Palé Hall is an AA Five Red Star, Relais and Chateaux destination luxury country house hotel, with an acclaimed AA three-rosette and Michelin Green Star fine dining restaurant. The wine on offer at the hotel and restaurant was crowned the best in Wales this year at a UK-wide awards ceremony.

Palé Hall won the wine award (Wales) at the prestigious AA Hospitality Awards, held at JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London. This tranquil retreat is located on green rolling hills via the B4401 back road between Corwen and Bala.

There is concierge valet parking outside the entrance but we drove to the car park ourselves via the gravel driveway as we hadn’t hoovered the car. You can even land your helicopter on the large field to the front but the Daily Post chopper was sadly unavailable to me. (Disclaimer: there is no Daily Post helicopter and all landings at Palé Hall are strictly by prior arrangement).

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The grand high Victorian mansion features styled décor and opulence in every room. Yep, it's posh but also informal so even though we felt intimidated at first, the staff help you relax in the lavish surroundings by just being very nice and treating everyone the same.

Their head chef, Sam Griffiths, won Welsh chef of the year 2021. His style of cooking is classic with a light fresh touch and Palé Hall uses local produce which is always seasonal.

The family dining room has a Venetian theme complete with crystal chandeliers and mirrors. Dinner is served in there from 6.30pm until 9pm.

The Henry Robertson Dining Room is a fine dining restaurant. It is a light and elegant room, and is where they serve afternoon tea and a tasting menu. The tasting menu will set you back a cool £105.

The bistro offers two courses for £45 or three courses for £50. A three-course Sunday lunch is priced at £39.95.

You can also sample the five-star atmosphere in one of the rooms without breaking the bank by having tea and cakes. Or you can eat outside alfresco in one of their four charming garden suites situated within the estate ground. There were rabbits roaming free all around the grounds so watch out for your carrots.

We went for the Welsh tea and a cream tea, which are priced at £15 each. A full afternoon tea will set you back £30 but includes sandwiches as well as cakes.

We were sat on a table for two, which also doubled up as a chess table underneath the protective glass. There was a huge fireplace, which was the focal point of the room with an old-fashioned saloon bar packed full of spirits and gin on the other side.

The tea was served in china cups with a posh silver tea set consisting of a tea pot, milk jug and cutlery, all looking very grand on the table. I used the white cotton napkin to mop up the crumbs off the table but managed to knock a knife onto the floor to my wife’s annoyance.

We shared two dainty small homemade scones, which were warm and very tasty. The Bara brith was more substantial and packed full of fruit and flavour.

We had cream and jam for both the scone and the fruit cake. It caused us a bit of confusion as we wondered if it was butter at first. However, I can confirm that cream and jam on a fruit cake works really well.

The English breakfast tea was strong, tasty and plentiful. We supped about three cups of the stuff each.

Afterwards, we walked the magnificent grounds and imagined that we were Lords of the manor. That was until my wife spotted some jam on my shirt and wondered if the waiter had seen it.

You may not get much for your 15 notes but the experience and the setting more than makes up for it. It's not very often that you can sip your tea in such luxurious surroundings.

A discretionary service charge of 10% will be added to your bill, which goes directly to the whole team.