We usually have a few days away before the nursery silly season starts and Hay-on-Wye is the perfect place to relax and stock up on books! Not that we need more books, but you can never have too many books right ......... It is after all the original book town and contains approximately 26 book shops of all sizes and genres, second hand and new, antique shops, great eating places, a market and lots of walking in the area too.
While it is a longer journey than we would usually make for our annual pre season break we so enjoyed our visit here a couple of years ago during our end of season November holiday we knew we would eventually make our way back. We both drive so sharing the driving and stopping a couple of times makes the journey less arduous. Of course there is the required stop at Tebay sevices so David can drool over (not literally, honest) and buy pies, let Maisie out for a pee (and us) and get some take away coffees. For lunch we stopped at a garden centre near Chester (honest just a coincidence) for lunch and then onwards through the Welsh border lands to Hay.
Our accommodation was just across the river from Hay in the little village of Clyro, where we had booked a wheat silo, yes that's right, you did read it correctly. We like Quirky and comfortable and this ticked all the boxes, looking over the river valley, the Welsh border and towards the Brecon Beacon hills to the south. It has a little self contained garden, ideal for Maisie and the whole top floor is the circular lounge with fabulous views. If you fancy a stay in this kind of fun building they have two other silos of varying sizes (ours slept two) and a medieval barn and large house available, just google Wheat silo Clyro, as they are on various holiday websites.
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This week we've been staying in a wheat Silo, as you do  |
Having arrived on Wednesday, on Thursday we headed into Hay-on-Wye and parked in the large town carpark, which is £5 for the day and a short walk into the town. The market was on so we had a browse of the local arts, crafts and produce on offer (main market is on Thursday and a smaller one on a Saturday) We visited a fair few bookshops and antique shops and a lovely crepe lunch at the Cosy Café which has a lovely atmosphere, good menu and is dog friendly. The town is compact, so its easy to find your way around the wee streets and lanes, enjoy all the pretty shop fronts, book shops, antique shops and so much more. A lot of shops are dog friendly, some are not and all the eating places we went to over our stay were dog friendly, but it was cool enough that Maisie could be in the car some of the time. It is very possible to be overwhelmed by all the book browsing and buying, even we got to the point where we needed a break lol, but with three full days here its easy enough to dip in and out.
On Friday the weather forecast was for a dry morning (the rain at times has been something else, especially at night) so we took ourselves for a walk to Mouse Castle! I mean if you have a Maisie Mouse dog you cannot miss an opportunity like this lol. Mouse Castle can be found on top of a wooded hill just to the east of Hay-on-Wye. We parked in the town car park and headed out on the main road towards the small village of Cusop. From the main road we climbed over a stile and across the fields following a public footpath. Over another two stiles which were made by long legged folk as wee stumpy legged me with the knackered knees really struggled to get over. It was quite wet underfoot after all the heavy rain that had fallen over the past few days.
After the third stile we walked along the road, taking a right at a t junction and along until we came to a kissing gate in the hedge. From here it was all up hill, up the field to the woods (another stile) and up through the oak woodland, It was lovely and peaceful with views opening up as we got to the top of the hill and the edge of the woodland. Along the base of Mouse Castle we had views east over the Welsh Marches towards Hereford.
Mouse Castle is a well preserved Motte and Baillie structure first constructed after the Norman invasion in 1066. All that remains are the earthworks, which are still very prominent. There are some thoughts it may have utilised the site of an iron age fort. Its prominent position with views along the Wye valley in all direction (when there were no woods) would have made it an ideal watch point.
You can climb onto of the motte, which is now home to some oak trees and get views to the north and east and of course the obligatory Mouse on Mouse castle photo! Once we'd explored the castle we returned the way we had come but went back by the road instead of across the fields. We came across an fabulous patch of snow drops in full flower on a bank beside the river, they are much further out than at home. Back into Hay and rewarded ourselves with a lovely pub lunch at the Blue Boar which is also dog friendly. A pint, a glass of wine and burgers and chips, chatting and relaxing in the lovely pub atmosphere. Then it was back for a lazy afternoon and evening with books and a snooze on the sofa.
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| Walking up to Mouse Castle |
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| Exploring Mouse Castle |
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| The journey back to Hay |
Saturday and a lovely brunch in
The Granery in Hay then a walk along the river through the woods with wooden sculptures along the way. We then visited the book shops we hadn’t got to yet and wanted to re-visit. Then back for a lazy afternoon and a deli dinner from the fabulous
Hay deli. Sadly all good things must com to an end and Sunday saw us making our way home. We passed so many trees laden with mistletoe, something we just don't see up here. A decent journey with a small diversion off the m6 due to an accident. Its always lovely to get away and explore but good to get home too. Now to crack on with the huge to do list at the nursery before we open for our 2026 season at the beginning of march.
A huge thank you to Betty for coming down to the house to cat sit Poppy which meant we could get away, I'm not sure who was looking after who but I think Poppy definitely kept Betty busy.
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| The garden of the silo |
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| Me n him |
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| Alder in the garden |
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| Mistletoe on the trees |
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| Books for me |
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| Books I bought for the nursery |
So which are our favourite bookshops? With near 30 bookshops in the town there is certainly plenty choice with some are dedicated to a specific genre including poetry, murder mystery, fantasy, Gay on Wye, music books (and records), childrens books and antiquarian (gorgeous old expensive but lovely to look at and some shops sell both new and second hand and some purely second hand.
We enjoyed and spent a lot of time in the following:
The Old Electric Shop - If I had a shop it would be this shop, eclectic, fun and a cafe too. Books are to be found in amongst all the other curious and fabulous things they sell.
Richard Booths Bookshop - On two floors this large shop houses new and second hand with a good gardening and nature section and bonus, an art section where I always pick up a new paint brush or two and dog friendly.
Addyman Books - If the books aren't your thing then the decor in this shop makes it worth a visit alone. They specialise in childrens books, fantasy, science fiction and vintage penguin books with those distinctive orange covers.
Green Ink Booksellers - On the ground floor and in the basement you will find a good range of second hand books including history, childrens books, art and general fiction.
Hay Cinema Bookshop - given as the name implies it is situated in the old cinema you can imagine hosw big this book shop is! On two floors we spend ages here especially as it has an excellent history and gardening department.
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