A FORMER royal love nest has been crowned as the best hotel in North Wales.

Plas Dinas Country House in Bontnewydd, near Caernarfon – once home to Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon – was named as the Hotel of the Year at the Go North Wales Tourism Awards.

The headline sponsor for the glittering event at Venue Cymru in Llandudno was the leading food distribution company, Harlech Foodservice, and it was hosted by journalist Sian Lloyd.

The occasion was also a 30th anniversary celebration for organiser North Wales Tourism which was founded in 1990 and now represents more than 1,500 members across the region.

The leasehold for Plas Dinas Country House was bought by Daniel and Annie Perks in 2019 after they fell in love with the former royal retreat.

Back in the 1960s, it provided a bolthole for Lord Snowdon, formerly Anthony Armstrong-Jones, and Princess Margaret, hidden away from the glare of London life.

It was also where Lord Snowdon used as a base to mastermind Prince Charles’s investiture at Caernarfon Castle in 1969.

In recent years the mansion was visited by Prince William while he was serving as a search and rescue pilot at RAF Valley on Anglesey.

The judges were particularly impressed with how the current owners had used the lockdown to redesign the nine bedrooms and 80 per cent of the public areas, including the Gunroom Restaurant.

A delighted Annie Perks said: “This has been the hardest year we’ve ever had but it’s also been remarkable.

“The fact that we’re preserving this story of royal romance and being able to tell it through the design and the character of this unique property and in a pandemic has just been amazing.”

Also honoured at the event was Dr Shyam Patiar MBE, the former Director of Hospitality and Catering at Coleg Llandrillo, who received the Go 30 Years in Tourism Award, sponsored by Tir Prince Leisure Group,

The accolade was to recognise the immense contribution to the tourism and hospitality sector made by Dr Patiar who has dedicated his professional life to preparing young people to excel in the tourism and hospitality industry.

Many of his protegés have gone on to have stellar careers, including the likes of TV chef Bryn Williams, who runs acclaimed restaurants in London and Colwyn Bay.

Dr Patiar is currently training young people in the industry to compete against the best in the World Skills Olympics which will take place next year in Shanghai, China.

According to Jim Jones, the amount of investment going into improving the infrastructure of the tourism and hospitality sector was a vote of confidence in the future of the industry in North Wales.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry was flying with the overall income generated increasing to an all-time high of £3.6 billion in 2019 when the number of visitors rocketed to nearly 37 million.

After a massive slump, the staycation boom this summer showed that North Wales was still a hugely popular destination for holidaymakers.

Jim Jones said: “Like everybody else, the tourism industry has endured an absolute nightmare over the past 20 months and, because of the nature of the business, our sector was disproportionately affected during the lockdown periods.

“I would like to congratulate the winners and the other finalists tonight because was they have achieved is utterly remarkable, particularly under the most difficult of circumstances.

“I would also like to stress that all the nominees are playing an absolutely vital role in leading the economic recovery here in North Wales and I would like to thank them for their incredible ongoing contribution.”

David Cattrall, the managing director of Harlech Foodservice, said: “We were delighted to have the opportunity to be the headline backer of the awards and to sponsor two individual categories because the tourism and hospitality industry represents our core customer base.

“Although we’ve all had an extremely tough time, there are reasons to be optimistic for the future and the scale of investment going into North Wales shows there is a strong belief that this is a first-class, must-visit destination.”

North Wales Tourism used the occasion to raise money for their nominated charity, St David’s Hospice in Llandudno.