The hotel: before we start, a word from the owners. Bre and Graham
Carrington-Sykes don’t like the word “hotel”. “It’s our home,” says Bre, who
is Irish and rarely misses an opportunity for a friendly chat. “We try to
give guests the kind of welcome they would expect in a private house.”
More from Bre in a bit. First, a quick tour. Sychnant Pass House is a modest
Edwardian pile in the northeast corner of Snowdonia National Park. It has 10
bedrooms, three dogs, two cats and a scrunchy gravel driveway leading into
three acres of grounds.
The setting is dreamy. From the front porch, you look out across fern-covered
hills that roll down into the Vale of Conwy. You’d declare it an Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty yourself, if the penpushers in Whitehall hadn’t
beaten you to it.
The house is cosy, just the right side of cluttered. Bre greets you at the
door: “Come in, come in. Let me take your bags; make yourself at home.”
Bre’s from Tipperary. It’s hard not to like her. Graham, her husband, is
Welsh but was raised in Scotland. She hosts; he cooks. They live in, with
their 12-year-old son, Conor.
Bre shows me around. There is a comfortable lounge with fat sofas and an open
fire, a library with 800 videos, a heated indoor swimming pool, a
sauna, a gym and a hot tub on the back terrace, where guests can neck
champagne as they gaze up at the night sky. Not bad for a place that doesn’t
want to be a hotel.
The rooms are a mixed bag. A couple are on the small side, although tastefully
decorated. Mine is huge, with a heavy four-poster bed, a whirlpool bath and
a wooden balcony overlooked by a mature oak. Two new suites, opening next
month, will have their own decks with hot tubs. There are some nice touches:
waffle robes, a decanter of sherry in each room, bubbly bathroom stuff by
Gilchrist & Soames.
But what makes Sychnant Pass special is the genuinely warm welcome. Running a
country-house hotel is a tricky balancing act. Too grand or aloof, and
guests feel intimidated, afraid to clink their cutlery. Get overly pally,
and the effect is cloying and intrusive.
Bre and Graham manage to get it just right. And Conor’s a nice lad. (Me:
“What’s the best thing about living in a hotel?” Conor: “Free drinks. And
you get your bed made every day.”)
Can Graham cook? He trained in Switzerland and has worked at Gleneagles
and Turnberry, which makes him sound suspiciously like a hotelier. He
certainly knows his stuff. Dinner is hearty fare, delicately executed: leek
and potato soup with homemade soda bread is outstanding, as is the half-rack
of lamb with fresh rosemary and redcurrant jus. The rib-eye steak with
black-pudding mash is another winner, and there is a decent wine list. In
the morning, a full Welsh breakfast is cooked to order. And you can ask for
seconds.
Sounds like I’ll need to burn off some calories. You could start
on the front lawn by playing football with Maisie the collie (she’s quite
good). Better still, pull on your walking boots and hike up to the Sychnant
Pass, where you can join the 60-mile North Wales Path. Head east across
hills of gorse and heather and you’ll be rewarded with sublime clifftop
views over Llandudno. Venture further and you’ll reach a crest from which
you look down across the mouth of the River Conwy and the soaring medieval
towers of Conwy Castle.
A castle! Can I go inside? You can, and you should. It’s a mighty
structure, remarkably well preserved — a World Heritage Site, no less — with
a maze of passageways and turrets to explore. You could walk from the hotel,
about an hour each way. And when I’m tired of walking? Hit the beach.
Llandudno has two, both of them Blue Flagged. The less developed is West
Shore, which has a long promenade and views across to Anglesey and the peaks
of Snowdonia.
Who should go? Anyone who likes working up an appetite — and sating it.
Who shouldn’t? Fidophobics and antifelines. The rooms are even
named after TS Eliot’s Practical Cats.
Sychnant Pass House (01492 596868, www.sychnant-pass-house.co.uk);
doubles from £95 to £180, B&B. Children and well-behaved dogs
welcome
Although I would like to keep this place a secret, I have to say it was outstanding on all counts. I am due another visit to recharge my batteries.
Andy North, Swanwick, UK
What a brilliant place! My husband an I married there in December 2006 the whole weekend was beautiful and Bre and Graham could not have been better hosts. You have to visit to beleive the Sychnant Pass charm
Dawn, welshpool, Wales