The river Wye winds its way across Herefordshire & after overnighting in Ross-on-Wye, I really wanted to visit the well known Y Gelli Gandryll or Hay-on-Wye, known for its book shops & literary events. It is just in Wales & again on the river Wye.
The 400 vehicle car park was already filling up mid morning & we parked up & walked in to the little town.
First stop was tourist information to get some back ground info on the town.
It is evident that all things literacy are celebrated here - the numerous bookshops cheek by jowl with each other as well as a market in the square.
The bookshop lists help to plan if you are after a specific book or genre of books.
The town also an impressive array of printers.
Hay Castle has a prominent position above the town - solid & imposing with some book shelves under cover at the walls, an honesty box close by. People are generally honest & this is a good welcome to the town.
It has a commanding view over the town from the viewing platform high up in the castle.
A fascinating space with a long history. I did not know the history of the book connection to Hay just that it celebrated books.
Mr Richard Booth founded the connection to books in 1961, an eccentric person who declared himself as king with his own titles etc.
Monied eccentrics have always brightened up life on our Isles & he was no different. It was good to get up to speed on his history about the castle displays.
The castle was restored with lottery money, a great deal of it, & it is definitely worth visiting.
It was still bucketing down with rain when we descended from the Castle to the high street & wandered around the many shops & stalls.
It is an absolute joy to see so many bookshops & people celebrating reading. My first job in England was working in our local public libraries as an assistant, then later in a university library that I absolutely loved the academic buzz. I value the skill of reading very highly as an educator because it unlocks knowledge, & knowledge is power.
I did not buy any books because I have several stacks of books that remind me that I am way behind on whittling them down ...
My friend made this book carry pouch / bag for me for my birthday (we share a birthday) and I had a book with for my overnight trip that I had found some quiet time in a park to read a chapter or two in Ross-on-Wye.
I am working my way through my stash of books.
The rain had eased by the time we returned to our car & gave our parking space over to a family that had been looping the 400 vehicle car park several times so they were relieved to take our space & a fellow antipodean stopped for a quick chat ...
On our way over the river Wye, we spied a small café near the river & pulled in for a drink & a fabulous cake. The Treehouse café had a delectable array of cakes & treats to enjoy on the deck overlooking the river Wye.
The canopy of trees & a babbling river were a pleasant break from the wet town & the clouds were slowly clearing after the heavy downpours earlier.
I am so pleased to have been to Hay on Wye & to Hay Castle, it is good to visit new places, even just once.
Do you have more books than you can read at one time? What is your strategy for whittling them down ...
Dee 📚📘📕📓📗📖
