Of course, you know by now that we LOVE Snowdonia. Here at the Oakeley Arms, we believe it’s a pretty special place, and we love sharing our passion and enthusiasm for beautiful Snowdonia with all of our guests and customers.

So, we were thrilled to hear that Snowdonia National Park was recently awarded yet another International heritage protection order. Snowdonia’s dark skies have been internationally recognised and awarded special protection designation. It basically means that the air quality and visibility of the night skies here is outstanding, and that efforts will be made to preserve the visibility and reduce any light pollution, in the form of light controls.

The headquarters of the Dark Skies Institute in Arizona, USA, announced the designation earlier this week. It means that Snowdonia’s dark skies will join only 9 other International Dark Sky Reserves:

• Aoraki Mackenzie (New Zealand)
• Brecon Beacons National Park (Wales)
• National Park Exmoor (England)
• Kerry (Ireland)
• Mont-Megantic (Quebec)
• Nature Reserve NamibRand (Namibia)
• Pic du Midi (France)
• Rhon (Germany)
• Snowdonia National Park (Wales)
• Westhavelland (Germany)

The Snowdonia National Park Authority began their bid for Dark Sky status in February and the actual designation will come with huge joy for everyone involved in the campaign. Not only will the status help to attracts visitors but it will also help to protect the natural setting, wildlife and thousands of acres of wild spaces. On a clear night it may be possible to see the Milky Way, along with meteor showers and other constellations. Now all we need is for the rain clouds to disappear, hmmmm…..

So, come and see us here at the Oakeley Arms and we promise you’ll be in for a starry, starry night, here underneath Snowdonia’s dark skies.

Image by skyseeker on freeimages.com