If you are a small business owner you will know just how hard it is to get away for a holiday, even just for a few days.  You will also know about the pressure to find somewhere really relaxing so that you can unwind.

Just a couple of months ago I was in the same position and decided that it was time to book a long weekend away.  Now there are two problems with deciding in July to book a short break in August – the first is where to go, if you are only having a long weekend you don’t want to spend too long getting to the destination.  I solved this by remembering my holidays from many years ago when I went to North Wales, it is only about 3 hours drive from here and I like the countryside, there are plenty of things to do and see.  The 2nd problem then raised its’ head – where to stay?  I looked at several hotel sites and having discounted many of the possibilities for different reasons (cost, the wrong location, didn’t like the look of them, poor reviews) I settled on a hotel in Trefriw, near Conwy, called the Princes Arms.

From their website it looked just the kind of place I was looking for – a reasonable size without being too big, in nice countryside and good views out of the rooms.

I arrived in good time on the Friday and much to my amazement the hotel was even better than I expected (so often it is the other way around).  The room was nicely decorated and furnished and the view from the bedroom window looked out over the valley and the river.  Having settled down I then decided that rather than stick to my plans of going out and finding somewhere to eat I would take a chance and eat in the hotel.  I was very pleased that I did, for a 3 star hotel the food was brilliant – in fact many years ago I worked in the IT department in a 4 start hotel in the centre of London that had a top notch restaurant and I would say that the food was easily as good that night as any I had tasted in the hotel I worked in.

During the rest of the holiday I was pleased to see that the standard was the same every night.  As you can imagine this made the break very enjoyable.

So, if as a small business owner you are looking for a nice hotel that you and your partner can go to that will leave you refreshed and relaxed I can thoroughly recommend the Princes Arms in Trefriw.  In addition to normal holidays in North Wales they also cater for golfing breaks and walking holidays (several times I heard the owner offering guests maps and books of walks and he seemed to know the best walks to do in Snowdonia from experience, another mark of good customer service that I mentioned in one of my previous blog postings earlier this year and one that many small business owners could learn from).