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Hay on Wye – More than just books

Once Hay on Wye was just a small market town north of the Brecon Beacons, but now it is famous all over the world as The Town of Books, home to around 30 secondhand and antiquarian bookshops.  It certainly helps to like books to enjoy a weekend here, but the town also happens to be situated in a beautiful part of the world, with history, walking routes and good food all there to be enjoyed.

For our weekend, we based ourselves at The Start B&B, which is run by Dawn Farnworth as a little piece of rural idyll.  Breakfast consists of fresh eggs laid by The Start’s own chickens and Glamorgan leek and cheese sausages.  Special diets are catered for and the rooms are cosy, with charmingly old fashioned furniture, all the modern trimmings.  The Start sits on the river, and from our room the view took in both the river and the castle high above it. 

On the opposite side of the bridge lies the Three Tuns, the oldest pub in Hay, dating from the early 1500’s.  They claim some famous visitors, including Marianne Faithful, Jools Holland and even five of the ‘Great Train Robbers’, who dropped in for a quiet drink one evening.  Following a fire in 2005, the pub has been completely refurbished, but happily many of the old features remain, such as the gorgeous central chimney.  We ate in the bar the evening we arrived, enjoying an excellent ‘Italian’ style thin crust pizza with goats cheese and red onion.  All the food is local and deliciously fresh.

The town lies on the lovely River Wye, at the foot of the Black Mountains.  It also sits on the Offa’s Dyke path, a national trail that roughly follows the line of the 8th century earthwork built by Offa, the King of Mercia to keep out the Welsh!  We planned to walk along part of this route and after a kind lift from our hosts, we found ourselves at our starting point, the Llanthony Priory.  Even if you’re not walking, this fascinating place is well worth a visit.  The 12th century Augustinian Priory now includes a hotel amongst the ruins, and with the striking Black Mountains as a backdrop, there is a wonderful atmosphere, especially if you catch shafts of sunlight breaking through the ancient columns.

The climb up to the trail along the ridge of the mountain is steep, but the top is worth the trouble.  There is a real sense of wilderness with views of mountains all around and a profound sense of quiet.  As we walked towards Hay the numbers of walkers increased, as the end point of the mountain, Hay Bluff, is a popular spot for day trippers.  The Bluff affords great views, including of Hay on Wye itself.  We still made it back to town by late afternoon and stopped for a very welcome tea and cake in the Granary, a popular café serving lots of healthy options and a great range of desserts.

Restaurants tend to get fully booked on a Saturday night, but we were able to book a table at the Swan.  We weren’t sure we’d made the right choice to begin with as, though the refurbishment of the hotel looked very good, the dining room seemed to lack atmosphere, and the service was a little eccentric!  However, the food was excellent and my sweet potato and courgette ‘lasagne’ was particularly intriguing.  It turned out to be layers of wafer thin vegetables pressed together with a bechamel sauce and baked as a slice – it was delicious.

The next day we had time to wander round the town and finally sample some of the bookshops.  If you like crime novels, Murder and Mayhem is the place to go, not only for its wonderful selection of books old and new, but also for the clever design of the shop, with shadowy figures painted on the outside and the outline of a body on the floor inside!

The centre of the town is dominated by a Norman castle, built by William de Breos II around 1200.  William was one of the of the Norman Marcher Lords, men appointed by the King to guard the border with Wales.  Today, in the public rooms and grounds of the castle is the Hay Castle Bookshop, belonging to Richard Booth, the man who came up with the original idea for a ‘town of books’.  Outside is the ‘honesty’ bookshop, where books are 30p or 50p and your payment goes into a slot in the old wall!

From there we headed down the hill and to have an ice cream in Shepherd’s, another Hay institution.  Made locally in Hereford, it is made from sheep’s  milk and is less than 7% fat.  It tastes wonderful whatever the details and their ginger flavour is highly recommended!  On a sunny day, take your cone into the square and enjoy a little people watching and gaze up at the magnificent old castle.  A great way to round off the day before heading home.

About the Author

Anne is a food and travel writer whose book 'Early Vegetarian Recipes' came out in 2008. She also runs Hollyfoods, a small food company selling locally at fairs around London.

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