estates during that period. A courtyard at the rear accommodated purpose-built stables and a coach house.

Local solicitor William Morgan Griffiths acquired the property in 1884, extending it with additions to the rear, whilst concurrently redesigning the frontage and altering the 1850s interior features, which included removing the original staircase. Subsequently, Henry Brunel White owned the residence, occupying it until 1941.

In 1937, the Church of Wales took possession of the house, converting it into the Diocesan High School for Girls, a fee-paying boarding school, with supplementary teaching rooms built at the back.

A standalone chapel was constructed, although it no longer belongs to the property. The educational institution closed in 1964 and was subsequently transformed into apartments during the 1970s before becoming commercial premises, though it has remained vacant since 2014, according to the selling agent.

The principal structure features a net internal area of 668 square metres (7,190 square feet) and solid masonry walls beneath a slate roof. The property's most distinctive characteristics - two buff brick chimney stacks - are crowned by square crested pots, 10 per stack.

The agent reports that planning consent was approved on October 28, 2024, under application reference PL/05392 for transforming the former commercial space into nine residential units, incorporating the removal of the separate laboratory offices and side lean-to conveniences and boiler room extensions. The proposals also encompass the building of three detached houses and two detached bungalows on the site.

Listed Building Consent for the scheme received approval on March 11, 2024 under application reference PL/05410.

The agent notes that the authorised works must begin within five years of the consent date, and there are no section 106 or community infrastructure levy (CIL) obligations, and the property does not sit within a conservation area.

Prospective buyers also have the chance to redevelop the location for different uses (including a boutique hotel, a GP surgery), subject to securing the required consents.

A full planning pack and legal pack are obtainable upon request, and interested parties should carry out their own investigations with the Carmarthenshire County Council Planning Department. The site is available for purchase with a guide price of £795,000, contact John Francis, Carmarthen on 01267 340069 for further details.