Heaven in Hay-on-Wye

Happy birthday SK, happy birthday Gea… May is crazy birthday month!

Gutted to have missed The Sultan’s Elephant – there are some pics on the website that I will check out later… I hope Royal de Luxe come back soon!

Anyhow we just spent a long weekend in the countryside with M as his belated birthday present..

from 4 May..
Paddington > Newport > Hereford > Hay on Wye
Picked up by P and taken to Lower House in Cusop Dingle.
An unbelievabley beautiful place… The house is an old mill, with
wonky wooden beams and floors, cubby holes and (my favourite!) window seats that look out of the 7 acres of heaven that is their garden….
The garden has lawns, wildflower meadows, trees, topiary, a vegetable patch, statues, stones, cairns, a fountain and a babbling brook at the end..
I
am so happy to be here.. I can imagine just hanging out, reading some
of the *thousands* of books they have lining the walls and relaxing..
yay!
Later we walk into town along the Offa’s Dyke path that runs along a bank behind the house.. We had some Shepherd’s ice cream, drank coffee and I was seduced by ribbons in a haberdashery shop!..
That
night we walked back over the fields for a drink in Hay, and when it
was pouring with rain later that night we got a lift home from one of
the town’s postmen.. :)
Pedometer reading!: 7,000 steps (about 4 miles)

from 5 May
Hay > Clifford > Whitney Toll Bridge > Rhydspence > Hay
Blissful sunshine so we set out via a bookshop (picked up a 60′s children’s book – fun with crewel embroidery!), a ruined castle, overgrown railway embankments and a stocking footed man playing a tin whistle and charging 50p to cross the Whitney Toll Bridge. He pointed out a 14lb salmon that was resting in the shady water under the bridge – it looked refreshing so we went down on the banks and dangled our feet in the cool river… Heard woodpeckers in the woods along Offa’s Dyke Path back into Hay.. in the name of research tested Shepherds Rhubarb & ginger and Cherry icecreams…M spent the night being sick, but it wasn’t the icecreams honest!
Pedometer reading!: 22,000 steps (about 11 miles)

from 6 May
Cusop > Capodolwyn > Mouse Castle Woods > Hay
M still sick so go for a wander by myself up to Cusop Castle (site of) and the start of the Black Mountains.. There a squillions of footpaths in Cusop so you can pretty much go in whichever direction you like… I headed up to Mousecastle Woods (steep!) and say the remains of the Motte and Bailey of Mouse Castle (v. overgrown and tangly).

Figured I’d head into Hay and get some presents and a paper for M, but realised when I got there I had only cash… Still it was enough to get some organic bread from the bakery and organic apples from Charlie Hicks’s(!!) greengrocer – they are big on organic / local produce here… the only crisps in the pub are Tyrell’s from Leominster – right on!

M feeling better so meet him for tea in town, and he also brings my purse… I can now check out the wool and willow shop! M is thrilled (heh). After finding out about all the crazy stuff about UK sheep farmers getting a sorry deal with regards to yarn, I do my bit and buy some Jacob’s wool from a nearby farm (sroll down to see photos of ‘the ladies’ the yarn comes from!)… We need more local suppliers like these.. :)

Pedometer reading!: 14,000 steps (about 6 miles)

from 7 May
Hay > Glasbury > Llowes > Hay
M better so with preparatory ice-creams in hand (mint choc-chip this time!) we head west out of Hay, along the banks of the Wye… Pass a cool farm sign and nature reserve (Glasbury cutting) then reach Glasbury and a nice cafe where you can hire canoes.. On the other side of the river we follow the Wye Valley Walk path, M ‘tests’ the current of an electric fence (!) and we scramble onwards and upwards to the village of Llowes – amazing views of Black Mountains.. A lunch of bread, apples, cheese crisps and water in the churchyard (sounds a bit Famous Five!) and we head back into Wye, this time looking over the Warren and going through an organic farm.. We reach Hay just as the weather breaks and it starts to pour… It’s a good way to end a holiday though, the rain really says ‘ok time to go home now’.. :)

Pedometer reading!: 25,000 steps (about 14 miles)

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