VCL: Tell us about yourself
Ted Arbuthnot: I am Ted Arbuthnot, an optician in Barry. Apparently I have been in practice there for 33 years (but I don't believe it). In fact the practice, which is the largest independent in the Vale, has been in existence for almost 75 years, and virtually in the hands of just two people, myself and the well known and still thriving 96 year old Norman Alexander. I am also married and the father of five daughters so I may have to work for another 33 years yet!

VCL: What do you like about the Vale?
TA: For me it has just about everything. I have the wonderful privilege of living in the countryside, in quietude, with all its stunning wildlife, while being literally 10 minutes from work in Barry (which has some wildlife of its own). It has good schools; my youngest daughter attends Ysgol Bro Morgannwg which is a great school. It has the natural coast, the industrial heritage of the Barry and Penarth docks, Roman history etc., etc., and of course if you are fed up, it easy to get out of with the motorway and the airport.

Personally I can find about 95% of all my needs very well catered for in the Vale. I hate having to go past Culverhouse Cross for anything, let alone into it!

VCL: Where would you recommend for an unforgettable dining experience?
TA: We are very partial to our Indian take-outs from Dinas Powys and actually eat out rarely as our own kitchen produces the best food in the Vale, honestly. If I was recommending for somebody else I guess it would be the Egerton Grey for the combination of great food and ambience.

VCL: Who would be your ideal companion for a trip around the Vale and why?
TA: I have two daughters living in the US and am well aware that only 50 per cent of Americans have passports let alone know where Wales is. So, I would feel duty bound to escort an American citizen around, maybe Halle Berry to start with.

VCL: Favourite music and why?
TA: I grew up in Belfast at the same time as Van Morrison so he is a big favourite of mine, and I also listen to a lot of R&B, Ry Cooder, John Prine, some later Johnny Cash. I was switched on to country with the film Oh Brother Where Art Thou, so my latest CD is Alison Krauss /Robert Plant. But, I also listen to a lot of opera, love the Bach Partitas, love ballet and ballet music, so I could go on for hours and often do!

VCL: Favourite town/village in the Vale?
TA: I have to confess to just loving Barry. It has such a vivid mix of people, professors, poets, artists, musicians, artisans, authors, many of them ordinary working folk with extraordinary lives and stories. One of my patients from the Island had walked from central Russia to Iran to escape the archipelago during the war.

It is also a wonderful mish mash of styles and developments which has meandered aimlessly after the drive of the original docks development blasted the town onto the original tiny villages in the area.

I also believe Barry is just emerging from trough which most industrial towns of the 19th century fell into after the war. The regeneration of the docks is absolutely key to the well being of the Vale as a whole and will give the town the clear identity that it lost when the docks declined.

VCL: Which annual event in the Vale is a must?
TA: The annual mudbath of the Vale show is in my diary every summer but so is the Craft Fair at St Donats.

VCL: If there is one thing missing in the Vale, what do you think it is?
TA: We often go to the Parc and Dare in Treorchy to hear people like John Prine, Andy Fairweather Lowe, Cerys Matthews, Eddi Reader, and the town is only a third the size of Barry. St Donats does a good job for the Vale, and we've seen the likes of George Melly and Ralph McTell there, but I feel that Barry could support a good small venue for good artists, drama and maybe an arts centre.

VCL: What is your favourite joke?
TA: What has 100 legs and no teeth. The front row of a Daniel O'Donnel concert

9:46am Wednesday 6th February 2008

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