Lynne's attitude strikes me as a good one.

You've got to remember that ultimately, you're quite off-radar in putting on folk acts in your house. Unless you routinely get noise complaints, nobody's ever likely to find out. And if they do, they are unlikely to care. Police (and licensing bodies) have bigger fish to fry.

Providing a meal is a nice touch too, because you would have the defence of saying the music is an accompaniment to the food. I would also avoid the use of words such as "charging" though Lynne - refer to it as a voluntary donation.

There's a singer called Jont Whittington who's practically made a career of organising house concerts, to the extent he got big sponsorship from Orange mobiles and a lot of media coverage (online and TV). Nobody's tried to arrest him or fine him.

Put on a house concert. You're more likely to get struck by lightning than there be any legal repercussions.