Having searched for a nice 'boutiquey' style place for myself and girlfirend to stay for one night, I was quite pleased to have come across the New Whitle Lion. The reviews were positive and the website looked good - it is also reviewed in the Mr & Mrs Smith books.
On arrival there wasn't any space in the small car park at the back (not enough for 6 cars) so we parked on the street at the front. It is located on a small residential street in the centre of the village - this means it does not have views and is not overlly quite, but we knew that before we arrived.
Slyvia, our hostess greeted us and was very friendly and welcoming and offered us Tea on arrival. We were shown to the room (William Williams) which was very nicely decorated and had a wonderfully comfortable bed, the softest bed sheets I have ever slept in. The only downside to the room was it did not have a kettle (although there were tea making faclities in the lounge) and that it did not have a bath. I think that a place marketing itself as it does in this part of the world should have a bath for all those aching feet.
After an afternoon nap, we went downstairs and helped ourself to a drink from the honesty bar which was very well explained and well stocked. We selected from the small but good menu for dinner (there isn't much option in the village) and sat down for our meal. The food (all homecooked by Slyvia) was tasty, hot and good but nothing to write home about.

The breakfast was good and plentiful in the morning.

All in all a nice stay and I would return but for the price of the room I would have expected a bath and in room tea/coffee making facilities.

My husband & I stayed at The New White Lion for 3 nights at the beginning of January. We had telephoned in advance to let the owners, Sylvia & Gerald know that we were delayed in traffic and would not make it in time for the 3-5pm afternoon tea. To our delight we were informed it was no problem and we could have tea when we finally arrived. This was a good indication of how well we would come to be looked after over the course of our stay.
This hotel is very tastefully decorated throughout, and is what you would expect from a boutique style retreat. Sylvia previously owned a fabric business and this showed in all the lovely pieces of upholstered furniture and tailor made curtains around the place.
Our room The Lady of the Lake, which I would describe as 'shabby chic' was of good size and very clean. The bed was very comfortable with lovely feather pillows & good quality linen. The en-suite was very small and unfortunately had no bath.
Breakfast was always very well cooked, and the owners were more than happy to adapt the menu to our needs.
As part of our 3 night deal we had dinner at the hotel on our last night which was well cooked, simple food with home grown vegetables! A nightcap from the Honesty Bar in the lounge finished off a very pleasant evening.
I cannot praise Sylvia & Gerald enough on their care for us throughout our stay. Gerald advised us on some lovely walks and driving routes of the local area and Sylvia always had a cheerful face and sent us on our merry way each morning armed with a flask of tea for our walk!
Overall I would recommend this hotel for a short stay, LLandovery itself is very small and doesn't have much on offer but is an idea base for exploring the surrounding countryside. I would also highly recommend eating in the hotel as unfortunately the local pubs leave little to be desired as we found out! If you don't mind a drive I'd suggest The Angel Inn at Salem for a decent meal which is about 15 miles from the hotel but worth the trip.
The only negative things I have to say about our stay is that of the 6 rooms in the hotel only the Family room has a bath, and if you need a good soak after a long day of walking a power shower doesn't really have the same effect! Also if you are a light sleeper I wouldn't recommend the rooms at the front of the hotel as these are right on the road and by small junction which was sometimes quite noisy first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
Overall I really enjoyed our stay and will definitely be returning to Sylvia & Geralds hospitality.

We stayed at the NWL on our recent trip through Wales and thought that it was a very good place to stay. We had booked the hotel through Mr and Mrs Smith and enjoyed a good room rate and nice gift upon our departure. Here are our positives and negatives:-

Positives:
1) The rooms themselves are nicely appointed. We liked the fact that the bathroom floors are heated.

2) The room rate is pretty good for the quality of the experience received.

3) The owners/proprietors were very personable and we enjoyed the fact that they made us tea when we arrived and were interested to get to now us. This really enhanced our time there and we'd like to go back to see them again.

4) The location is relatively easy to find and makes a good base for exploring the beautiful local area.

5) The food served is very tasty and we would strongly recommend staying for dinner there as there didn't seem to be any good alternatives locally. We would have appreciated a larger selection on the wine list if possible.

Negatives:
1) We had arrived at 2:30pm in the pouring rain but nobody was there to greet us or let us in - perhaps our fault as we should have paid attention to the fact that they accept check ins from 3pm/called ahead so we share the blame for this.

2) There isn't a lot to do in and around the immediate vicinity - this is very much a place to drive out from or perhaps cycle from in Summer (of course not a criticism of the hotel).

3) The heated floor for the room was only turned on in the evening.

We stayed at the New White Lion for 2 nights last week. It is indeed deserving of all the attention it’s been getting national press recently. Sylvia and Gerald are a lovely couple who looked after us really well and were always ready with good advice on where to visit and what to do.

The house is beautiful inside, the interior design is incredibly stylish but still warm and welcoming. Our room, Physicians of Myddfai, was big and had a lovely large corner bath and shower.

Unlike some B&Bs this house truly feels like a home from home and we spent a lot of time relaxing in the lounge reading magazines and drinking tea. Breakfast, cooked by Sylvia, was fabulous. We really couldn’t have asked for more from our stay. Llandovery is well located for visits to the Brecon Beacons and we went to the beautiful Carreg Cennen castle and the Black Mountain.

We fully recommend the New White Lion and hopefully we’ll be back soon because there’s so much of beautiful Wales we still need to see!