Tregynon (the home of Peter & Jane Heard) opened its doors as a Farmhouse B&B in Pembrokeshire some 40 years ago when Peter, seeking a different challenge,  left behind him some 17 years of the “Rat Race” in London.  It was not long before Tregynon soon became well known, not only for its hospitality and food but also as a wonderful location, gaining the coveted Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Award for the sympathetic renovations and landscaping of the grounds.

By 1987, Jane, an accountant from Leicestershire, visited Tregynon as a guest, fell in love with the locality and in 1990 decided not to return home.  A year later she married Peter and together they developed  Tregynon’s reputation  even further.  It was not long before Tregynon evolved into a well renowned Hotel and Restaurant, being  voted Dyfed Hotel of the year by the Which?Hotel Guide 1992 and also receiving the then Wales Tourist Board  “Welcome Host Gold” Award and their Taste of Wales Award.

Tregynon was one of the first two restaurants in Wales to receive two AA Rosettes for the quality of the food, with everything on the menu being made on the premises by Jane, who masterminded the kitchen using many of her own recipes which feature in “Dining with Angels”, an anthology of food and verse of which she is co-author. She makes every effort to avoid the use of artificial additives and preservatives and, whenever possible, to source from the very best of local produce.

Over the years, Peter and Jane counted themselves extremely fortunate to have gained so much acclaim from food and travel writers both from home and abroad, receiving countless awards and complimentary write-ups from food critics such as “The Back Page” of the Daily Telegraph where food critic, Belinda Richardson, wrote:- “…the sort of farmhouse cooking that tastes as good as it looks, uses robust local ingredients simply handled and is served in stunningly beautiful surroundings … Hang the fashion food police – farmhouse cooking of this sort is to be cherished for more than just its rarity value.”

However, with such success also comes significant and constant pressure and on medical grounds Peter was advised to take things a little more easily.  Whilst Tregynon has remained the family home throughout, nowadays Peter and Jane only let out one room on a Bed and Breakfast basis with Peter, who is also a fine art landscape photographer, focusing more on capturing those special scenes in the surrounding countryside of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

 

 

All photographs copyrighted to Peter Heard, Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society and fine-art landscape photographer.