Hay on Wye is a wonderful ‘town of books’ located in the Brecon Beacons and around a 45 minute drive away from Pippins Holiday Cottage.
It is perfect for a day out to browse quirky independent shops and a great place to have lunch or dinner. As it was such a lovely day I (Vikki) decided that it would be nice to take Zak as we haven’t been for a couple of years and he wasn’t sure if he could remember going.
We parked in the large carpark on Oxford Road and made our first stop at The Fudge Shop. This is a fantastic little shop selling lots of sweet treats, we opted for a bar of handmade chocolate orange fudge which was absolutely delicious. Next we walked through the alleyways of small shops and out onto Castle Street where we visited various independent shops selling furniture, clothing and lots of interesting things. We stopped at the Hay Antiques Market to look at the huge selection of glass, furniture, jewellery and collectables on offer. Some of the rooms are filled to the roof with glassware, its really very beautiful. We also made a quick call into The Pet Shop and picked up a new toy for Luna.
It was getting towards lunchtime so we walked around to The Granary Café which is located in Broad Street. We both opted for the Spaghetti Bolognaise which was nice, they do all the food available on the adult menu as a child’s menu too – just a smaller portion. This was great as Zak hates to only be offered fish fingers or chicken nuggets when going out to eat so anywhere with good food options for kids is a must for us.
After lunch we walked further down the street to visit a shop called The Hourglass Collection where they sell fossils, crystals and gemstones. This was the highlight of our visit, what a wonderful shop! The owner of the shop showed us so many interesting things and let us look at and hold many of them. We came away with a small shark tooth and a piece of Ulexite – also known as TV stone.
On our walk back to the car park we looked in lots of the bookshops. We picked up a Harry Potter book called Tales of Beadle the Bard from Clock Tower Books. We also went to Richard Booth’s Bookshop which is a 3 floored shop selling new and 2nd hand books in a beautiful building. Hay Castle was on the route back to the car, the Castle has been recently renovated and is now open to the public – for the first time in 900 years! It was great to be able to explore inside and go up to the top. The viewing platform gives stunning views over the town and the river Wye.
Back near the carpark we picked up more fudge to take home for everyone and then popped into Otherworldz – a brightly coloured shop selling trinkets, purses, clothing, crystals, windchimes and much more. We thoroughly enjoyed our day at Hay on Wye which is why we always recommend guests to visit when staying with us.