Did you know that this Saturday is Roald Dahl Day 2014? September 13th was the legendary authors’ birthday and so the day is now a celebration of his talent and his life’s work. Roald Dahl certainly inspired a generation of children to fall in love with his quirky characters, twisting plots and surprise endings, and…

I am not a number….. So, the weekend we’ve all been waiting for is almost here…..It’s time for the brilliant Festival Number 6 2014 to kick off on the 5th of September – just one more sleep! The small festival is now in it’s third year, and it’s been a big hit both with festival…

Welcome World Leaders Well, the world’s eyes and ears will be on little old Wales this week, as our beautiful country welcomes the 2014 NATO Summit. 61 world leaders, including Barack Obama (USA), Angela Merkel (Germany), Francois Hollande (France) and of course our own Prime Minister. It is the first time that Britain has hosted…

Commemorate the 100th anniversary of WWI Today, the 4th August is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. At 11:00pm on the 4th August 1914, Great Britain declared war with Germany, and life would never be the same again for the millions of people affected by the Great War. There are celebrations…

Britain’s Breathing Spaces The Oakeley Arms Hotel is situated in the heart of the wild Snowdonia National Park – one of Britain’s 15 National Parks (and the most stunning, if we may say so – although of course, we are a little biased!) And this week, that is something to celebrate because it’s National Parks Week…

Guinness for the Bala Welsh Cake Earlier this year we featured a blog story about a fabulous group of people in the nearby town of Bala, who’d baked a giant Welsh cake hoping for an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records (read the story here) and we’ve just heard the news this week…

Sweeter than Honey We were fascinated by a news story we heard today that could mean delicious Welsh honey could be used in a ground-breaking techniques to fight off infection and illnesses. The anti-bacterial qualities of honey have long been known – it was used to dress wounds in medieval times, but it is an…

Secrets of the Skies Here in Snowdonia we can sometimes have four seasons in one day outside the Oakeley Arms bar, so the subject of the weather is indeed a popular one. There are loads of exciting outdoor activities on offer in our beautiful part of the world but many of them are dependent on the weather;…

Adventure Capital Earlier in the week on the Oakeley blog we featured an exciting new underground trampoline adventure opening in nearby Blaenau Ffestiniog. The Bounce Below trampolines are just the latest in a line of fantastic adventure and adrenalin themed attractions to open up in North Wales, and all this talk of adventure got us…

  Thinking of staying away in North Wales this summer and need a quick fix of cosmopolitan culture during? Then you need to be at Festival Number 6 as it’s a cocktail of different tastes and talents in the famed town of Portmeirion. As a worthwhile attraction in itself, Portmeirion has plenty to grab your…