Hay-on-Wye

Hay-on-Wye, September 2025

Lola II and I have been on a 'mini-break' that was planned to include two nights in Hay-on-Wye, a day in Worcester and then another two nights in Gloucester. She has been doing all the blogging for a change, so here is the first part of her [slightly edited] account, rather than mine.

Day 1

"Hay-on-Wye is a historic market town on the Welsh-English border, famous as the 'Town of Books' and home to the annual Hay Festival. The town is set in the beautiful landscape of the Brecon Beacons National Park." 

We arrived at 11am and headed to Tourist Information in the rain, only to find it closed! Signs on the door indicated it should be open and gave no reason for its closure. 

We spent our first day wandering around the small town with its multitude of independent shops, cafés and restaurants. Entering our first bookshop there was no warning that we would be swallowed into another world - floor to ceiling bookshelves on the ground floor, the basement, the first floor and the little side room up a few stairs. While Lola I wandered around, showing enormous strength in browsing and not buying, I was delighted to find a section with paints, yarns, material and more. 

Lunch was in a lovely tiny place that serves a different thing each day. Today was Mexican food with zero alliums. Clearly, although the Tourist Information and the Rain gods were not smiling down in us, the Allium gods were. 

Honesty bookshop: unstaffed, all books £1 (photo credit: Lola II)

Next, a shop called Murder & Mayhem with all books on the theme of... well... murder and mayhem. We had a lovely chat with a nearly-toothless not-that-old woman (earlier in the day there had been a man of similar appearance). Across the road was another bookshop that provided an exquisite setting for books. The many nooks, crannies, stairs and teeny-tiny rooms were jam-packed with books. Just when we thought we’d explored it all, there was another room. And another. And another. 

The cakes offered in Hay's cafés are very poor. We did chance upon one bakery with a good selection, but the key item (chocolate éclair) was sold out when we returned later in the day. Good thing we have another day here tomorrow to remedy that disaster. So a cuppa and an ice cream saw us through the challenge of choosing an evening dining establishment - surprisingly, there weren’t really many places that appealed.

Dinner was in a pub down the road where Lola I whipped out a card game called Odin, which was simple to play and great fun. And lastly, my favourite question of Lola I’s put to ChatGPT (which tells you something about our dinner): “What did people do before tomatoes?”

Photo credit: Lola II

Day 2

Thursday is market day! Love a good market. The view from our bedroom showed five stalls and it was remarkable that we didn’t notice any noise from their construction. I was concerned. Only five stalls? I felt cheated. Luckily when we emerged into the street, following our host-provided breakfast of overnight oats there were many more stalls further up in the town. 

It was lovely with a variety of food and not too much tat. The woman on the soap stall was a little too pushy for my liking, insisting that I smell absolutely everything and, frankly, after three sniffs, everything starts to smell the same. The knife-sharpening stall got our attention because we both have knives we’d like sharpened. He explained how he sharpened serrated knives. 

Of course, one eye has to be assessing every single food item on offer for lunch suitability. Lola I selected cheese, a bagel and an éclair (thank goodness the bakery had re-stocked). I chose smoked mackerel pate and focaccia. We shared heritage tomatoes because we know the importance of a varied diet. And they were pretty. 

On mum’s suggestion we went into a bookshop to ask about the possibility of selling dad’s many books to them. I don’t know if mum is in league with the bookshop but, once in there, Lola I realised she was going to have to explore it fully. I took our food back to our room and returned, only to find that calling out her name to locate her only works on the third or fourth try - that’s how large and twisty-turny these shops are. 

700 year old door, Hay Castle

Back to base and we cracked open our delicious lunch, heading out again to visit Hay Castle and book ourselves onto a tour. Love a tour. Our favourite bit was the door that is still hanging after 700 years. The guide was good but, for some reason, spent 45 minutes outside telling us things without moving, and it was not a warm day. 

With surprisingly few quality dining establishments in town (and believe me, we’ve checked) for supper we had a meal that was both magnificent and excellent value at a restaurant a 30-minute drive away in Builth Wells. We’ve now returned home for our last sleep before heading off to Worcester tomorrow.