Cherie's Place

Filed under Anecdotes, Hay-on-Wye 2021, Holidays

Hay-on-Wye – Day Three

We packed and loaded the car before breakfast so that there was no need for us to go back to our room; we could just check out and set off to our chosen destination, Wigmore Castle. You may note the continuing War of the Roses theme.

We parked in Wigmore village and walked past the Parish Church along the undulating path to the Castle. It was only on our way back from the castle that we noticed that the church had recently closed because it was no longer possible to afford cleaners to keep people safe.

The walk to the castle was lovely although as we approached it the pathway was muddy in places. The castle is mostly overgrown and being kept that way so that the wildlife habitat of the area is not destroyed.

Whilst we were exploring the castle, Mr C and I walked the paths in different ways. A robin visited Mr C on the path that he chose. When our paths converged I stopped to take a photograph of Mr C at the top of some steps. As I did so, I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye… the robin was sitting on the ground next to my foot. The robin then hopped up onto the steps in front of me, looking for tasty morsels to eat.

Photo taken by Mr C

Mr C and I continued exploring the castle. As we paused to take in the view of the castle keep and the wider view from that perspective, the robin returned. He sat on a low fence next to us and was so close I could have reached out and touched him. He stayed with us long enough for Mr C to try and photograph him. The initial noise of the camera made Mr Robin jump and puff his chest out (making himself look bigger) but he immediately settled down and stayed with us until we walked away. He followed us and settled on the pathway between Mr C and I before disappearing into the undergrowth.

After our brief walk we headed to Tenbury Wells with lunch in mind. We enjoyed our drive through the town but lunch opportunities were not forthcoming; everywhere was shut. We moved on to plan B, Cleobury Mortimer, where we found the delightful and cosy Cleobury Cafe. We both chose a toasted teacake which, when it arrived, was toasted to perfection.

On our way home, we picked up some ingredients for a roast pork chop dinner. Back in our home town we checked up on our family members who had had emergency health issues just prior to our weekend away. They were all doing as well as could be expected, allowing us to enjoy one last (home cooked) meal to complete our weekend adventure.

Tags: Hay-on-Wye, Shropshire, Wales, War of the Roses, Weekend away, Wigmore Castle

6 Comments CherryPie on Dec 11th 2021

Filed under Anecdotes, Hay-on-Wye 2021, Holidays

Hay-on-Wye – Day Two

After a refreshing nights sleep it was time for breakfast. Continental breakfast (no rolls) and cooked breakfast options to order were on offer and didn’t disappoint.

We lingered at the breakfast table before walking into town to explore the bookshops. Mr C was keen to visit the Cinema bookshop to peruse its extensive military section. Currently he is interested in the Wars of the Roses, hence the visit to Tretower on our way to Hay-on-Wye. Whilst he was exploring the military section I found a tray labelled ‘Wales’ in the travel section. It was full of guide books for local attractions. As I browsed the items in the tray I noticed many that I have in my own guidebook collection including some Ministry of Works publications which I miss for their in-depth accounts of the heritage sites they covered. There was nothing new for me to add to my collection so I left empty handed, as did Mr C.

Next we visited the Richard Booth bookshop. We found that the café is currently closed so, at the appropriate time, we left for elevenses in the nearby Granary Café. Sadly the drinks were served in a takeaway cup. Suitably refreshed we returned to the Richard Booth bookshop to continue browsing their book selection. From previous visits, I remember the Folio Society Section of the bookshop and was disappointed to find the extensive collection of illustrated books was no longer stocked, although that part of the bookshop still retains the name associated with the book collection. This was easily my favourite bookshop of the day and I left with three purchases; The Book of Hay by Kate Clarke, The Elan Valley Clearance by David Lewis Brown and Wild Ruins by Dave Hamilton.

After visiting a few more bookshops including Addyman Books with its delightfully decorated themed rooms we returned to the Granary Café for lunch. I had a long discussion about sandwich options and the temptation of an extensive salad bar led me to choose a salad roll. There was a bit of a mix up with my order, when my roll arrived it was filled with smoked salmon (one of their standard options). The problem was quickly rectified and, when it arrived, the salad roll was delicious as I am sure the salmon roll would have been.

Comfortably replete, it was time to visit a few more bookshops before taking our book purchases back to the hotel. The carrying of books through intermittent rain squalls curtailed my ability to take many photographs as we explored the town. After relieving ourselves of our book purchases we returned to to town for a flapjack and tea in the Cosy Café. The Café was warm and cosy so we lingered a while before returning to the hotel to chill out before dinner, which for me included a relaxing soak in the bath.

Once again we dined in the hotel restaurant and on receiving the menu we found that a few of the options had changed to a Christmassy theme. I chose Chestnut Nut Roast accompanied with pureed butter nut squash, sautéed potato and a festive veg medley. I followed it up with a single scoop of Salted Caramel ice cream. It was all delicious.

Tags: Books, Bookshops, Flickr Toys, Hay-on-Wye, The Swan at Hay, Wales, Weekend away

12 Comments CherryPie on Dec 9th 2021

Filed under Anecdotes, Hay-on-Wye 2021, Holidays

Hay-on-Wye – Day One

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.

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.

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.