Tucked on the edge of the Welsh border with England, Hay-on-Wye is a curious little market town known as much for its world-famous literary festival as for its second-hand bookshops that spill out onto cobbled lanes and quiet corners.
My journey there began in Cardiff, a two-hour drive through winding countryside that gently ushers you into the Brecon Beacons. You can also get there by train and bus, though it’s a bit of a patchwork - train to Hereford or Abergavenny, then a bus or taxi for the last leg.
For those travelling from London, it’s about three and a half hours by car, or a mix of train and bus connections. It’s not the quickest place to reach, but that’s part of its charm - Hay isn’t built for speed, it’s built for wandering.
When I arrived, the pace was noticeably slower. This is a town where you can lose hours in a single bookshop, particularly in Richard Booth’s Bookshop, which is more like a book lover’s theatre than a retail space. Booth, often referred to as the self-declared ‘King of Hay’, famously crowned himself monarch of the town in the 1970s as part of a clever stunt to draw attention to Hay’s potential as a book capital. It worked. Now there are more books than people, and a thriving economy built on second-hand stories.
The annual Hay Festival in late May and early June brings in big names - authors, thinkers, politicians but even outside the festival, the town hums quietly with creativity. I stumbled into a poetry reading above a cafe one rainy afternoon, and found a local art exhibit tucked behind a bakery. The River Wye runs calmly through the town, offering canoeing for those who want a different view, and walking paths for others content with solid ground. The route from Hay Bluff across the Black Mountains is worth a half-day hike if the weather holds.
Historically, Hay-on-Wye has been around for centuries, with a Norman castle keeping watch over the town since the 12th century. It’s mostly a ruin now, but still holds a certain weight, especially when mist curls around its walls in the early morning. The town also has roots in the wool trade, and its market charter dates back to 1625. You can still catch a weekly market on Thursdays in the square, with local cheese, meat, and hand-thrown pottery sold by vendors who seem to know every face in town.
Hay-on-Wye isn’t flashy. It doesn’t need to be. It offers quiet corners, well-thumbed books, muddy boots, and the slow burn of stories waiting to be found. Whether you're drawn in by its history, its scenery, or simply the idea of an entire town in love with books, it's worth the detour.
