About your hosts

Tom Lines has born and brought up in Beckenham Kent. He graduated in Bristol with a BEd and for several years taught mathematics there and in various London schools. In his spare time, he sang with the Philharmonia chorus at many concerts in Britain and Europe. This encouraged him to train as a singer at the Royal Academy of Music for four years from 1979. Piano was his second principal subject, which explains why our restaurant has, until recently, housed a grand piano: it is being restored in 2006, prior to its move to our cottage near Llanerfyl (occasional refuge and intended retirement home). The career openings for a baritone proving slow, Tom joined the Lord Chancellor’s department as a computer programmer, and from there taught programming and systems analysis for four years, for a private training company, also in London.

Roy Hayter was born in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe (the African connection soon becomes evident to guests, from the display of art in the restaurant and some of the bedrooms). After graduating in hotel and catering management from the Scottish Hotel School in Glasgow in 1972, he remained in the UK initially to get experience, and then permanently as the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorated. A varied career mostly in London, and including three years as a chef manager for a merchant bank in the City, led to over 20 years producing training material for the hospitality industry and writing text books (mostly for NVQ trainees). Two of these, although well-due for updating, remain in print (on food preparation and cooking, and food and drink service), published by Thomson International. Roy continues to write on health and safety and food safety for the specialist management information publishers, Croners, and contributes a regular column sourced from media reports on the industry, for the quarterly Hospitality Review published by Threshold Press of Newbury.
 

It is always such a treat for us to be there with you and to roam around beautiful mid-Wales.

Alan and Gwenda, Colwyn Bay, April 2007


It was a delight to see you both in such a charming place. All the glowing reports we had from Lynn, Ann and Elizabeth were absolutely true.

Rosemary and John, London, March 2006



Almost all the improvements to Lloyds we have made ourselves. Tom does the plumbing, woodwork and tiling; Roy the electrical work (he wired his first house, on a farm in Zimbabwe, in his teens), wall papering and carpet fitting. Tom chooses the colour schemes, we both share the painting. Since this photo (of the bathroom to room 6) was taken, the taps on the bath have been replaced with a hand-held shower/mixer, the curtains by vertical blinds, and the carpet renewed.