Homes Under the Hammer's Martin Roberts' Rhondda pub plan

Martin Roberts with supporters of the Rhondda Tunnel Society

"I've never run a pub," says BBC Homes Under the Hammer presenter Martin Roberts.

"I've never run a restaurant and I've never run a hotel."

But despite all that, he has gone ahead and bought a former hotel and pub which he plans to restore and reopen in the south Wales valleys.

He admitted he didn't tell his wife of what he called his "bonkers project" before buying the Hendrewen Hotel at the top of the Rhondda Fawr.

"I thought there was a tinsy winsy possibility my wife might try and talk me out of it so I may not have actually mentioned it," he said.

"I'm good at renovating property, but all those other things are obviously quite important to this venture."

The tunnel's "an amazing thing and it doesn't need a whole lot of money", says Martin

He has already bought and converted a nearby farm into a B&B and he hopes to do more at the Hendrewen in Blaencwm, Rhondda Cynon Taf, which closed during lockdown.

"It is the only thing in the community," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast. "I just thought it was heartbreaking.

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"It just cried out to me and I just thought I want to take that on, I want to renovate it, I want to turn it into a place that people would want to come to."

He has also become patron of The Rhondda Tunnel Society, which hopes to reopen a nearby - originally built in 1890 to haul coal to Swansea - for cyclists.

"It is the only thing in the community," says Martin Roberts

Martin said it would "basically be quicker to cycle from Rhondda to Swansea than it is now to drive it".

"It's an amazing thing and it doesn't need a whole lot of money," he said.

Martin, who hopes to make a TV documentary about his project and the wider community, attended a ceremony attended by about 100 people on Saturday to unveil an information board about the tunnel plans.