As a volunteer I was allowed to see the mansion decked in all it’s glory the day before it opens for public viewing. Visitors are in for a treat.

Due circumstances beyond my control I did not have the opportunity to see the outdoor Christmas Trail as I had intended to do.

Hay-on-Wye is a little town whose northern and eastern boundaries border England. The spectacular countryside which surrounds Hay is just a few steps away from wherever you are in town. Stroll along the banks of the River Wye or in the foothills of the Black Mountains and unwind in the tranquil setting. Crossing the border, over the Dulais Brook, will take you through the fertile fields of the Golden Valley.

Across the River Wye are the rolling green hills of Radnor. A short drive away from Hay, up a single track road, will take you to the base of Hay Bluff which rises 2,227ft, and rom where there are spectacular, uninterrupted views over the Brecon Beacons National Park, Radnorshire and Herefordshire.

Nestling amidst all this splendour is Hay-on-Wye, the jewel in the crown of Wales and known throughout the world as the ‘Town of Books’. Richard Booth, self-proclaimed King of Hay, opened his first second-hand bookshop in 1962 and proceeded to create the largest second-hand and antiquarian book-selling centre in the world. *

*Information from a 2018 Tourist Information booklet

On Saturday a window of opportunity arose for a mid afternoon walk in Attingham Park. Unfortunately the mansion has to remain closed this year but the grounds have been decked out in a Christmassy theme.

When I awoke on Christmas morning I was treated to a beautiful sunrise glowing through one of our bedroom windows. I tried to photograph the sunrise through the bedroom window but the sun was so bright that it caused too many reflections on the glass. I did however manage to capture the sunny glow through the windows next to the front door. By the time I had got dressed the sunshine had become obscured by clouds.

I enjoyed ‘my gift’ of sunny light on Christmas morning, it was a delight

Edwin Louis Cole

We had some complications along the way but both Christmas trees are finally up and decorated. As I was going to bed on Saturday evening I noticed that even though the heating was turned off it still appeared to be running. It is only a few weeks since we had a similar problem fixed. This meant we had to call out a service engineer to come and look at it, he phoned just as we were about to get the decorations down from the loft. This meant it was better to leave the decorations where they were until he called to fix the problem.

After he had departed we brought the decorations down and proceeded to set up the tree in the dining room which is at the front of our house. After the tree was put together it was time to drape the lights around the tree. We always check them spread out on the floor before putting them on the tree and they seemed to be working fine. However once they were draped around the tree one of the colours failed, which I suspected was terminal. Mr C fiddled with them on the tree and then at my request took them off again so they would be easier to check out. He changed the fuses and some of the bulbs and still they refused to work. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable about them and suggested that we used a spare set that we had.

One tree was adorned with the spare set of lights and decorations it was time to work on the tree in the sitting room which is at the back of the house. As I was assembling the tree Mr C looked for the lights which were nowhere to be found. He went up in the loft to see if he had left them up there by mistake. It was only when he came back down that I had the vague recollection of this set of lights failing last year. One of the colour strands had gone and as it was the type where the bulbs cannot be replaced we had binned it!! By this time it was too late to pop to the garden centre to pick up a new set up lights. That had to be done this evening and now the second tree is all sparkle and glow.

I have not had time to take any photographs yet so I will leave you with a couple from previous years.