Old Rectory, Llansanffraid Glan Conwy by Christopher Somerville

The location certainly adds a big helping of ‘wow’ factor to Michael and Wendy Vaughan’s very special North Wales hideaway. Not that the full splendour of the Old Rectory’s position overlooking the Conwy estuary hit me on arrival, because I turned up on a murky winter’s night when nothing more dramatic than rainy flowerbeds showed up in the car headlights. The beams also picked up the figure of Michael Vaughan, hurrying out to welcome me and trundle my case indoors. How many hotel owners trouble themselves to offer that kind of personal greeting – the little touch that means so much?

The tone of the Old Rectory is one of civilised ‘at-homeness’ – if your home features polished panelling, old oil paintings, vast Victorian prints and shelves of fine porcelain. Michael is very much front-of-house, while Wendy stays behind the scenes tending her magic porridge-pots. ‘Come down to the drawing room at 7.30 for an aperitif and some canapés?’ suggested Michael at my bedroom door. For a tired traveller, stained with mud and streaked with car oil (don’t ask), it sounded like the best idea in the world. I turned out to be the one and only guest at the Old Rectory that night, and Michael proved the most sensitive of hosts, appearing by osmosis when I felt like a chat, disappearing when I wanted to ‘do a Garbo’.

In the morning, drawing my bedroom curtains and looking out on a crisp sunny morning, I saw what all the location fuss was about. Beautiful terraced gardens sloped down towards the wide Conwy estuary, with the sea-going river a sinuous curve of silver between gleaming mud banks. The towers of Conwy Castle stood guard over the medieval walled town across the estuary, backed by green mountains. A view to gawp and to gasp over.

Not all the Old Rectory’s six rooms have a view over the Conwy Estuary, but the two that don’t look out on pretty gardens. The individually decorated rooms continue the house theme, stylish and slightly quirky – one has a vast lean-in wardrobe rescued from a girl’s school, another boasts a great black four-poster with a barley sugar twist to the posts. My bed had a fruity garland carved in the footboard and a half-tester dripping with lace overhead. Apples glowed in a basket on the table, the TV was discreetly hidden in a corner cupboard, and offstage lurked the sort of triangular bath in which Rita Hayworth would recline in strategically placed soapsuds and a scarlet smile.

And so to dinner: there are no choices to make at the Old Rectory – you eat what’s put in front of you, and fantastically good it is too. Cooks don’t gain three red rosettes, César Awards and Fellowships of the Masterchefs of Great Britain for nothing, and Wendy Vaughan – ably assisted by culinary henchman Christopher Jones - swings an extremely mean skillet.

Their repertoire includes such delights as spiced monkfish, confit of duck and turbot in an ultra-smooth tomato sauce. Tonight’s menu featured a starter of fillet of cod on mustard and caper lentils with tiny cubes of potato that literally melted in the mouth. Next up, a pungent and juicy rack of Conwy mountain lamb (“From Evans the Butcher of Colwyn Bay,” Michael Vaughan told me) with a patty of leek and laverbread to complete the Welsh notes. Three little puddings came on a pretty oblong dish. By that stage I wasn’t really paying attention to the menu. Wendy could have served up an old boot in estuary mud and I’d have trusted her skill and judgement. One pudding was creamy and redolent of cardamom, one was a sorbet in a crispy sort of shawl, and the third was hot and bitterly chocolatey. The next time I eat a dinner as good as that, it’ll be in heaven.

Itchy feet? Well, if you literally have ‘em, knock out those tickles on the North Wales Path from Conwy over the back of Conwy Mountain to Penmaenmawr – 8 miles of exhilarating walking with stunning views all the way and a return journey on the scenic coast railway. A half-hour hop in the car will put you in range of the ultimate North Walian challenge, Mount Snowdon itself. For something gentler, try the huge sandy beaches off Conwy’s estuary mouth and around Llandudno and Colwyn Bay for winter birdwatching, or take the short but stunning stroll from Conwy Castle along the tops of Conwy’s medieval town walls.