Tretower Castle

We set off on our journey to Hay-on-Wye later than we intended.  Our first destination was Tretower Court and Castle, with a planned lunch stop along the way. Lunch opportunities proved non-existent. Although we weren’t expecting the Bird on the Rock tearooms to be open we made a slight detour just in case they were. We arrived at the property to find it looking both closed and derelict. I was curious so I searched on Google and found that sadly, the property is up for auction.

We stopped for lunch in Cafe Hay, Hay-on-Wye (toasted ham, cheese and chutney sandwich for me) before continuing to Tretower where we were treated to a short talk about the history of the site by a Cadw representative who also showed us the best route to enjoy it.

Jolly Snowman

Afterwards we headed back to Hay-on-Wye for our stay in The Swan at Hay, stopping off at a garden centre for tea and cake and a visit to the Christmas Grotto (it just had to be done). As we travelled, we were treated to spectacular displays of Red Kites soaring in the sky.

The Swan at Hay

Back in Hay-on-Wye we checked into the hotel, unpacked and chilled out before dining in the hotel restaurant. The bar area was busy due to an art sale event taking place. We found a quiet corner to enjoy our pre dinner drink before dining. The restaurant was calm and the food delicious. By the time we had finished our meal the bar area was less crowded allowing us to have a nightcap in relative calm.

Christmas at The Swan at Hay

14 Comments CherryPie on Dec 7th 2021

14 Responses to “Hay-on-Wye – Day One”

  1. lisl says:

    Sounds like an excellent start to your break, Cherie

  2. It looks a lovely hotel and a great start to your break away.

  3. A. Scott says:

    A place I intend to visit when on one of our visits to our son in Cheltenham, not too far away. We may request “The Cherie Room” in the Swan, as I am sure it will then be labelled :)

  4. Astrid says:

    This looks like a nice little journey, Cherry. And that bed looks very inviting to have some great dreams. Gardencenters are “a must”, it is fun to walk through. I think many places will end up not surviving “Covid” and have to be sold :(

    • CherryPie says:

      The places I have shown on my recent travels are the survivors. They found innovative ways to keep going through our various lockdowns. This garden centre had set up its café area in a delightful way with flowery screens between tables to allow for social distancing. It was rather intimate :-)

  5. Ginnie Hart says:

    You’re already getting into the Christmas spirit, I see, Cherry. Good for you. And btw, I’ll never forget the one-time visit we made to Hay-On-Wye when we visited their huge second-hand book store. OMG.

    • CherryPie says:

      I wonder which of the bookstores you visited, there are a couple of really large ones at the moment. All the bookshops are lovely in different ways and I bought three books in the Richard Booth bookshop.

  6. Wales has so many hidden gems.

  7. Shabana says:

    a beautiful start of fresh tour dear Cheri :)

    hotel room looks amazing and cozy ,i like the coziness you mentioned in the hotel particularly