8th February

We all busy catching up after a busy weekend and our first wedding of the year - there was a fantastic atmosphere with plenty of high spirits, laughter and happiness without any over indulgence!!

The weather seems set fair albeit cold and fresh - perfect winter weather - let's hope its a precursor to a perfect summer.

Welcome Back

A happy new year to you all - a distant memory for some, I'm sure. So much has taken place since we last wrote, we will try and break it down. Our staff have all preformed really well and the feedback we have had through our monitoring, both internal and external, has been fantastic - a thank you to all.

The game season is drawing to a close but it has far exceeded our expectations - we are already planning next seasons'! Especially successful dishes have included our own smoked pheasant, delicious creamy and tender mustard glazed game pie as well as a very fine game liver parfait. We have also served a stunning pan fried loin of Pentrefoelas Hare with mushroom risotto.

We are just attending to our first wedding of the year in our newly refurbished reception and lounge area and are looking forward to the half term and valentine's next week.

New Game trailer arrives

In preparation for this season's game season, the hotel has purchased its own refrigerated trailer to allow us to go the the local shoots and hand select our own game for processing in house. Coupled with the recent addition of our own smoking machine, the team is looking forward to the autumn and winter with fresh interest - smoked breast of woodcock and wild mallard should feature. The addition of trailer will allow us to enhance our menus with quality local fresh game. The in-shore duck and partridge season starts on Tuesday and we are hopeful that some wild Mallard will be served up later next week on our popular specials board.

August Holidays

~The last few weeks, despite the rather typical British weather, has still seen plenty of activity and visitors to the village. The team have worked very hard at a time when it remains very difficult to cater for with continued uncertainty of economic times. Everyone has played their part and got on with the task at hand which has been great to see - not always plane sailing but then that's the same in any industry. Just over a week now before the school holidays finish - they seem to flown by. By the laws of averages, we are due some sunshine in September - an Indian Summer after an Australian roasting - one can only wait and see.

BATS visit the Oak

We've been visited by BATS........

West Bromwich foursome Peter Hill and friends John Drew,Karl Bradley and Joe Hill, known as the Black Country Ale Tairsters have spent thousands since 1984 travelling across the UK, enjoying a pint in every county in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

They came up with the idea after getting bored of drinking in the same pub, the Old Crown pub in Whitehall Road and made it their mission to visit every pub in Herefordshire and Worcestershire - over 250.

After travelling all of the pubs in the Midlands in their trademark beer mat waistcoats in 1986 they were presented with tankards from the brewery. In 1988 they visited 71 different pubs in 12 counties covering 1,016 miles from Kent to South Wales. On that occasion they raised cash for Sandwell Hospital, Moxley Hospital and the Wolverhampton Royal Hospital.

Flushed with their success they then made it their mission to visit every pub in every county in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, an achievement marked in the Guinness Book of World Records. In the last three years alone, the Tairsters have raised over £5,000.

They have now set their sights on all the pubs in north Wales to raise money for Wrexham Children’s Hospital.

The Royal Oak became their 14,401 visit and their drink of choice was the famous Revered James cask ale-

"Iechyd da" boys and carry on the good work!

Dulwich Reunion - Tanks away

Last weekend saw the old prep school boys who were evacuated during the second world war, return to the hotel for their annual reunion. It was an excellent attendance and included 2 headmasters amongst the ranks. Judging by the chatter, the Saturday luncheon was an interesting affair and the weather held well for all those staying over the weekend (some also stayed the Sunday night as well). Of specific interest was the small note book produced by Mr R Viccari depicting when the allied American tanks came through the village. The story goes that the noise of the rumbling tanks drowned out the boys shouts for sweets, so a large banner was to catch the eyes instead. I asked the author as to why the tanks where there in the first place and whether some artistic license had been employed. His reply was most honest in that the tanks were trying to ensure they were as far away from the nazi bombing threat whilst they regathered their forces after Dunkirk. There was even one stationed on the Waterloo Bridge; something I had not heard before. His drawings are reproduced with his kind permission and serve as a fascinating incite to a young boys perspective of the WW2 viewed from the Welsh foothills.

Clean get-away

Yesterday saw the installation of our latest guest facility - a jet wash for mountain and road bikes. The high pressure cold water jet should remove the welsh dirt after a day's trekking allowing guests to return with a clean and fresh cycle ready for packing away until the next time. I have also included details of this weeks' local meat suppliers in readiness for Father's Day.
The Bull Huss shark bites have been selling well and being enjoyed by a number of diners - best as a light meal or starter in breadcrumbs with lemon garlic mayonnaise - delicious.