Wales finally has a truly fabulous hotel to compete with the rest of Britain
“It definitely wins the award for confusing spellings,” says the 10-year-old as we weave through Snowdonia towards our hotel. As usual, she’s right. Penmaenuchaf (Pen-mine-i-chav) is a grand old stone hotel, out in the hills beyond picturesque Dolgellau (dol-geth-ai), near the market town of Machynlleth (Ma-hunt-leth).
Got that? Honestly, it’s worth wrapping your tongue around it. This area is my family’s favourite part of Wales. It is genuinely magical – an untamed, mountainous place of myth and legend, where Welsh princes warred and – if you know your Mabinogion – dragons swooped, along with giants and wizards.
This fierce independence is still rooted deep in the soil. Machynlleth has brilliant shops, a world-class comedy festival and the punchily named MOMA Machynlleth art gallery. Dolgellau is even prettier – the perfect place to fill a picnic hamper before climbing Cadair Idris, one of Snowdonia’s mightiest mountains; scalable by sturdy children, complete with waterfalls and a glacial, swimmable lake, Llyn Cau (the bottomless home of a monster, says legend).
Penmaenuchaf sits at the foot of the mountain, and spelling is not the only award for which it vies. It stakes a very strong claim to the title of Wales’ best hotel rooms. Wales is full of wonders. But – and I’m risking a Snowdonia-sized mountain of irate letters here, principally from my own Welsh family – a plethora of fabulous hotels has not, traditionally, been top of this list. Penmaenuchaf could well change that.
Opening its oak front doors, it feels a little like stepping into a grand family home – sepia family photos and letters are framed on the walls, stained glass windows flicker with light from the crackling fires, tartan sofas tempt from snug living rooms. The bar is the cutest I’ve ever pulled up a stool in – room for just four or five people, home to three times as many whiskeys. A vast, oak-panelled drawing room looks out over the 19th-century terraced gardens, which peter out into wild paths or slope vertiginously down to the swollen Mawddach Estuary. You could walk for days, bike, fish, explore the coast or simply sit with a book and watch the weather race across the mountains.
Penmaenuchaf was bought in 2022 by Neil and Zoe Kedward, owners of Pembrokeshire’s cult Grove of Narberth hotel. A slow and sensitive renovation is underway. The first phase – focusing on the four bedrooms right at the top of the hotel – is finished and, my goodness, they are like Narnia in reverse. Instead of passing, unexpectedly, from boring bedroom into wooded fairyland, you come in from the wild world outside, climb the staircase and find yourself in a wonderland of witty wallpapering, warm colours and lovely textiles.
By happenstance, these new rooms are also perfect for families. Each pair has its own separate staircase. Take two and you almost have your own private apartment. The children claim Eyri – a rose-coloured haven with vaulted ceilings, green-gingham curtains, roll-top bath and a red-wine velvet headboard.
Across the landing, our room Mawddach is a study in blue. Ditsy wallpaper in a sloping sitting room. Luxuriously lined, striped curtains parting into a bedroom of duck-egg panelling, quilts and Welsh antiques. The marble bathroom of dreams. Even the kids (usually blind to all but the inclusion or absence of a television) are entranced. The transformation is the work of Nicola Harding, superstar designer also responsible for London’s super-luxe Beaverbrook Townhouse. You can trace the connection – mostly in the joyful embrace of texture, hue and pattern.
The 12 further bedrooms’ downsides are – for the moment – more conservative. The dining room could use a wave of Harding’s magic wand. The Kedwards funnelled cash into the kitchen instead, where head chef Thomas Hine can now fully realise his potential. Dish after wondrous dish comes at dinner – each cosmopolitan but rooted in local produce and tradition, precise but never pretentious.
Service is a joy too – staffing slipping seamlessly between Welsh and English, formality and friendliness. A couple of exceedingly famous faces are dining, separately, on the same night as us, allowed to settle into blissful and absolute anonymity.
Meanwhile the newborn at her parents’ table, and our two tweens, are treated with precisely the same seriousness and respect. The kids – no fools – are wise to the rare brilliance of the place. Sure there are no family-friendly facilities. No pool, kids’ club, playground. But the outside world is a far bigger and wilder adventure. And on a winter’s night, the history and character of the world inside exerts a powerful magic too. We all want to return ASAP.
Essentials
A family of four can book two rooms at Penmaenuchaf (01341 212121; penmaenuchaf.co.uk) from £460 for both, B&B. Some rooms can also accommodate a Z-Bed.
