Books Books Books

I love Hay-on-Wye because it is the most bookish town in the world with two dozen or so bookshops all within walking distance.  Bill went to play golf while I was left to roam the town.  We've been here before and blogged about it…and no doubt, took all the same pictures!  But here they are again anyway.

The castle is defunct but now part of the bookish landscape.  

Here is the view from the top of the steps looking down at the open air bookstalls.

One of my favorites was the mystery bookshop called Murder and Mayhem.  I love the sign and the silhouettes painted on the wall.  

Down the street was a window full of Penguin editions.

A painted doorway.

One of my favorite rooms.

Another of my favorite rooms.

Can you see the writing on the wall?  "Buy a Book…at any time."

Even books in the alley ways.

This one was an honesty shop - take a book and leave your money in the box.

I didn't buy this book but the title certain caught my eye.  I'm not even sure what it means!  But I'm tempted to start calling my mom "Saucy Sue"!

Our Stay in Hay

And then it was time to get back on the road.

We ended up here, in Hay-on-Wye on the border between Wales and England.  

Our cottage was the first while one in the middle.

Another winner.  So cozy and well stocked.  And even though it was small, it felt roomy with plenty of space for us to to spread out.

The living room lead back to the kitchen.

Off the kitchen was the eating area and off of that was a beautiful patio.

Then you go upstairs.  The stair was very steep and narrow so there were handles all along the wall.

At the top of the stairs is the toilet.  I don't mean the bathroom because that would imply that there were walls.  No, the toilet was at the top of the stairs.

If you turn to the right there was the bed room - but there was no door so the whole second floor was open plan.  A little odd, don't you think?  Not the kind of set up you want if you aren't really close to the person you're staying with.  

Bee-have!

Everyone keeps asking us if we climbed Mount Snowdonia.  The answer is no.  Basically, I didn't even know there was a Mt Snowdonia or where it was in relation to where we were.  For all I know we DID climb Mt Snowdonia….but I'm pretty sure we didn't.  We drove and walked and admired views and enjoyed the area without feeling the urge to climb a mountain.  

After a day of not climbing the mountain we stopped at The Ugly House - a little cafe that also has a bee exhibit.

Bill really enjoyed the interactive bee hive.

This picture makes me belly laugh every time!!  

The cafe area was very cute.  With the door open several little birds tended to fly in and out.  Unfortunately one of the waitresses was terrified of birds!  She would run back to the kitchen and cower behind one of the beams if she saw one.  It was a bit strange - just shut the door if it's such a problem!  I actually enjoyed seeing them fly in looking for crumbs under our table.

One of the many views we stopped for….there are more pictures of this but these are the only pictures I had loaded and I wanted to get a post out today so this is it for now.  I'll work on more over the weekend.

More from Snowdonia

Our drive to the Welsh coast looked like this.

Of course, we had to get out of the car and be part of the landscape.

Our destination was Caernarvon for lunch and a castle.  We wanted a pub but we were hesitant to go in to this one - - it's called The Black Boy.  That doesn't seem right.  Are we condoning something if we eat here??   We just wanted lunch but it suddenly felt like a political statement.  

In the end we decided that it might mean something different to the Welsh and if it were truly offensive wouldn't they have closed/changed the name.  I'm glad we went in because I loved the atmosphere with the dark low beams and the various bric-a-brac.

After lunch we walked through town to see the castle.  Have you ever noticed that British towns often have bunting in the streets on regular days?  We don't even tend to have much bunting on a holiday, let alone a random September Tuesday.  The US needs to get its act together and start bunting!

Now this is a castle!  Bill stayed outside with a cigar while I tried to cover as much territory as I could.  The place was huge with lots of staircases and passageways.

Later that night we had dinner in a hotel out on the main "highway" near our house.  Again, I just love the beamed ceilings and cozy use of mismatched furniture, comfy chairs used with wooden chairs at the tables.  The food was really good too so we were very happy with our choice.

My hair really looks like quite a mess in this picture.  As if I didn't have a brush.  The reality is that I DIDN'T have a brush.  I accidentally left it at home so I did the air dry curly look for 2 weeks.  

Bill, of course, looks like his usual dapper self.  By the end of the night we had the room to ourselves so we were messing around with the drop leaf table talking about whether something like that would work in our house - - We live table-free, which is fine for when it's just the two of us, but as soon as we have guests it seems really weird that we have no table to eat at.  This is Bill, checking out the size with the leaf down.  Another rowdy night out for the old folks in Wales. 

Cwm Penmachno

This was our house in Cwm Penmachno Wales for 3 nights.   This is a row of minor's cottages in the middle of Snowdonia National Park.  We were in the one with dark stone exterior and the white door in the center.

The row is in the middle of no where. The cottages sit at a crossroads in between two villages.  But there is a phone booth!  This makes me think of the old movie Local Hero - has anyone else seen that movie?  I just looked an it is available to stream on Amazon…granted, it's been over 30 years since I saw it but I loved the fish out of water story of an American trying to do business in a remote Scottish village. 

Outside the cottage is very rustic, but inside it was completely modern.  The living room had a small log burner and lots of sheepskin.

The kitchen was the perfect size for us (non-cooks).  Fortunately the fire extinguisher was not required during our visit.

Out the kitchen door was a steep set of stone stairs leading up to a little patio with a table and chairs.

With a beautiful view!  This was Bill's smoking area for the duration.

This was the view leading back down to the house.  It was a bit treacherous when wet but I managed not to fall.

This picture doesn't show how big the bedroom is and I didn't take a picture of the bathroom - which was spacious and had the best shower of our trip.

Views from my morning walks up the mountain...

All that walking gave me an appetite.  My first real Welsh Cakes.  Dee-lish!

Two happy vacationers!