Room with a view

[Bri Roberts]

Pardon me for asking but where is the Clontarf?

[Yorkie]

Great Ormes Road, West Shore

[Bri Roberts]

Ta.

[Yorkie]

Croeso!   

My auto correction on the iPad changed that into creosote!    Obviously doesn't understand Welsh. 

[DaveR]

Just returned from a weekend away in Snowdonia, more precisely at the Royal Oak Hotel in Betws Y Coed.

It's a traditional old coaching hotel dating back to the 1800s that has been extended in recent years and is slap bang in the middle of Betws Y Coed, overlooking the River Llugwy. Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to see to see that we had been upgraded to a deluxe Room, in fact, it turned out to be the biggest & best room in the hotel (normally £185 per night)! Very comfortable indeed, massive 4 poster bed, big leather sofa, nice en-suite bathroom - excellent. There was also a lovely old stained glass window in the stairway just outside the room, very unusual round glass panels in it.

Breakfast is served in the Grill Room and was great, local produce and ingredients used in the Welsh cooked breakfast, plus the usual selection of cereals, fruit, juices, croissants, danish pastries etc. Couldn't fault it. Staff were all very pleasant.

Attached to the Hotel is the Stables Bar, which seems to be Betws Y Coed's main evening meeting place, as it was packed both nights we went in, must have been 100+ people in both nights. Because the Dragon Rally was on, two local bands had been booked - Two Suns (who Mr Fester regularly raves about) and After Dark. Now, Two Suns were excellent, it has to be said, but I really think that After Dark were just that bit better! great music, a great atmosphere and very pleasant time both nights we went in.

A great weekend and I can recommend the Royal Oak Hotel. 

[hollins]

Hey, lucky you with the upgrade. I never seem to manage that.

[Fester]

Great night time pictures as usual Dave.   I can never manage any decent ones in the dark.

I am most jealous of you seeing the mighty Two Suns, as they perform very rarely... and according  their Facebook page they have nothing planned in this area in the future.

[DaveR]

Great night time pictures as usual Dave.   I can never manage any decent ones in the dark.

I am most jealous of you seeing the mighty Two Suns, as they perform very rarely... and according  their Facebook page they have nothing planned in this area in the future.

Cheers, mate.

The other band that played, After Dark, were just as good - well worth keeping an eye out for. They're based in Llangollen and perform all over North Wales.

[DaveR]

I spent this weekend in Abersoch. I'd never been there before and wanted to take a look around.

We stayed at Venetia (see first photo):
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g551995-d1118351-Reviews-Venetia-Abersoch_Gwynedd_North_Wales_Wales.html

http://www.venetiawales.com/

...which is a fabulous boutique hotel. Only 5 rooms, I think, and all decorated and furnished to the highest standard. The service was absolutely first class and the breakfast superb.

Abersoch is an odd little place, a traditional Welsh seaside village, but with elements of conspicuous wealth popping up every where. The most common vehicles are Range Rovers/Land Rovers, and the main street is full of high end clothes shops like Jack Wills and Fat Face. There's also a good selection of restaurants and a couple of decent pubs and bars. St Tudwals Inn is a traditional pub with decent food and we also had a few drinks at Bar Zinc which has a fabulous open deck overlooking the harbour area.

We went on a lovely long walk along the beach and coastal path as far as the St Tudwal's islands (see third photo). Very rugged and scenic coastline. On the way back, we discovered this amazing modern curved house built into the cliff overlooking the village (see last photo). It was obviously empty and somewhat untidy, so we went and had a good look around. I found out later it's known locally as the 'James Bond house'. I also found out its sale price...£3,500,000!!! 

[hollins]

I was interested to find out where you stayed over there DaveR as there do not seem to me to be many hotels to stay in in that area. I think a lot of the people that go have second homes there and don't need overnight accommodation.
Did you have a meal there other than breakfast? I had heard that the food was good also.

[DaveR]

No, you're right. There are a few B&Bs but very few larger hotels. The two largest ones in Abersoch were actually closed and derelict, which surprised me greatly. One closed one in particular, the White House Hotel (see photo), had a superb location overlooking the village on the main road (second photo shows view) - how could it not be a gold mine if run properly?

We didn't eat at Venetia but it was very busy both nights we were there and it has an excellent reputation. If the standard of food is anything like the breakfast we had, then it is well worth a visit. We're thinking about a return visit in early May. I'm sure you'd love it.

[hollins]

This is one of our favourite places to stay in Wales. It is the Grove Hotel near Narberth.
The room we had this time was in one of the stone outbudings. They are all very comfortable and 8 new ones have just been added in an extension to the main house.
The food is delicious but as you will see in the photos it has become a bit "fancy!"
These dishes were my starter of mackerel with beetroot and horseradish and a raspberry bavaris for pudding.

[norman08]

dave   when we were last there a local chap told me developer bought the white house, and the same thing happened as the gogth abbey just left , we used to go there most weekend 40odd yrs ago place still hasn,t changed, [who needs to go abroad ] if we had the weather .and the food in restaurants very good

[DaveR]

Looks very pleasant, I do prefer heartier portions though! 

I've booked to go to Plas Rhianfa in May, looking forward to it.

[DaveR]

dave   when we were last there a local chap told me developer bought the white house, and the same thing happened as the gogth abbey just left , we used to go there most weekend 40odd yrs ago place still hasn,t changed, [who needs to go abroad ] if we had the weather .and the food in restaurants very good

It's a shame that such a prominent site has been left derelict. I found this article that talks about a 5 star hotel being built there, but its from 7 years ago!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/5103650.stm

Lovely little village though.