Plas Weunydd, Blaenau Ffestiniog

Plas Weunydd is a four-star hotel on the old Llechwedd quarry estate above Blaenau Ffestiniog, and it is one of the few proper hotels in Eryri where a dog is a straightforward part of the booking rather than a negotiation. Guests travelling with dogs describe the place as genuinely easy: staff are welcoming towards them, and nobody makes an issue of a dog crossing the lobby.

The location is the main reason to choose it. The hotel stands on the quarry site itself, so the zip-line centre and the downhill mountain-bike trails are a walk across the car park, and the hillside paths above the building open straight onto slate country and mountain views. For an active trip where a dog comes along on the walking days and waits out the adrenaline ones, the geography works well.

Rooms are well presented and comfortable, with large windows and views over the hills, and the public areas are the best part of the building. Service is the weak spot. Guests regularly report friendly but inexperienced staff, forgotten orders at busy times, and a restaurant menu that leans heavily on stone-baked pizza night after night. Breakfast draws the same criticism, being adequate rather than good and light on local produce. Blaenau Ffestiniog has limited options after dark, so that matters more here than it would in a town.

Dogs cost £20 per stay, up to two of them, and every room takes them, so there is no angling for a particular wing. They are expected off the beds and soft furnishings, on a lead outside the room and never left alone in it, and they can sit beside you in the restaurant. Rooms vary in size, so check yours suits a larger breed. At 4.4/5, the paw rating reflects a warm welcome held back by patchy service rather than anything to do with dogs. It suits walkers, riders and zip-line visitors who want a comfortable base right on the site.