An engaged couple who spent one night in an historic hotel fell so in love with it they gave up their high-flying jobs and decided to buy it - even though they had no experience.
James Sheehan and Zoe Carter, both 42, quit their successful London-based careers in advertising and digital marketing to purchase the Welsh Milebrook House Hotel in Knighton, Powys.
The three-star hotel, which was formerly the home of explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, is set across three and a half acres of countryside in the picturesque Teme Valley and has formerly played host to esteemed guests from Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia to Mick Jagger and David Beckham.
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James Sheehan and Zoe Carter, both 42, quit their successful London-based careers to and sold their £700,000 flat in Islington to buy the three-star Milebrook House Hotel in Powys
The three-star hotel, which was formerly the home of explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, is set across three and a half acres of countryside in the picturesque Teme Valley
The high-flying couple moved in on December 13 and had their first paying guests arrive for the Christmas rush the next day, despite neither of them having an hotel experience
The couple, from Islington, London, bought the ten-bedroom hotel for £677,000 despite having no prior experience in the hotel trade after a chance stay in November 2017 when Ms Carter's mother, who lives in nearby Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, ran out of room to put them up.
After the pair moved in on December 13, they had their first paying guests arrive for the busy Christmas rush on December 14.
Mr Sheehan said: 'When we started I think I'd only pulled a pint once, but you quickly get used to it.
'It's a dream come true, we didn't imagine we'd actually get this place.
'Some of our friends said we were genuinely mad for wanting to take the hotel on.
'As we've found, the reality is 100 hour weeks and not being able to switch off.
'The phone goes every five minutes - there's no downtime.
Mr Sheehan said: 'When we started I think I'd only pulled a pint once, but you quickly get used to it'. The couple say they're working 100-hour weeks
The ten-bedroom hotel can sleep 22, has a restaurant which can sit 40 people, a bar, a lounge and landscaped gardens going down to the River Teme
Ms Carter said: 'I just thought it was so charming and lovely. 'When we left I said I didn't want to go home
'Some of my friends call me Basil, after Basil Fawlty. Some of them have been really positive and others think we're mad.
'We have never worked in hospitality before and only knew what it was like from the perspective of a paying guest so obviously there have been lots of surprises.
'But at the end of the day,
