The History of Bala Lake Hotel

Fach Ddeiliog

Pronounced Vach-they-lee-og, this is what the area was called before the present building was erected. It means ‘the little leafy place’.

Around 1800, Sir Richard Colt Hoare constructed a summer retreat, a single storey house overlooking Bala lake, the largest natural lake in Wales. Sir Richard (1758-1838) came from a wealthy family of bankers from Wiltshire, and he was thus able to indulge his passion for antiquities and scenery. He was an assiduous traveller, and used Fach Ddeiliog as a base of operations to avoid the inconvenience of moving from inn to inn.