At Llangoed Hall I slept like a queen – and ended up smelling and shod like one too.

The luxurious British country house hotel in the Wye River valley among the Black Mountains in Wales has hosted the Clintons and the Clooneys, as well as less-important people such as Prince Charles.

Letter from former British prime minister John Major.Letter from former British prime minister John Major.

There is a thank-you letter from him hanging in the Grand Hall, alongside one from former prime minister John Major.

The eminent are around every corner. I spent a lot of time in the shower with famous Cornishman William Penhaligon, the court barber of Queen Victoria , who in 1902 invented ‘Blenheim Bouque’ for the Duke of Marlborough.

He was rewarded by becoming “the manufacturer of toilet requisites” by royal appointment.

The British royal family has issued more than 850 royal warrants. There is a royal chimney sweep and even a royally endorsed maker of “corsetry, lingerie and intimates”.

When you go for a walk by the river at Llangoed (which means ‘holy meeting place’), you choose a pair of footwear by “Her Majesty’s Appointment” from a selection of Hunter Monarch boots.

The bedding in the hotel is the same as used at the Crown Estates. The pillowcases are filled with feathers from ducks resident at Sandringham, the baths and toilet cisterns are by Chadder and Co, the china tea sets by Caverswall, the bathrobes by Mitre, the retro radios by Robinson’s, the carpets Brintons and for stationery , only the very best – Smythsons.

You are treated like royalty at Llangoed Hall.

The eggs are supplied by Mrs Miggins and head gardener Steve Heath will introduce you to this very important member of staff.

The chief black rock chicken and her egghouse team of ducks and bantams are responsible for the pastries, omelettes and soufflés and your boiled, poached or fried egg at breakfast. They supply head chef Nick Brodie.

Llangoed is one of few places where you dine with a pig’s head looking over your shoulder.

It’s a crayon drawing by Belgium-born Anglo-Welsh artist, virtuoso engraver and pupil of William Morris, Sir Frank Brangwyn.

The hotel is an art gallery. It boasts – discreetly – a collection of 19 lithographs by 19th century artist James McNeill Whistler as well as works by Andrew Melville, Walter Sickert, John Duncan Fergusson, Albert Lynch and Tenby’s Augustus John.

It is rather unsettling tucking in to canapes delivered by the charming, white-gloved Hungarian restaurant manager Norbert, while being watched by John’s daughter Poppet, a pig and “an intimate but objective depiction of a female nude”.

The hotel is a very popular wedding and honeymoon venue and spouses return frequently after their big day.

Llangoed is one of few places where you dine with a pig’s head looking over your shoulder

The couples are transported in a Rolls Royce given to Britain’s late Queen Mother on the birth of Elizabeth, Princess of York (now queen herself). The whisky decanter is appropriately empty. Also available for functions is a Bentley once owned by the Duke of York.

As managing director Calum Milne, a relative of Winnie the Pooh creator A.A., said: “What’s good enough for the Queen should be good enough for anyone!”

The new owners have invested in refurbishing what its former owner Sir Bernard Ashley wanted to be “a country home from home”.

Janet in the dining room tells a story about Sir Bernard (who died in 2009) asking his butler to bring his shotgun.

He promptly shot the TV when mining union leader Arthur Scargill appeared.

An engineer and pilot (model trains are on window ledges and Airfix Spitfires hang from ceilings), the former Fusilier and Gurkha army officer married Laura Mountney (nee Ashley) in 1949, having met her in a London youth club.

She was born in Dowlas, Merthyr Tydfil, the daughter of a civil servant. Next year is the 90th anniversary of her birth and 30th of her death.

While a Royal Navy wren she started doodling designs for headscarves, napkins, table mats and tea towels. The couple set up a printing press and the ultimate cottage industry – Laura Ashley fabrics – was born in 1953.

Originally located in the social club in Carno, Montgomeryshire, the factory moved to the village’s railway station.

Laura produced her first dress in 1966, and by 1974 she was opening shops in Paris and San Francisco.

At the time of her death the company had 220 shops in 12 countries. Her first store at 35 Maengwyn Road in Machynlleth in west Wales is still open for business.

Suites in the 23-room, 17-acre Powys hotel are named after the Ashley family homes in Machynlleth; Rhydoldog; Paultons, their house in Brussels; Trevereux, the family chateau in Picardy; and Lyford in the Bahamas.

In a simple frame along the corridor from the Paultons master deluxe suite at Llangoed is the first item Laura Ashley designed – a striped apron in 1950. Room Seven, known as the Pink and Blue Room, is a tribute to her designs.

Over the fireplace in the hotel’s drawing room is a motto of former owners, the Christy clan: Sic Viresco, which means ‘to flourish’.

The hall was probably the seat of the first Welsh parliament, going back to 560AD.

It was owned by a prominent hatter and once, in the days of the ‘Regency Hellfire Club’, lost in a game of cards.

In 1912 it was redesigned by Clough Williams-Ellis before he created the quirky Italianate village of Portmeiron in north Wales.

Work on Llangoed’s ‘majestic chimneyed outlines’ was completed in 1919. Sir Bernard Ashley bought it in 1987 and turned it into a hotel in 1990.

Llangoed is ideally placed to visit the Brecon Beacons National Park and Elan Valley, where Barnes Wallis tested his bouncing bombs before the 1943 Dambusters raid.

Nearby attractions include Llandrindod Wells (August sees the town’s Victorian Festival and exhibitions of ‘things old time’), Hay-on-Wye (its Literary Festival is held in May), Brecon (August jazz festival) and the Royal Welsh Showgrounds at Builth Wells where you can watch pony sales and bid at auction for your very own speckled faced breeding ewe.

It is ideally placed to visit the Brecon Beacons and Elan Valley, where Barnes Wallis tested his bouncing bombs before the 1943 Dambusters raid

Wales’s only distillery, Penderyn, isn’t far away either. But Llangoed is the place to stay.

Under chandeliers you enjoy petit fours with infusions, beetroot macaroon canapes, artisanal cheeses with quince paste, homemade scones, bara brith (Welsh speckled or mottled currant bread), elderflower champagne, Llangoed hen truffled eggs and Milligan’s signature egg and watercress finger sandwiches.

All that chintz, all that high life and sophistication; the four-poster beds and classy valences; the crystal ware, the complimentary sherry in a decanter in your room.

All the Camden Town group and Slade School pictures on the walls; the gouache and gum arabic, the thin wash, the aquatints on wove paper, the renowned bohemians, Scottish colourists, the masters of ‘blottesque’ and the Glasgow Boys.

All the royal warrants and the Laura Ashley connection.

Llangoed Hall, awarded the AA’s Best Hotel of the Year in UK and Ireland 2014, is enough to drive a sane person Paisley – and monarchist to boot.

Contact details

Llangoed Hall, Llyswen, Brecon, Powys, LD3 0YP, UK

Telephone: 0044 1874 754525

E-mail enquiries@llangoedhall.com

www.llangoedhall.com

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