Llangoed Corridor: Entering into luxurious and British historical past
At Llangoed Hall I slept like a queen – and in the end smelled and shod like one.
The luxury British country house hotel in the Wye River valley amid the Black Mountains in mid-Wales near Brecon has hosted the Clintons, the Clooneys and Prince Charles. A letter of thanks from him hangs in the Great Hall, along with a letter from former British Prime Minister John Major.
Entrance to Llangoed Hall
The standouts are never far away. They are on every corner. I spent a lot of time in the shower with a famous Cornish man. When I emerged, in the oak-paneled library and along the colonnaded gallery of the classic Jacobean mansion, I was surrounded by “real modern dandies and brave women who knew how to forge their own path.”
Although they weren't aware of it.
Every step around Llangoed Hall (sacred meeting place) is a step into history.
Step into the shower or your bath and you'll meet William Penhaligon, Queen Victoria's Cornish court hairdresser, who invented the Blenheim Bouquet for the Duke of Marlborough in 1902 and was rewarded by royal appointment with the appointment of Manufacturer of Toiletries.
The royal family has issued over 850 royal warrants. There is a royal chimney sweep and even a royally approved manufacturer of “corsetry, lingerie and lingerie.”
Lounge area with the famous Laura Ashley fabric
For a riverside walk in Llangoed, choose your Her Majesty's Appointment footwear from a selection of Hunter Monarch boots. The bed linen in the hotel is the same as in the Crown Estates. The cushion covers are filled with feathers from Sandringham ducks, the bathtubs and toilet cisterns are from Chadder and Co, the porcelain tea sets are from Caverswall, the bathrobes are from Mitre, the retro radios are from Robinson's. , the carpets from “Brintons” and the stationery from only the very best – “Smythsons”.
The hotel is an art gallery. It features – discreetly – a collection of nineteen “Whistler” lithographs (1888-1902), as well as works by Andrew Melville, Wiliam Sickert, John Duncan Ferguson, Albert Lynch and Tenbys Augustus John.
The hotel is a popular wedding and honeymoon venue. Honeymooners often return. The couples are transported in a Rolls Royce, which was given to the Queen Mother for the birth of Elizabeth, Princess of York (the Queen). The whiskey decanter is appropriately empty. A Bentley, which once belonged to the Duke of York, is also available for events.
GM Calum Milne, a relative of AA, the creator of Winnie the Pooh, says: “If it’s good enough for the Queen, it should be good enough for anyone!”
The new owners have invested in renovating what previous owner Sir Bernard Ashley wanted to describe as “a home in the country”. Janet in the dining room tells a story about how Sir Bernard (who died in 2009) asked his butler to bring his shotgun. He immediately turned the television when Arthur Scargill appeared. Calum says, “We won’t see his kind again.”
The former Fusilier and Gurkha Army officer, an engineer and pilot (model trains sit on window ledges and “Airfix” Spitfires hang from the ceiling), married Laura Mountney (née Ashley) in 1949 after meeting her at a London youth club had. Ashley was born Merthyr Tydfil in Dowlas, the daughter of a civil servant.
As a Royal Navy Wren, she began doodling designs for headscarves, napkins, placemats and tea towels. The couple set up a printing company and in 1953 the ultimate cottage industry – Laura Ashley fabrics – was born.
Llangoed Hall is also a veritable art gallery
2015 marks the 90th anniversary of Laura Ashley's birthday and the 30th anniversary of her death. The Ashley family moved to Wales in 1961. The factory was originally based at the social club in Carno, Montgomeryshire (where both are buried), and moved to the village's railway station.
In 1966 Laura produced her first dress. In 1974 she opened stores in Paris and San Francisco. At the time of her death, the company had 220 stores in 12 countries. Their first store at 35 Maengwyn Road in Machynlleth, west Wales, is still open.
Suites at the 17-acre, 23-room Powys Hotel are named after the Ashley family's homes in Machynlleth, Rhydoldog, Paultons, their home in Brussels, Treveraux, the family castle in Picardy and Lyford in the Bahamas.
In a simple frame along the corridor of the Paultons master deluxe suite in Llangoed is the first object designed by Laura Ashley – a striped apron (1950). Room 7 is a tribute to her flock.
The motto of the former owners, the Christy clan, hangs above the fireplace in the hotel's lounge: “Sic Viresco” – “Flourishing”.
The hall was probably the seat of the first Welsh Parliament, whose origins date back to 560 AD. It was an episcopal estate. It belonged to a prominent hatter and was once lost in a card game during the time of the “Regency Hellfire Club”.
In 1912 it was remodeled by Clough Williams-Ellis before he founded the quirky Italian village of Portmeiron in North Wales. Work on Llangoed's 'majestic chimney outline' was completed in 1919. Sir Bernard Ashley bought it in 1987 and converted it into a hotel in 1990.
Llangoed is ideally and idyllicly located for visiting the Brecon Beacons National Park and the Elan Valley, where Barnes Wallis tested his jump bombs before the Dambusters attack in 1943. Also Llandrindod Wells (the town hosts the Victorian Festival and Old Things exhibitions in August), Hay on Wye (the literary festival takes place in May), Brecon (jazz festival in August) and the site of the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells Here you can watch the pony sales and bid at auction for your own speckled-face breeding sheep. Wales' only distillery, Penderyn, is also not far away.
But Llangoed is the right place to stay.
Under chandeliers, enjoy infused petit fours, beetroot and macaroon bites, homemade cheese with quince paste, homemade scones, 'Bra Brith' (Welsh speckled or speckled currant bread), elderflower champagne, Llangoed chicken truffle eggs and Miss Milligan's signature and very Bespoke egg and watercress sandwiches.
All that chintz, all that high life and sophistication, the four-poster beds and fine valances, the crystal tableware, the free sherry in a decanter in your room, the Frambuie in your porridge, the Camden Town group and the Slade School on the walls, the gouache and gum arabic, the thin wash, the aquatint on vellum paper, the famous bohemians, Scottish colorists, the masters of the “Blottesque” and the Glasgow Boys.
And all royal warrants.
And the Laura-Ashley connection.
Llangoed Hall, named Best Hotel of the Year in the UK and Ireland 2014 by the AA, is enough to drive any sensible person to Paisley.
And monarchist.
To boot.
