Tyddyn Llan – Welsh hideaway with Michelin-starred food

TIMING is all to catch the first flourish of spring. Grim murk all the way westwards along the M56 had given way to pale sunshine on a chilly walk up the Ceiriog Valley with snow still dusting Snowdonia’s distant caps. By the time we’d reached Tyddyn Llan the afternoon was blazing and Captain Smidge, our chihuahua travelling companion, frolicked  in the daffodils carpeting the hotel grounds.

Squirrels! If only chihuahuas could climb trees?

Tyddyn Llan avoids the stereotype of country house hotel. It may share the slate of those Welsh and, more usually, Lakeland establishments, converted from inconveniently big Victorian private homes, but it is on a different scale. It’s rural boutique, a restaurant with rooms. It’s not pining for a Michelin star – it holds one. It’s cosy, discreet, dog-friendly. And it does spring well. Open the sash windows and let the birdsong in.

It wasn’t our first time there. A quarter of a century ago, before a single grey hair or the sense of mortality that comes with making it to another spring, we’d enjoyed fabulous hospitality from Peter and Bridget Kindred. 

Tyddyn Llan; front and back

In 1983 they had taken over this Georgian former hunting lodge of the Duke of Westminster in the Vale of Edeyrnion. Peter had  tired of being a BBC set designer, whose credits included Fawlty Towers. Not that, as a fledgling hotelier, he lived off such an association.

It was weird then that just before we finally sorted a midweek stay for 2016 (a Belgian shooting party had block-booked our chosen dates) the iconic Seventies sitcom was in the news again. 

John Cleese had based it on Torquay’s Gleneagles Hotel, whose then notoriously rude owner was the inspiration for Basil Fawlty. Now closed, its future was uncertain after councillors rejected plans to turin it into a retirement home.

Basil’s hotel was such a disaster area because you couldn’t avoid his manic presence. Tyddyn Llan is a world away from that. We immediately felt cosseted yet free to be ourselves – Captain Smidge especially after he discovered squirrels to chase. If only chihuahuas could climb trees!

The dining room; below Bryan Webb in action and the tasty local venison he served us and sweetbreads in brioche

The focus of Tyddyn Llan is the Michelin-starred restaurant and the bright, airy dining room, well marshalled by Sue Webb, that is such fitting setting for her husband Bryan’s seasonally aware food, which is subtly Welsh without being burdened by that heritage. The lightness of touch, the technical skill, avoiding modishness, remind me very much of the long departed  Franco Taruschio regime at The Walnut Tree Inn, Abergaavenny, where a young Bryan had a formative experience. Also an old fave, Hilaire in South Kensington, where later he took over from Simon Hopkinson – a hard act to follow. 

The Garden Suite; below, Room One and Smidge settles in

The Webbs have substantially upgraded the accommodation since taking over in 2002. There are 13 rooms, culminating in the gorgeous Garden Suite. Note: we were restricted in choice because a limited amount of rooms are dog-friendly; also they are not strictly allowed in the public rooms, but Smidge is immaculately behaved and the rules were waived.

Haddock with laverbread

We couldn’t resist adding fried laverbread to our smoked haddock and poached egg for breakfast. There was an abundance of further Welsh produce at the Rhug Farm Estate, a few miles away on the A5. Not just the estate’s award-winning organic meats but beer, cheeses, charcuterie and much more. Plus there’s a bistro serving their own bison burgers.

Nearby, off the A494, is Rhug Chapel, a scarcely altered private 17th century chapel, open to the public bin the summer months. Its founder, 'Old Blue Stockings' Colonel William Salesbury, collaborated with Bishop William Morgan, first translator of the Bible into Welsh.

Rhug Chapel ceiling;below death figure at Llangar

The chapel's plain exterior gives little hint of the ‘high church’ riches within, featuring elaborate carvings and an extravagantly decorated ceiling plus a ghoulish wall painting of a recumbent skeleton.  Sir Edwin Lutyens wrote that the chapel influenced his work, including the Viceroy's House in New Delhi.

Entry to Rhug Chapel costs £3.50, which also gives access to remote Llangar Church, off the B4401 towards Tyddyn Llan. This small medieval building, the ‘Church of the White Stag in Welsh’ was superseded by a new one at nearby Cynwyd in the 19th century. After sympathetic restoration it reveals many ancient features, including extensive 15th century wall paintings, old beams, box pews, a pulpit and minstrels' gallery plus a 17th century figure of death, portraying a large skeleton, with two infants lying within its hips and bearing a spear in one hand and a winged hourglass in the other.

Pastoral Ceiriog

Lake Bala and Snowdonia is to the west of all this. We’d recommend the off-the-beaten track pleasures of the Ceiriog valley to the south. We took a steep,  single track switchback route that careers up from Llangollen; the A5 is more straightforward. Drive up to Llanarmon Diffryn-Ceiriog at the end of the valley. There’s a network of panoramic paths around this lovely village and a choice of two hotels with cask ale and dining to finish up at – The West Arms and, our preference, The Hand, where chef Grant Mulholland’s food has earned it a Michelin Guide mention.

The welcoming  Hand; below, West Arms in Llanarmon Diffryn-Ceiriog

Heading back to M56 and home, the best stop-off is Denbighshire’s county town Ruthin, where Peter Kindred retired to paint. A border stronghold dating back to the 13th century, off its winding, traffic-clogged streets there are lots of individual, shops and pubs to explore. Its hilltop castle is now partly a hotel, but the ruins and gardens are free to explore, Captain Smidge particularly excited by further squirrel activity.

Ruthin Castle grounds; below, the hotel

Daffy bathtime; below, swamped by flowers!

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