Dydd Santes Dwynwen Is love in the air for you today? Here at the Oakeley Arms, we’re hoping for some romance, because today is Dydd Santes Dwynwen (St Dwynwen’s Day), the Welsh equivalent of Valentine’s Day. Today celebrates the Welsh patron Saint of lovers – Dwynwen, and of course, like any good love story, her path to true…

Snow Business Most of the country is bracing itself for a blanket of snow and icy weather this week, as weather forecasters predict that not much of the UK will escape the white stuff. From the hotel windows here at the Oakeley Arms we can see a smattering of snow on the top of the Snowdonia hills,…

Lights, Camera, Aaaaaction! Here at the Oakeley Arms, we love a good film or two, so we were excited today to see that the 2013 BAFTA nominations have been revealed. Top of the picks is the Spielberg film Lincoln, an American Civil War epic, which has been nominated for a whopping 10 awards. Musical adventure Les Miserables follows closely behind with 9…

Crazy Cabbages Ok, so we’re not usually ones for dieting here at the Oakeley Arms, but after the gorging over the festive season, we thought we’d better at least pay a nod to a new year healthy eating plan. And all this got us to thinking about the absolute worst, craziest and most bizarre diets in…

Welcome 2013 Well, that’s 2012 done! That went quick didn’t it? So we thought we’d have a sneaky peek at the year that was and remind ourselves of the highlights of what was an awesome year….   The Summer Olympics and Paralympics were held in London, with a record medal haul for team GB. We…

Hey Shorty Tomorrow is the year’s shortest day. Officially known as the Winter Solstice, December 21st is the day when the sun appears lowest in the sky, thereby giving the least daylight hours. Here at the Oakeley Arms, we’ve got used to short days and very dark nights (there’s not much light pollution here in…

Pwy sy’n dwad dros y bryn……. …. yn ddistaw, ddistaw bach? A’i farf yn llaes a’i wallt yn wyn, a rhywbeth yn ei sach…. Awwww, a classic Welsh nursery rhyme that will hopefully bring back happy memories of Christmases in Wales for many of our blog readers! It’s all about the fabulous and hard working Father Christmas,…

Pick of the Peaks Tomorrow (11th December) is International Mountain Day. And here at the Oakeley Arms, we think that’s reason enough to celebrate the stunning Snowdonia mountains that are just a short hop from the hotel. International Mountain Day was first held in 2003, as a way to celebrate and create awareness of the…

Wat did we eva do b4 txts? On the 3rd December 1992, two little words were sent from a computer to a mobile phone by computer engineer Neil Papworth. His message just read “Merry Christmas”, but it was the beginning of a revolution. The SMS text message was born, and our lives were changed for ever. Here at…

It’s Tree-mendous Here at the Oakeley Arms Hotel, we’re surrounded by them and we love ’em. Some of them are really, really, really old, ancient in fact, and some are a little younger. Some are tall and strong, and some are short and squat. Noooooo silly, we’re not talking about our regulars! We’re talking about TREES! And…