Own a rock mecca! Welsh country house where Oasis, Queen, the Stone Roses and Black Sabbath all made hit records goes on the market for £1.95million

A country house in Wales which has been the base for countless rock stars producing some of the world’s biggest hits is on sale for £1.95million.

The Old Mill House near Monmouth, South Wales was part of the legendary Rockfield studios where Oasis, Queen, Black Sabbath, The Stone Roses and Coldplay all recorded hit records.

In more recent years the Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics, Biffy Clyro and Busted have all made records at Monnow Valley and the house is steeped in musical history.

Current owner Jo Riou has run the Old Mill House as a separate studio called Monnow Valley Studio as well as a holiday home and business centre but now the property is for sale.

The Old Mill House near Monmouth, South Wales was part of the legendary Rockfield studios

Current owner Jo Riou has run the Old Mill House as a separate studio called Monnow Valley Studio as well as holiday home and business centre

Ozzy Osbourne (pictured) and Black Sabbath were credited with inventing Heavy Metal at the mansion

Jo said: ‘Rockfield will always be a part of me. I can go and live in Beverly Hills but for some reason I end up back in Rockfield. It’s just magic.’

The venue is credited as being the ‘birthplace of heavy metal’ after Black Sabbath ‘blew the tiles off’ the venue recording their megahit ‘paranoid’.

Jo added: ‘We were very loud and Rockfield allowed us the freedom, because no one would allow us to play as loud as that. The roof tiles were rattling.

‘We didn’t think, ‘let’s invent heavy metal’, it just happened.

‘Black Sabbath are lovely, they’ve been here many times over the years, they have been our most endearing and longest-serving clients.

‘Ozzy Osbourne did a couple of solo albums here when he left Black Sabbath, and we’ve had the full line-up with Bill Ward back in the band, they’ve been in to rehearse.

‘I’ve had Tony Iommi do a couple of solo albums here, and we did the tribute to Ronnie James Dio here, when he passed away. They’ve been the ones that have been back the most.’

But Jo said Ozzy and the band had their own special needs when visiting the studio.

The mansion attracts Oasis fans because the cover shot for their single Supersonic was taken in our live studio room

Although the property is on sale, Jo hopes whoever takes on the property will continue its musical legacy in some way

Jo says: ‘Because they were here residentially we would feed them and provide everything, so it could sometimes be a challenge, like if there’s a band where someone is a vegan, somebody is gluten free, we’ve had all the diets here – people have been on different kinds of blood group diets to accommodate.

‘When Ozzy was here he was on a brown rice and mushroom diet, and when he was on that diet Tony Iommi, who really likes good food, wanted steak and Geezer Butler was a vegan, so it needed thought to cook for all these different people. 

‘Drummer Bill Ward would help me wash up – I’d wash and he’d dry and we’d have a lovely chat.

‘We’ve had young bands in the past literally turn up with three crates of pot noodles and that was it for their catering. I don’t think they actually knew how to cook anything else; I’d think, how have they not got scurvy!

‘I didn’t used to be precious about bands using the kitchen, I would walk into the kitchen sometimes and it would just look like a bomb had landed in there, in the middle of it, but I’m a bit more precious about it these days.

‘The kitchen is only a couple of years old, so I’m like, ‘please don’t put anything hot on the worksurfaces’, so I do tend to encourage them to take catering these days as I know the caterers will look after the kitchen.’

The house has 11 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, studio and control room space plus a large glass garden room

There is also a large kitchen diner and two reception rooms.

The house has 11 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, studio and control room space plus a large glass garden room

‘The Kaiser Chiefs were here for bonfire night one year and so we had fireworks in the garden, with a bonfire and toffee apples and stuff like that,’ said Jo.

‘We had Simple Minds come and stay about 10 years ago and Jim Kerr was telling me that he actually came here and wrote their first four albums here, and then recorded them at Rockfield.

‘He was telling me stories about when they were here, that they were just kids and they’d never been out of Glasgow before.

‘It was my brother-in-law’s 40th birthday while Simple Minds were here and Jeff came round and Jim Kerr turned up to his birthday bash; he was amazed.

‘The Blow Monkeys came to stay too because they wanted a private show, a gig for invited guests and their fans, and that was lovely because we got to invite all the neighbours round and then we had a private show in the studio, it was lovely.’

The property is also run as a holiday home for music lovers.

Many Oasis and Black Sabbath fans come to the property so they can stay in the same room as their musical heroes.

Jo said: ‘People love coming to stay, they want to stay in the same bedroom where Ozzy stayed, where Jim Kerr slept.

‘We do also attract a lot of Oasis fans to the holiday let because their first single, Supersonic, the cover shot for that single was taken in our live studio room, in front of the massive cartwheel doors. 

‘And they recorded the first version of the album Definitely Maybe here, but then finished it with a different producer at a different studio.’

Although the property is on sale, Jo hopes whoever takes on the property will continue its musical legacy in some way.

She concluded: ‘I’m hoping that someone will buy it as a business and they’ll want to keep everything in there and they’ll carry it on, maybe as a studio, or a holiday let, and our old engineer colleague got married here last year so people could maybe use it for weddings, or it could be a restaurant, but something themed with the music because it’s the music that attracts people to the building; that makes it very, very special.’

The Old Mill is for sale for £1,950,000 with Roscoe, Rogers & Knight, call their Monmouth branch on 01600 772929 to find out more.

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