Palé Hall

Palé Hall was completed in 1871 for Henry Robertson, the Scottish railway magnate, in honey-coloured stone on the edge of Snowdonia. It sits in the Dee Valley outside Bala, with the river, ancient woodland and the Berwyn hills around it, and runs today as a country house hotel of 22 rooms and suites under the ownership of Anthony and Donna Barney.

The house takes exclusive use: the whole hall, the grounds and the full team, with no other guests. Palé sells it for milestone birthdays, anniversaries and formal dinners as well as brand launches, press events and larger private gatherings, and taken whole it sleeps around 50 guests. Menus come from chef partner Luke Selby and his kitchen, cooking seasonal Welsh produce for the Henry Robertson Dining Room, a room of ornate ceilings and views over the estate listed in the Michelin Guide.

For something smaller there is The Hearth, a private dining room and chef's table set in the house's original kitchen, and the wine cellar beneath the house, which can be reserved for a private tasting. The Huntsman Bar and Whisky Lounge, with its fire and its whisky collection, is where the evening ends.