A report released by the Wildlife Trusts this week has revealed that there are no less than nine wildlife hotspots along our stunning Welsh coastline that need to be protected so that the sea life that lives in our seas can grow, thrive and remain for many generations to come. The Wildlife Trust is concerned that…

So did anyone catch the rugby game on Saturday? The weekend kicked off the 2014 Autumn Internationals, and Wales were all set to defeat the might Australian team, which would see their first win in almost 10 matches against the “Wallabies”. Sadly though, it wasn’t to be. The Welsh team started fantastically, and by half…

Come on Cymru Our regular blog readers, not to mention our regular customers, will know that here at the Oakeley Arms we are big rugby fans, so we are very excited that this weekend heralds the start of the 2104 Rugby Autumn Internationals here in the UK. Over the next month, the Welsh team will play…

Trail Betws So, what are you up to this weekend? Lounging on the sofa, hiding under the duvet, fighting off the winter blues? Well, why not get out and about in our beautiful Snowdonia and try something a little different? The Betws-y-Coed Trail Challenge is running this weekend for it’s second year, and it’s a…

News reached us last week that our beloved mountain Snowdon is actually taller than we think; imagine that! A group of ramblers, using new GPS measuring technology, set out on their task to get Snowdon re-measured and they found that it was actually 1 metre taller than is currently recorded by the OS. The Ordnance…

Save the Coliseum Some time ago on the blog we featured the news that the beloved and iconic cinema building in our local town Porthmadog (the Coliseum) was being sold, and that a band of local volunteers were on a mission to save it from developers and transform the sadly crumbling building to its former glory…

New Heritage Centre for Bala It’s not something that many teenagers would undertake these days, but a new heritage centre in Bala called Mary Jones World, is set to celebrate a special walk that a 15 year old girl completed in 1800. Mary Jones was no ordinary teenager, and even for the time, her feat…

Earlier this week we blogged about the 150th anniversary of a local lifeboat station, and we’ve now got news of another 150th birthday! No, it’s not one of the Oakeley regulars…..it’s the birthday of one of the fabulous steam engines of the historic Talyllyn Railway, just a short hop from us here at the Oakeley…

Dotted along the shores and coastlines of our beautiful country are the buildings of one of the nation’s most distinctive organisations – the unmissable lifeboat stations of the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution). “With courage, nothing is impossible” was the motto of Sir William Hillary, founder of the RNLI almost two hundred years ago. This…

Love Local Did you know that this week (and next!) is British Food Fortnight? We love, love, love British food because we think that our little island grows and produces some of the best food on the planet, and we love to celebrate it. Lamb from Wales, whisky from Scotland, pork pies from the midlands,…