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
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.
Tags: Cadw, Crickhowell, Hay-on-Wye, The Swan at Hay, Tretower Court & Castle, Wales, Weekend away
I am currently sorting out my photos and memoires from my recent weekend away.
Tags: Books, Hay-on-Wye, Wales, Weekend away
My first walk into Wellington, on Saturday afternoon was a mission to see a recently painted Christmas Tree window that I had noticed on a local website. The town was buzzing as I walked through it, with people taking part in the activities leading up to ‘the turning on’ of the Christmas lights later that afternoon. The jolly atmosphere gave me a warm glow and a lump in my throat as it brought back childhood memories of Wellington at Christmas time.
I skirted away from the busy area, making my way to the window. It is wonderful and well worth a visit. Then I, made my way to the church to see the remembrance poppies and also check out the trees in the churchyard for a 2022 photographic project I have in mind. As I was leaving the town square the Wellington Brass Band were just starting to play. I lingered a while to hear them play Christmas Carols before making my way to the nearby church lych-gate where I found a small memorial. Just beyond the lych-gate the church grounds were buzzing with people, elves and children. They were generally having fun whilst queuing to see Father Christmas, taking part in a lantern making workshop or having their faces painted. I left the festivities behind, continuing my walk, detouring via Little Apley Pool before returning home.
The following day Mr C suggested that after, we had prepared our evening meal and put it in the oven to slowly cook, we walk to Wellington to see the Christmas lights in full glow. We had a few technical hitches as we left the building; the (dratted) coat stand decided to fall over as Mr C reached for his coat, Mr C’s mobile rang (twice) leading him to set the alarm before I had unlocked the front door! We thought we had made it out of the door in time but the alarm went off anyway. We went back inside to turn it off but it set itself to walk test mode. Eventually we left the building for our walk in the crisp coolness of the evening.
We arrived in Wellington to find that neither the tree in the churchyard was lit up nor the lights in the town square. I suspect ‘The Goblins’ had tampered with them. This part of our walk was disrupted by a loud mouthed youth, incoherently shouting to his mate across the road before aggressively banging on a sandwich bar door because he wanted something to eat but the place was closed. The sandwich bar opened shortly after his outburst but by this time was in the nearby bookies.
Calm restored, we enjoyed the rest of our walk. We chose a tree lined college route back home which was lovely and relaxing. Back home, Mr C was greeted with the aromas (I have no sense of smell) of spicy lamb shanks as they slowly cooked to perfection.
Tags: #walk1000miles, #Walk1000miles2021, Christmas, Christmas Lights, Nostalgia, Shropshire, Wellington
