Wales: Venues for the unconventional

LLANDUDNO, Wales -- Framed by a stand of trees and as unprepossessing as its origin as a stable might suggest, the slate-roofed, red limestone structure before me seemed an unlikely ven-ue for an upscale business meeting, but try telling that to the U.K. companies that book the place year-round for bucolic executive meetings and other high-level gatherings.

Here at Bodysgallen Hall -- a 220-acre refuge of woods, terraced lawns, manicured and parterre gardens and a rare, 400-year-old stone pine bearing pineapple-size cones -- work-a-day business conclaves return to nature in the rugged countryside typical of the mountainous northern coast of Wales.

The Bodysgallen property itself, of which the Wynn Rooms meetings venue is only a part, comprises a charming 17th century manor house with 19 comfortable bedrooms, 16 adjacent cottages, two dining rooms, drawing rooms of refined ambience, stained-glass and stone-mullioned windows and enough knickknack-filled nooks to keep an antiques collector smiling for days.

To the manor born?

Some say it is more properly expressed as "to the manner born," but being neither of manor nor manner born -- I am more of humble apartment-house origins myself -- I was doubly impressed by the hospitality and service that are the signatures of a well-bred property like Bodysgallen, which caters to 21st century sojourners getting on with business while getting away from it all.

Take the restored Wynn Rooms, for example: A pleasant stroll from the main building, this two-story facility -- with a terrace looking out on the ruins of the 12th century Deganwy Castle -- features the latest audiovisual equipment and computer hookups.

Perfect for groups of 40 or fewer, the facilities are marketed as a rustic retreat best suited for weddings, intimate meetings, cocktail parties and small exhibits.

And when business-minded guests are ready to unwind, the Bodysgallen Health and Fitness Spa awaits just down the pro-verbial garden path.

There, an original stone farmhouse is the unlikely venue for a 50-foot indoor swimming pool, a sauna, a catered club room, therapy rooms and a gym.

Use of the spa is included with overnight rates, which at about $235 per person (commissionable at 10%) include single accommodations; breakfast, lunch and dinner allowances; afternoon tea; and use of the meetings room.

Bodysgallen Hall is one of several properties that the Wales Tourist Board is hoping to promote as meetings and incentives sites for U.S. companies bold enough to contemplate an unconventional convention, a transatlantic trip for top executives or a rare incentives reward for its major producers.

From manor houses such as Bodysgallen and castle retreats to lush golf resorts and upscale big-city hotels, I visited some of Wales' most appealing meetings venues, all of them commissionable. A brief overview follows:

Castles and courts

Fonmon Castle in the southern Vale of Glamorgan is another hospitable and service-oriented Welsh property.

Owned and inhabited by Sir Brooke Boothby, an affable sort who's equal parts host, horticulturalist and historian, Fonmon caters to small corporate groups and wedding parties.

Although it does not offer overnight accommodations, the castle -- more a turreted mansion with a storied past than a full-scale castle, at least to the eyes of this romantic -- attracts day visitors with its walled gardens of climbing roses and 105-year-old Virginia creeper, as well as its striking Georgian interiors, including a library with 16th-century atlases of hand-colored maps and original works by Swinburne.

And ponder another thing you won't find anywhere else: Sir Brooke's autograph collection, an in-his-own-write compendium of notes and letters signed by the likes of Dickens (begging off an extended stay at Fonmon), Queen Victoria, Disraeli and Oliver Cromwell.

More like Bodysgallen than Fonmon is the Llansanffraed Court Hotel, a country home of sorts set amid 20 acres of landscaped parkland in the Usk Valley near the Brecon Beacons National Park in mid-Wales.

Although the property offers only 21 rooms, including a four-poster suite, Llansanffraed can accommodate groups of up to 150 in its original drawing room.

The "LCH" (llet's call it that for simplicity's sake in deference to the daunting double consonants of the Welsh language) has a welcoming air personified by resident owner and manager Michael Morgan, who's as likely to extol the virtues of his award-winning chef as he is to arrange team-building exercises for executive guests on retreat.

One such outing is a "hawk walk," a kind of bloodless and benign falconry for beginners during which steely-eyed falcons, Harris hawks and eagle owls named "Killer" and the like show their stuff. "Remember," the handler told us, "these birds are trained, but not tamed."

At the LCH, a standard single room goes for around $120 per night, while the Ragland Suite costs $260; rates include full Welsh breakfast.

Fantasyland

On to the Snowdonia region and the unique Portmeirion, a phantasmagoria of a resort where much of the 1950s TV series "The Prisoner" was filmed.

It comes as no surprise that an air of make-believe, or disbelief, pervades Portmeirion, which includes a faux Italianate village stuck improbably on its own peninsula in Tremadog Bay, beside an estuary that literally comes and goes with the tide.

The hotel was bought by Clough Williams-Ellis in 1926, and he never stopped developing the property, which now includes individual cottages, an outlet for world-class pottery and other high-end shops, a Chinese bridge and pagoda, and a castle whose 12th century stone facade shields surprisingly state-of-the-art meetings facilities and accommodations.

All told, there are 14 individually decorated rooms in the hotel, most somewhat over-the-top in terms of furnishings, as well as 26 rooms and suites in the village and 11 rooms in the castle, Castell Deudraeth.

Meetings facilities in the village include the Jacobean Town Hall, whose primary venues are Hercules Hall, named after its barrel-vaulted, plaster ceiling depicting the labors of Hercules, and the Tudor Room.

I found those venues not nearly as appealing as the castle's sharply defined and contemporary Ricardo Pearch Suite (25 guests boardroom-style or 40 theater-style), which features a breakout room, balcony and kitchen, or the richly appointed Main Hall entranceway and brasserie-style restaurant.

My accommodations in the hotel had a kind of "trade China" ambience, with lots of Oriental curiosities and east Asian fabrics and decorations. But given my choice, I would follow the royal succession by opting for the first-floor Peacock Suite, which was Edward VII's temporary digs when he visited Wales for his investiture in 1936.

And visitors shouldn't fail to have dinner in the curvilinear dining room, where the award-winning menu is top-notch.

For more on Welsh meetings venues, contact Claire Goold at the Wales Tourist Board in New York at (212) 850-0321, e-mail business-[email protected] or visit www.meetings.visitwales.com.

Meet & Greet

The Wales Tourist Board will dedicate nearly $12 million to conference and meetings development through 2006, including:
• New construction and refurbishment of operating conference hotels.
• Conference-venue grading and awards system similar to that used for leisure facilities.

Some 'traditional' options for large groups

CARDIFF, Wales -- It seems odd to characterize the St. David's Hotel & Spa and the Celtic Manor Resort as "traditional" meetings venues when historic Welsh manor houses are steeped in tradition, but these contemporary properties are multiuse facilities designed with large groups in mind.

St. David's, where leisure rates range from $325 for a king room to $625 for a suite (corporate rates are available), is a 132-room Rocco Forte Hotels property where the minimalist, almost stark profile and muted lobby anticipate the understated luxury and elegance of well-appointed guest rooms, meetings spaces, public venues and high-end spa and health facilities.

The meetings venues include eight function rooms, one reception room for up to 270 people and a business center with a videoconferencing suite.

The waterfront property -- all rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows and decks overlooking Cardiff Bay (remember that cruise ship effect) -- is waiting for new Millennium Harbor neighbors, such as the new Parliament Building and the Welsh Opera House, to move in.

After all, it wasn't all that long ago that a harbor reclamation project transformed this area from an eyesore of uninviting mud flats into an eye-catcher.

The numbers, like a low golf score, tell the story of the Celtic Manor, a golfer's delight.

Set on 1,400 acres in the town of Newport, this golf/convention resort has 400 rooms, 32 suites; four restaurants, 40 function rooms; two health clubs; 12 spa treatment rooms; a 20-meter swimming pool; a gleaming, 54-station, high-tech gym; a 50-seater spa bath and three Trent Jones golf courses open year-round.

For meetings, the Celtic Manor's Convention Centre features the Caernafon Suite, which can handle as many as 1,500 guests theater-style and 770 for a banquet, and the Beaumarais Suite, for up to 170 attendees. A dedicated entrance, with motorcoach access, easily can accommodate large groups.

Rates are available upon request. -- J.R.