A NEW hotel at Llechwedd, Blaenau Ffestiniog opened this month, and is already fully booked until 2020.

The 24 bedroom Slate Mountain Lodge, which is a restored 19th century building, and is intended to serve guests visiting the Slate Caverns heritage and adventure hub. Its development is a Slate Cavern initiative. The hub is visited by more than 250,000 people every year.

The hotel’s elevated position commands spectacular views across the historic Llechwedd site, once one of the busiest mines in the world, and the Moelwyn mountain range beyond.

Michael Bewick, managing director of the Slate Caverns, said: “Our beautiful new hotel is part of a £1.5 million investment programme which got underway with the launch of our luxury glamping lodges last spring.

“The development has been a particularly exciting project because of its pertinent place in our history. The Greaves family lived at the lodge for more than 150 years until the 1970s and the building was subsequently used as offices for the mine’s managers. To bring back to life a building which played such a significant part in Welsh history is wonderful thing, it adds a very authentic extra dimension to the visitor experience.”

Doors opened to the hotel’s first guests in this month, and every room is already fully booked out for the rest of the year. An engineering firm engaged to carry out maintenance on Llechwedd’s hydroelectricity infrastructure will stay there until January 2020. The hotel will have a public launch in spring 2020, after a refreshment programme to develop the hotel to four-star status. Bookings will go live later in 2019.

The Slate Mountain Lodge which can cater for weddings and events. It has a smart restaurant and bar which will use local produce. The hotel’s fixtures and furnishings will have a distinctly Welsh feel. Currently it employs six staff, but will generate 23 new jobs when it opens to the public in 2020. The £1.5 million development has been part-funded by the Welsh Government.