Blogs from Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe

What is the connection between books , a literary festival and an unwelcome visit for Gabby ?. It is Hay on Wye another lovely town on the River Wye. We guessed that Ross on Wye and Hay on Wye would be very similar in character . Small towns with narrow streets full of book shops. Another Butter Market and lots of shops, cafes and pubs . What was different a large and empty car park . Hay welcomed us with plenty of room to park up our hotel on wheels . There were few cars and an area at the bottom of the car park with grass over which Gabbys derrier could park . An added bonus the lovely town had offered us 2 hours free parking . This would give us enough time to have ... read more

Hola a todos! Ya cumplí mis dos semanas en la granja “nueva”, Primrose Earth Centre, la cual se encuentra en el oeste de Gales en las faldas de las Black Mountains (Montanas Negras). Primrose Earth Centre es completamente diferente a Abbey Home Farm, donde estaba anteriormente. Mis primera impresión era “que desorden!” seguido por “pero que hay aquí – que caminito tan interesante – donde va?”. Es que envés de un campo abierto dividido en parcelas, como era el caso en Abbey Home Farm – todo super ordenado y “en su sitio”, me encontré en un red enredado de caminitos que undulaban entre parcelas pequeñas repletas de hortalizas, escondidas entre arboles y arbustos llenos de frutos y con flores por todos lados. Andando por uno de estos caminitos me conseguí con un bosquecillo con arboles de ... read more

Hi Friends and Family, Its time to go horse-riding. Yeah, you heard me! It HAS been a while. The last time I did a horse trek was in 2001. In the Dominican Republic. With a couple of local cowboys! I don’t have any pictures though ‘cos during the gentle trot, my horse decided to gallop away into the sunset. I was sooooo SCARED and unfortunately, my constant kicking at the heels only made the horse go faster. Oh my goodness. Well, I lived to tell the tale but have no video recollections and definitely no photos of the event. Cue 2010. This time, it was gonna be different. This time I booked with a respectable riding establishment recommended by the Brecon Beacons National Park. I chose LLANTHONY RIDING AND TREKKING. www.llanthony.co.uk Based at Court Farm next ... read more

Day 16 Gospel Pass - Hay - Kington - Presteigne - Knighton 33miles (475) Another bright day with a lift to the top of the pass to start with an easy down hill run. Five and a half miles in fact down to Hay covered in about 20 minutes! After a quick look around Hay I cycled on along the Wye valley for a few miles to cross the toll bridge. A canoeing group were enjoying the river under the rather rickety old wooden bridge. After a short piece of main road I climbed up the minor roads for the scenic route over to Kington coming down from the hill with good views of the Hergest ridge. Good views of dipper, grey wagtail and kingfisher in the river where I stopped for a brew. Kington ... read more

I've always said that when my fiance and I combine households, we are going to drown in books. Today I worked hard to contribute to our impending deaths by book avalanche. With my recent trip to Scotland and my adventures in England, I decided to go for the hat trick and go to Wales. Barely. My destination was Hay-on-Wye, just over the border. Hay-on-Wye, or "Ham-on-Rye" as a friend suggested to me, began to build its bookish reputation when a London bookseller relocated to just over the Wales border, where the taxes and overhead costs were lower. Book buyers started making the trip, so other book sellers went to where the book buyers were, which were followed by more book buyers... and you get the idea. It snowballed. If you want a list of the bookshops, ... read more