Best Welsh weekend breaks for food lovers

This is a hotel with its own, slightly offbeat, style and all the bedrooms have their own distinct feel – choices range from superior, deluxe and super deluxe rooms to the lodge (a Victorian house) and four contemporary cottages adjacent to the hotel - but try and book the mews (a former stables), set just off from the hotel for ultimate quiet and comfort in a simplistic modern styled room. Personal touches are everywhere, from the hotel’s own ground coffee produced by Round Hill Roastery in Bath provided with in-room tea trays to relaxing classical music played through vintage-style radios to the large walk-in showers and his ‘n’ her bath robes.

Breakfast is served in the main dining room - choose from local sausages, thick-cut bacon and creamy scrambled eggs or, for something lighter, homemade granola with yogurt, fruit and a moreish berry compote. The main event here, however, is the baked goods. The hotel also runs an artisan bakery, just across the lane, and this supplies them with delicious pastries and breads (including buttery pain au chocolates, mince pies, freshly baked candied grapefruit brioche, gooey Valrhona chocolate and hazelnut brownies and freshly baked potato bread).

Doubles from £220, check availability at booking.com or expedia.co.uk

Twr y Felin, St. Davids

Housing over 100 pieces of commissioned artwork, Twr y Felin is Wales’ first ever contemporary art hotel. From modern portraits of Tom Jones and Anthony Hopkins in their restaurant, Blas (meaning taste), to intense landscapes in the bar area, there’s a lot to see inside the hotel. The building is a former windmill situated in the picturesque city of St Davids in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Rooms to the back of the hotel have stunning views of Caerfai Bay, one of the many outstanding stops on the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. For those wishing to indulge even further, wellness treatments are well worth booking.

Blas Restaurant, inside Twr y Felin, aims to reflect the beauty of the hotel's surroundings on the plate. Changing with the seasons, the menu includes dishes made from local produce such as Solva crab (Solva is a short drive or a longer walk along the coastal path), which is delightfully fresh, and Welsh lamb served with beetroot and goat’s cheese. Most of the fish and seafood is caught locally, with meat and fowl farmed nearby. Pembrokeshire has a great foraging community with the chefs actively involved and including their wares on the menu – an example being the wild garlic served with the Welsh lamb. For many, St Davids is a special place full of fond memories; Twr y Felin is a great place to create even more.

Doubles start from £191 per night, check availability at booking.com

Llanerch Vineyard, Pontyclun

A farmhouse hotel, restaurant, cookery school and vineyard in South Wales. Guided tours and tastings show guests how Llanerch’s Cariad wines are made, and how the local terroir affects the taste of each vintage, including the sweet Cariad sparkling brut. Celebrating seasonal produce grown, caught or reared in the region, try dishes such as curry spiced mushroom fricassee, roasted Welsh lamb cannon and rib, and pan-roasted stone bass with shellfish bisque in the fine-dining restaurant overlooking the vineyards.

Stay overnight in one of the comfortable rooms so you can enjoy the wine tastings without having to drive home, and wake up to sweeping vineyard views.

Doubles start from £140, check availability at booking.com

Palé Hall, Snowdonia

Situated on the cusp of Snowdonia, Palé Hall occupies a breathtaking position overlooking the tranquil Dee Valley. Nestled within a 50-acre estate, this AA Five Red Star, Relais and Chateaux destination is ideal for a peaceful retreat. Sustainability is key to Palé Hall’s ethos. Impressively, the whole building is carbon-neutral, powered by an onsite hydro-electric plant. This principle also extends to the fine dining restaurant – the first in Wales to receive a Michelin Green Star. Every effort is made to champion local, seasonal produce on the tasting menus designed by head chef, Gareth Stevenson. Expect dishes such as roasted squab pigeon and miso-glazed langoustine, plus inventive sweets like a ‘Moscow mule’ vodka lime jelly topped with ginger beer espuma. A more informal bistro also offers casual dining options.

The grand Victorian country house is immaculately furnished with period features, yet maintains a warm and welcoming atmosphere. All eighteen bedrooms are themed after Welsh counties and range from smaller Classic rooms to Turret and Superior suites. The exquisitely decorated interiors effortlessly blend antiques with modern elements such as ‘hidden’ television screens within mirrors. You can even stay in rooms formerly occupied by Queen Victoria and Winston Churchill! Additionally, there are four modern garden suites which are ideal for families. Any stay here is only enhanced by the team of attentive staff, who make every effort to ensure a memorable guest experience.

Rooms start from £279, check availability on booking.com

Parva Farmhouse, Tintern

Some might call this three-storey farmhouse a restaurant-with-rooms, on the grounds that it’s the food that’s the standout here – chef-owner Roger Brook previously headed the kitchen at the Michelin-starred Walnut Tree Inn near Abergavenny and has already been awarded a Michelin plate at Parva Farmhouse. But Roger and his wife, Marta, prefer to call it a gourmet bed-and-breakfast to emphasise that this is a small, friendly place run without fuss (Roger does the cooking while Marta hosts). Whatever you call it, it’s well worth making a detour to.

The 17th-century roadside building was once a farmhouse but in recent decades had been run as a bed and breakfast, and has been fully refurbished. We loved Room 4, tucked at the end of the corridor on the top floor, with fabulous river views. Although some of the inherited furniture remains, it’s now partnered with a contemporary bed, soothing moss-green walls and bed throws, and stylish lamps.

Doubles start from £90 per night, check availability at booking.com

Ynyshir, Eglwys Fach

At first, on arrival, nothing quite prepares you for the surprises in store at Ynyshir. A stunning white mansion-style property in immaculate grounds close to Snowdonia, it looks like any other top-end country house hotel but then you step into the bar with its black walls, bare floorboards and sheep fleeces draped over chairs. And then you spot the twin decks and shelves of vinyl – essentially a DJ booth within the restaurant with its open kitchen facing the diners. Pure theatre.

Cornish crab arrives live and kept in tanks before being cooked and picked to order to retain freshness. The sauce made from the crab shells was intense and rich, the sweet crab meat and Singaporean chilli sauce was served with a hot steamed bun and coriander. A single Orkney scallop was barbecued only on one side so it was quiveringly fresh and opaque, topped with aged wagyu fat and elder vinegar, while made-to-order Montgomery cheddar macaroni cheese with Wiltshire truffles was simply off the scale. No macaroni cheese will ever get close to it.

House room and dinner starts from £420 per person, check availability on website

The Whitebrook, Monmouthshire

The Crown at Whitebrook in Monmouthshire was Wales’ longest-standing Michelin-starred restaurant up until its closure three years ago. But, with a new owner and contemporary rebranding, The Whitebrook reopened to the public in October 2013. And it didn’t take long for new chef patron, Chris Harrod, to reclaim its coveted Michelin Star: less than a year. In January 2014, renovations were made to the accommodation, offering boutique lodgings to match the dining, which brought new merits from the AA and Welsh Tourist Board, grading the restaurant with rooms with five stars.

What Wales’ rural Wye Valley lacks in population, it makes up for with its abundance of foraged edibles. A self-confessed locavore at heart, Harrod looks to the rich Welsh landscape for inspiration in his fine-dining menu, so expect to see plenty of wild leaves, flowers and herbs from the Severn Estuary and surrounding Monmouthshire woodlands...

Double room, dinner, bed and breakfast starts from £360 per night, check availability on website

The Royston, Llanbrynmair

If this splendid white house, perched on a mid-Wales hillside, looks incongruously urban, it’s because the building’s original owner built it to mimic his townhouse in Clapham; in went ornate staircases and fireplaces, generous bay windows and statement stained glass. Today it’s run as a relaxed guesthouse by Clive Sweeting and Rob Perham, creative and hospitable ex-advertising execs who moved here from Brighton, bringing with them a sense of fun, and playfully eclectic furnishings (top hats are a bit of a theme). Design junkies in search of a digital detox will love it.

All seven bedrooms are large, with Egyptian cotton bed linen, original art by Rob, and daringly smoky walls in olive or slate. Look out, too, for Danish-made Meraki smellies in the black-and-white metro-tiled bathrooms, and hand-woven Welsh blankets on the beds. But no TVs – you’re here to switch off. Winners for views and space are the first-floor “Superior” rooms (5 and 6), which have bay windows looking out to the Cambrian mountains (vintage binoculars and bird-watching guides are supplied) and armchairs by Italian designers Moroso.

King doubles start from £116 per night, check availability at booking.com

Highbrook Cottage, Powys

Spring is possibly the best time to visit this mid-Wales cottage, with daffodils blooming in the garden and lambs gambolling in the field beyond the brook. On sunny days, hike up the surrounding hills for magnificent views across Powys, or – if it’s cold – hunker down under Welsh blankets in front of the log burner.

The cottage is one of a number of holiday lets run by the Kinsey-Jones family, who have owned the nearby farm since 1913. As they diversify from sheep farming into viniculture, with 800 vines producing a variety of natural wines at the bottom of the drive, they’ve also put time and skill into decorating this homely and cosy building. It’s a 16-century stone cottage with a slate roof, wooden beams and the customary uneven staircase. The two double bedrooms are comfy, with scalloped linen bedding, Welsh blankets and matching hot water bottles. The only sounds from outside are the stream in the front garden, the occasional bleating sheep, and a particularly determined blue tit trying to access the kitchen window.

A 10-minute drive from the nearest village, Kinnerton, the cottage makes a good base for exploring the more famous towns of Ludlow, Hay on Wye or walking the Brecon Beacons.

Price from £100 per night (three-night minimum stay) or £700 per week. To book visit www.kiphideaways.com

One Cat Farm, Lampeter

Weave your way down winding Welsh lanes, through the stunning Brecon Beacons National Park (in springtime past fields of lambs and forests of bluebells) and you’ll end up in a small valley four miles south of the harbour town of Aberaeron. Tucked away down quiet tracks woven among rolling fields is One Cat Farm. It was was set up by Jessie Roberts-Duffey and Lyndon Duffey, who returned to Wales with their young family in 2015 to build a small, unique glampsite (there are no tents here but four cosy cabins, designed and built by Lyndon).

Wheelbarrows are parked outside The Pig Shed (a communal kitchen and lounge area) so guests can leave their cars behind and cart their luggage down the narrow stone path that leads to the cabins (here known, playfully, as dens).

Baskets of freshly cut logs are waiting for you to start your first campfire and a pared-back but homely communal kitchen is kitted out with a fridge, hobs, a toaster and kettles (and shelves filled with jars of popping corn, bottles of balsamic vinegar and fresh eggs). On one wall, a mini honesty shop (you put your money in a tin can) offers glamping luxuries including packets of marshmallows, bottles of Fentimans ginger beer and bars of NOM NOM peanut butter chocolate (made in Llanboidy, an hour down the road).

Cabins start from £250 for two nights, check availability on website

Inn at the Sticks, Llansteffan

The historic former hotel stood derelict until Ruth Stephens transformed it back into a simple inn with rooms. “My job hasn’t really changed,” she laughs. “I still listen to people’s woes and administer mind-altering substances.”

Take your time over dinner, at a scrubbed pine table by the woodburner. First, there’s a rich, gamey wood pigeon breast with puy lentils, then a main of braised pork belly. If they were to visit today those miners might be a bit nonplussed by the puy lentils, if not their meaty companions, but they’d be right at home among the conviviality of what has been returned not just to an inn but also to a community hub.

Doubles start from £90 per night, check availability on website

The Grove, Narberth

The Grove is a 17th-century hotel near two of Pembrokeshire’s prettiest and most prosperous towns: Narberth and Tenby. Headed by Allister Barsby (previously of Gidleigh Park in Devon) the restaurant serves some of the most accomplished and imaginative dishes in the region. A loyal supporter of local producers, Allister uses heather-scented Coedcanlas honey in his pastries, Welsh goat’s cheeses, foraged foods, hand-dived Tenby scallops, and herbs and vegetables from the hotel’s kitchen garden.

Highlights on the eight-course tasting menu include diced cured salmon, punctuated by hillocks of home-smoked mussel emulsion and tiny orbs of caviaqwr; a rose-pink fillet of Welsh beef with frilly, pan-fried king oyster mushrooms and kale from the kitchen garden; and a rich chocolate delice with a creamy peanut ice cream and crunchy caramelised banana popcorn.

Doubles start from £263 per night, check availability at booking.com

Llangoed Hall, Brecon

A ‘white palace’ allegedly home to the first Welsh parliament. A Jacobean mansion won in a card game. A family home restored to its former glory by designer Laura Ashley’s family. The site that Llangoed Hall sits on certainly vaunts a colourful history. Now it’s home to a country house hotel with acclaimed restaurant, extensive gardens (walled, rose and fruit among them) and stunning bedrooms.

All 23 bedrooms were styled by Sir Bernard Ashley (husband of Laura and owner of the hotel in the 1980s and ‘90s) and have been painstakingly maintained by the current owners. The most beautiful are the master suites. In ours, tall, arched windows gave views of the croquet lawn and the idyllic Wye Valley beyond. A four-poster bed was carved with swirly details, duck-egg blue settees matched the wall behind, and an antique wardrobe and writing desk were artworks in themselves. Then there was the bathroom, which came with a stand-alone bath, parquet flooring and a corner armchair. It was the kind of room you fantasise about owning...

Doubles start from £280 per night, check availability at booking.com

The Trefeddian Hotel, Aberdovey

Snowdonia's picturesque estuary village of Aberdovey, on the west coast of Wales, makes a peaceful weekend getaway. For a mixed generation get-together, we recommend one of the handful of cottages at the Trefeddian Hotel. A classic family-friendly retreat with a bit of old-fashioned grandeur still palpable despite extensive remodelling and renovation, it’s in a quiet position just outside the village, separated from the sand dunes by a golf course (visit off-season and you can watch its greens being dutifully nibbled by a flock of sheep). Cottage guests can use all the hotel facilities, which include a great children’s games room and swimming pool. There is a restaurant too but, if you’re staying in a cottage, you can eat in and enjoy home-cooked family meals some nights and, if you have willing grandparents in tow, leave them to babysit on others while you enjoy a meal or two out.

Doubles start from £110, check availability at booking.com

Some restaurants to visit on your trip to Wales

Beach House, Oxwich, Swansea

Owners Neil Kedward and Zoe Agar have looked to Oxwich Bay, on the stunning Gower Peninsular of South West Wales, for the setting of their third venture, Beach House. With an impressive seaside spot and a bounty of local fresh seafood, it’s soon to become popular with locals and tourists alike. Not resting on their laurels with such a spectacular beachside location, Neil and Zoe have enlisted acclaimed chef and native Welshman Hywel Griffith to the take the best of Wales’ rich produce to the next level.

Hywel makes no secrets about his passion for his native country, so expect a menu bursting with champion ingredients from the very best Glamorgan producers and the freshest seafood and shellfish. Keep tabs on Hywel’s Twitter account for picture proof of the slippery catch-of-the-day and deliveries of just-plucked seasonal produce...

Wright’s Food Emporium, Llanarthney

Journalist and chef Simon Wright once co-ran Y Polyn with the Mansons but now owns Wright’s Food Emporium a few miles east. Its roadside location and plain exterior are so at odds with what’s inside – pork belly Cubano baps and coconut milk cake in the café, Charcutier native-breed sausages in the shop – that stepping through the door really is like entering a kind of gastronomic Narnia. There’s a wine corner, selling natural wines from small producers (you can also refill bottles by the tap, from two industrial-looking wooden barrels), plus family-sized pies of the day (they’ll decant them into your own pie tin if you want to pass them off as your own), cheeses, beers, local coffee, chutney, Welsh cider and fresh bread.

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