Wales Cottage Vacations — Discover Britain’s Best-Kept Secret

BRECON BEACONS • BLACK MTS • WYE VALLEY

MID-WALES

POWYS & MONMOUTH countIES

BOOKSHOPS — HAY-ON-WYE
BRECONSHIRE, POWYS, MID-WALES

MID-WALES

Lodgings:
RURAL COTTAGES & TOWNHOUSE APTS.

LOTS OF WALES, PLUS A BIT OF OLDE ENGLAND

  Home At First‘s Mid-Wales vacation cottages are in the midst of superb scenery between the mountains of Brecon Beacons National Park and the English border.
          Nearby is scenic wilderness inviting discovery on foot, on horseback, or by car. Search for King Arthur and Merlin here.
          Cross the border into England to visit Shakespeare country and the Cotswolds — easy days away. Another secret: the Welsh may be the friendliest people in Britain.

  Home At First’s Mid-Wales vacation cottages are within the Brecon Beacons National Park, in the midst of superb scenery to the north and the south of the Black Mountains, in & near the town of Hay-on-Wye (to the north, on the Wye River & the English border) and Crickhowell (to the south in the Usk River valley between the sizeable town Abergavenny and regional center of Brecon).
          The nearby Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons National Park are scenic Welsh wilderness playgrounds ideal for exploration on foot, on horseback or by car.

  Welsh cakes, Cardiff (the Welsh capital city),  quirky, nostalgic steam passenger trains, medieval castles, splendid mountains, valleys full of fairies & witches, prehistoric monuments, Dylan Thomas‘s simply poetic boatshed cabin, open-air markets full of Welsh crafts, coal tipples & iron works from the early industrial age, coastal resorts well-known & anonymous, ancient Celtic traditions, golf at classic seaside links & challenging parkland courses, and the mysteries of King Arthur  & Merlin all draw you to Wales.
          On the English side of the border Bath, Stratford-on-Avon, the Cotswolds, and Ironbridge, Shropshire, all are within reach as day trips.

NARROW BOATS ON THE MONMOUTHSHIRE &
BRECON CANAL, NEAR CRICKHOWELL, MID-WALES

 There is much more to do in Mid-Wales:
• Trace family roots, especially if your family name is Davies, Williams, Jones, Lewis, or Morgan. 
• Attend a rugby match or football (soccer) game.
• Mountainbike on dedicated, bike routes.
• Explore dozens of castles. especially Caerphilly, biggest in Wales.
• Shop for woolens, specialty foods, & crafts.
• Walk a portion of the towpath along the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. Stop at a canal-side pub for lunch.
• Visit open-air markets in local towns.
• Enjoy traditional Welsh music in a local pub, festival, church, or concert hall.
• Attend food festivals, music festivals, the Hay Festival, or regional eisteddfods.

NORTH WALES COAST • SNOWDONIA

NORTHWEST WALES

conwy & gwynedd counties

RAILWAY STATION PLAZA — BETWS-Y-COED
SNOWDONIA, ConWY, NORTHWEST WALES

northwest WALES 

Lodgings:
RURAL COTTAGES & TOWNHOUSE APTS.

WHERE THE HIGH MOUNTAINS MEET THE SEA

  Home At First‘s Northwest Wales vacation cottages are in or near Snowdonia National Park, where Britain’s highest mountains south of Scotland rise sharply from the sea.
          Snowdonia’s folded landscape offers rugged hiking, expansive beaches, great little steam trains, challenging seaside golf courses, impregnable medieval castles, and friendly villages with unpronounceable names.

  Home At First’s Northwest Wales vacation cottages are in the midst of superb scenery and ancient history, in & near the ruggedly handsome town of Betws-y-Coed, at the northern edge of Snowdonia National Park, a scenic wilderness ideal for exploration on foot, on a mountainbike, on horseback, or by car.
          Our Northwest Wales vacation cottages have all the comforts of home, and are perfectly located as bases for day trips into the national park, and throughout northern & northwestern Wales.

  Home At First’s Northwestern Wales vacation cottages are surrounded by the superb scenery of Snowdonia National Park, a scenic Welsh wilderness with Britain’s highest mountains south of Scotland, topped by Mt. Snowdon at 1085m (3,560′) above sea level.
          The northwestern corner of Wales rises sharply from the sea. Its folded landscape is home to great mountains with great hiking, expansive beaches, challenging inland and seaside golf courses, impregnable medieval castles, and friendly villages with unpronounceable names.

STEAM TRAIN DEPARTING PORTHMADOG FOR 
BLAENAU-FFESTINIOG, SNOWDONIA, NW WALES

  The “great little trains of Wales” reach into the heights of Snowdonia, into the misty vales of legend and myth, into tortured landscapes of slate and coal. Little trains aren’t the only big surprises in Britain’s smallest country — Wales is proof that good things come in little packages. 

  Northwestern Wales has had a long and often contentious history with invaders from the east and from the sea. The Welsh and the English built great fortified castles here. Eventually, the English monarchy honored the Welsh by naming their crown heirs Princes of Wales.
          Four great 13th century English castles at Caernarfon, Conwy, Beaumaris, and Harlech stand today along the coastal perimeter of northwest Wales have been designated a combined World Heritage Site.

  The coast of North & Northwest Wales offers a lot more than world-class castles.
          Nearly every coastal community features a beach or some seaside activities: surfing, sailing, diving, fishing, and links golf. Britons still flock to traditional Victorian North Wales cold-water sea resorts at Llandudno, Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn Bay, and Rhyl as well as to campgrounds and that curious British institution of “holiday camps” that are scattered along the Northwest Wales coast south of Caernarfon.
          Numerous golf courses occupy prime links land along the coasts of Conwy and Gwynedd. The best of these — including Royal St. David’s in Harlech, Nefyn & District G.C. on the Llyn Peninsula, and Maesdu G.C. between Conwy & Llandudno — rank among the best courses in Wales.

IN CLYRO VILLAGE, NEAR HAY-ON-WYE
POWYS, BRECON BEACONS NAT’L. PARK

EASTERN MID-WALES

crows NEST COTTAGE

In the village of Clyro, 3 minutes drive to Hay-on-Wye.

CROWS NEST COTTAGE: Home At First‘s Crows Nest Cottage is a two-bedroom, two-story cottage that sleeps up to 5 persons comfortably in traditional Welsh country style.
        The ground floor has a mud room by the entrance for boots and packs. A large refrigerator/freezer is set in the pantry between the small, well-equipped kitchen and the spacious livingroom/dining room, which has an operating fireplace and a flat-screen TV. 
       Upstairs are two bedrooms — one with a double bedroom and a single bed, and one with twin beds. Along the hall between the bedrooms is the bathroom  with a tub/shower.
       Private parking for one guest car is by the cottage. The owner/hosts live next door in their large, historic home. They take an active interest in their guests and are happy to talk about their region of Wales and make recommendations for activities, restaurants, day-trips, and shopping. 

THE VILLAGE OF CLYRO: Clyro — population under 800 persons — is small enough to seem  another sleepy Welsh place where nothing happens, and nothing ever has happened. But the village of Clyro has some surprises in store for visitors. 
       At first glance Clyro has late-medieval origins, based on the first historic mention of the parish church, St. Michael and All Angels, around which the village is circles. But Clyro once had its own castle (built in the 12 century?), and 1,000 years earlier its own Roman fort. 
       But it is the village church, the aforementioned St. Michaels, that has earned Clyro fame and notoriety far greater than its size would normally warrant.
        In the 1700s Clyro was visited several times by Methodism founder John Wesley, whose sermons there helped introduce the Nonconformist faith to Wales, spearheading a major religious & cultural movement in the country, one that still resonates today.
        A century later Francis Kilvert, the Anglican curate of St. Michaels, began writing diaries detailing rural life in Victorian Wales and England. Published just prior to World War II, Selections from the Diary of Rev. Francis Kilvert, became a popular wartime read for a populace nostalgic for simpler times. Kilvert’s subsequent popularity resulted in the region of eastern Mid-Wales and western Hereford often being referred to as “Kilvert Country”.
        Located a minute’s walk from the church, Home At First‘s Crows Nest Cottage bore witness to Wesley’s visits and Kilvert’s tenure.
        The property is walled and the house is built of stone with four prominent chimneys. Formerly the village vicarage (but not Kilvert’s residence) the cottage gets its name from the several large crows nests that occupy the treetops along the back of the property. Outside the cottage door you will likely hear crows cawing, but rarely the sound of automobiles. 

THE COTTAGE’S SETTING:  Set near the village center, its setting is quiet, open and nearly traffic-free, as the Clyro is 200 yards removed from the A438 main trunk road which connects the Brecon Beacons with the M6 motorway near Tewksbury, England, on the western edge of the Cotswolds.
        Clyro has a small village shop and post office, and a classic pub/restaurant at the historic Baskerville Arms Hotel.
        Clyro is 1½ miles (3min drive) from Hay-on-Wye, the important Mid-Wales market town on the English border. Hay offers shops, a supermarket, several pubs and restaurant, a medieval castle ruin, and more than twenty bookshops — most selling used books — the feature that gives the town international fame and draws tens of thousands each May/June to the Hay Festival that President Bill Clinton called the “Woodstock of the mind”.
       Clyro is at the northeastern corer of Brecon Beacons National Park. South and west of Clyro & Hay-on-Wye Wales rises with two mountain ranges (the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons), a region of challenging hills, wild, whitewater rivers, and delicious scenery, with few villages to interrupt the wilderness.
        Two other towns of size are in the National Park region. About 30min drive southwest is the market town of Brecon near the center of the National Park. Some 45min drive south leads to the large town of Abergavenny on the park’s eastern edge.

The junction of major Mid-Wales touring routes not far from Clyro.

ACTIVITIES & TOURING: Clyro and vicinity offer much to do: horseback riding, walking & hiking, kayaking, cycling, horseback riding, and golf lead the list.
        Many guests choose Clyro for their holiday because of its central location. As a touring base, Clyro offers excellent day-trip coverage of much of Wales plus western England as far as  Shakespeare country and the northern Cotswolds.
        Here’s a partial list of driveable destinations:

• London Heathrow Airport: 3-3½ hrs. SE
• Manchester Airport: 3 hrs. NE
• Aberystwyth on the west coast: 1¾ hrs. NW
• Builth Wells Golf Club: 30 min. NW
• Chirk Castle & Llangollen canal viaduct & steam railway: 2 hrs. N
• Stratford-on-Avon (Shakespeare’s town): 1¾ hrs. E
• Chipping Campden, northern Cotswolds: 1¾ hrs. E
• Bath Spa, England: 2 hrs. SE
• Tintern Abbey (romantic medieval ruin): 80 min. SE
• Abergavenny (large town, east edge of Brecon Beacons): 45 min. SE
• Monmouthshire Golf Club: 55 min. SE
• Celtic Manor Resort Golf Club: 80 min. SE
• Crickhowell (town btw the high Beacons & Black Mts.): 35 min. S
• Blaenavon World Heritage town (early Industrial Age): 1 hr. S
• Caerphilly Castle: 75 min. S
• Cardiff Castle: 85 min. S
• Brecon Mountain steam tourist railway: 50 min. SW
• Brecon (market town in central Brecon Beacons N.P.): 25 min. SW

    Regardless of whether you stay close to home or choose to day-trip far and wide, Clyro is a friendly, happy, and welcoming Welsh village to return to, to dine in, to stroll around, and to find some of Britain’s best-kept secrets.

IN BETWS-y-COED, conwy
 snowdonia national park

NORTHWEST WALES

LLUGWY BRIDGE cottage

In the Snowdonia National Park gateway village of Betws-y-Coed.

LLUGWY BRIDGE COTTAGE: Located in the center of the Northwest Wales village of Betws-y-Coed, Home At First‘s Llugwy Bridge Cottage sits behind a row of stone shops lining the main street.
        Built in the 18th century, the thick-walled, whitewashed, two-story cottage is one of the town’s oldest houses. The cottage — which is the right size for 2-persons up to 5-person families — is near its namesake road bridge carrying the B5106 across the rushing Llugwy River. 
        Access to the cottage is from above and behind the cottage by means of about twenty descending, uncovered steps. Inside the cottage six steps lead to the upper floor and four steps down to the ground floor. With so many steps, this cottage is not the best for guests with limited mobility.
        Upstairs is an upholstered living room with working wood-burning stove set inside the original Inglenook fireplace and a flat-screen TV.  The kitchen — equipped with electric oven, range, refrigerator/freezer, microwave, & washing machine — has a built-in dining area. 
        Downstairs on the ground floor are 3 bedrooms — 2 double bedrooms & 1 single — and the cottage’s bathroom, equipped with tub/shower.
        Inside, the cottage is warmed with gas central heat and connected to the world with free WIFI.
        Outside the cottage is a private, enclosed garden terrace with chair and tables perfect for outdoor dining in fine weather.
        Parking is on-street or in one of village pay-to-park lots. A two-minute walk from the cottage leads to the main street shops, restaurants, cafés, and services of downtown Betws-y-Coed. 

BETWS-Y-COED may have begun in the 13th century as a place involved in lead mining. However, it wasn’t until 1815, when the noted British civil engineer Thomas Telford constructed the “Waterloo Bridge” across the River Conwy to carry the A5 trunk road — the primary mail route between London and Holyhead, Wales, for the ferries to Ireland — that Betwys became a growing village easily reached from afar.
        The A5 — the Holyhead Road — is the main street of Betws-y-Coed, and the main street of Snowdonia National Park. Betws is the eastern gateway to the park. The A5 follows the River Llugwy west to Capel Curig then northwest over a pass before descending to Bangor, the Menai Strait, and Anglesey. Telford’s 1826 Menai bridge — a great British engineering landmark — daringly still suspends the A5 high across the Menai Strait.
        Betws is laid out along the A5, following River Conwy north and the Llugwy River west with the town center in the flats between the rivers. Numerous stores, hotels, B&Bs, cafés, and restaurants crowd this area, as do 3 parking lots, the train station, and the golf course.
        Betws is mid-way along the Conwy Valley Line secondary branch. Betws train station sees passenger trains 4-6 times a day (about every three hours) north to Llandudno Junction (by Conwy) and south to Blaenau Ffestiniog. The Conwy Valley Railway Museum, which operates a miniature steam railway, is opposite the Betws-y-Coed station.   
       West of Betws the Llugwy is wild, with sections of rapids, especially the dramatic Swallow Falls two miles west of town. Similarly, the River Conwy follows a scenic, twisting route from its headwaters east of Blaenau Ffestiniog, especially 2-3 miles southeast of Betws where the scenery takes on a mystical Welsh aspect in places like Fairy Glen, Fairy Falls, Rhaeadr Y Graig Lwyd waterfall, and the “Roman Bridge” and vestigial Roman road at the remote hamlet of Penmachno.

FOOTBRIDGE ACROSS RIVER LLUGWY AT SWALLOW FALLS.

ACTIVITIES & TOURING: There is much to do in Northwest Wales: walking & hiking, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, mountaineering, riding tourist passenger railways, exploring medieval castles, and playing golf lead the list.
        As a touring base, Northwest Wales offers great landscapes (high mountains rising from the seacoast), great density of historic sites (especially medieval castles), and undiscovered villages that have preserved rich Welsh heritage, food, and language. Here’s a partial list of driveable destinations:

• London Heathrow Airport: 4½ hrs. SE
• Manchester Airport: 2 hrs. ENE
• Ffestiniog steam tourist railway: 20 min. (car) or 26 min. (rail) SW
• Zip World Slate Caverns adventure park, Blaenau Ffestiniog: 20 min. SW
• Portmeirion Italianate village: 40 min. SW
• Harlech (for Harlech Castle & Royal St David’s Golf Club): 45 min. SW
• Talyllyn Railway steam tourist trains: 85 min. SSW
• Porthmadog — Welsh Highland Railway station: 40 min. SW
• Bala Lake steam tourist railway: 50 min. SSE
• National White Water Centre — rafting & canyoning: 35 min. SSE
• Llangollen Railway Station — steam heritage railway: 1 hr. E
• Pontcysyllte Canal Aqueduct — amazing World Heritage Site: 1 hr. E
• Ruthin: historic town with half-timbered buildings, craft center: 40 min. E
• Chester medieval walled city: 85 min. E
• Llandudno Victorian seaside resort town: 40 min. (car); 63 min. (rail) N
• Conwy World Heritage Castle & town: 40 min. (car); or 60 min. (rail) N
• Maesdu Golf Club links: 35 min (car); or 60 min. (rail) N
• Menai Suspension Bridge, Menai Strait: 40 min. NW
• Beaumaris World Heritage Castle, Beaumaris, Anglesey: 45 min. NW
• Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goche, Anglesey — longest British railway station name: 40 min. NW
• Holyhead, Anglesey — ferry port for Dublin, Ireland: 60 min. NW
• Caernarfon Castle World Heritage Site: 45 min. WNW
• Caernarfon — Welsh Highland Railway station: 45 min. WNW
• Pen-y-Pass car park for Mt Snowdon trailhead access: 20 min. W
• Llanberis: for Llanberis Lake Rwy, Snowdon Mt. Rwy, & Dolbadarn Castle: 30 min. W
• Castell Cricieth, Cricieth on Ceredigion Bay: 50 min. WSW
• Nefyn & District Golf Club links, Llyn Peninsula: 80 min. WSW

     Regardless of whether you stay close to home or choose to day-trip far and wide, Betws-y-Coed is a friendly, happy, and welcoming Welsh village to return to, to dine in, to stroll around, and to find some of Britain’s best-kept secrets.

IN llangattock, powys
 brecon beacons national park

SOUTHERN MID-WALES

usk valley townhouse

In Llangattock village across River Usk from Crickhowell, between the high Black Mountains & the higher Brecon Beacons.

USK VALLEY TOWNHOUSE: This handsome, well-equipped, 2-bedroom townhouse sleeps four in comfort.
        Located on a narrow side street in Llangattock village, this charming stone house was formerly an inn (pub) with a notorious innkeeper. But that sordid chapter ended 150 years ago. Today, Llangattock is a quiet, peaceful satellite of the busy town of Crickhowell across the River Usk a mile to the northeast.
       Upstairs, the two-story lodging has two bedrooms with garden views — one with a king-size bed, and one with twin beds — and the bathroom with tub/shower.
       Downstairs, comfortable, overstuffed furniture enhances the sunken living room (working wood stove; flat-screen TV). A modern, fully-equipped kitchen (gas range, electric oven, microwave, fridge, freezer, dishwasher, & clothes washer) opens onto a large dining room that seats up to 8 persons.
        The kitchen’s back door opens to the enclosed garden, where a table for four invites breakfast or dinner during fine weather.
        The lodging has free WIFI, and decent cell phone reception. Walled off-street parking is about fifty yards from the townhouse’s front door.

THE VILLAGE OF LLANGATTOCK: Llangattock — population under 700 persons — is classically Welsh: prim, tidy, modest, and quiet. The village occupies a broad space in the Usk Valley extending from the southwestern bank of the River Usk gradually uphill to the historic Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal.
        The lower part of the village — where Usk Valley Townhouse is located — is the older portion, and dates at least from the early Middle Ages. The tower of St. Catwg’s Church — 100 yards from Usk Valley Townhouse — was built during the reign of King Stephen (1135-54), grandson of William the Conqueror.  St. Catwg himself may have been Llangattock’s first recorded resident when he established a cell here early in the 6th century. Many legends are tied to Catwg, including associations with King Arthur and the Holy Grail.
       Llangattock has a neighborhood pub/restaurant (The Horse Shoe Inn) a couple of minutes walk from the Usk Valley Townhouse, and two fancier restaurants: the posh 16th century Old Rectory Country Hotel (also near the Usk Valley Townhouse), and the snazzy Vine Tree, an updated 19th century coaching inn along the River Usk near the Crickhowell bridge.
        Several more restaurants, a fine local grocery, a convenience store, and numerous other shops and services are a mile away from Llangattock, across the bridge in Crickhowell.

LOOKING NORTH ACROSS LLANGATTOCK TO CRICKHOWELL & THE BLACK MTS.

THE LOCATION:  The Usk Valley at Llangattock separates the two primary mountain ranges of Mid-Wales.
        Rising quickly south and west of the village are the foothills of the Brecon Beacons, with the Llangattock Mountain elevating 400m (a quarter-mile) up the Llangattock Escarpment to the Llangattock Plateau.
        Across the River Usk, the land elevates again, as the Black Mountains ascend north of Crickhowell as high as 800m (2,625′).
        The Usk Valley separates these two ranges of mountains from Abergavenny 7.5 miles SE of Llangattock), to Brecon 15.25 miles NW of Llangattock.
       Abergavenny is a large market town and the southeastern gateway to Mid-Wales and the Brecon Beacons. Just 15min by car from Llangattock, Abergavenny offers major regional services: shopping centers, supermarkets, a hospital, even a train station.
        Abergavenny is also the access point for  motorways to South Wales (including Cardiff), the Welsh Marches (borderlands with England, including the Wye Valley), and across the broad Severn River to England (Bristol, Bath, and the Southern Cotswolds).
       Brecon is a the regional market town in the center of Brecon Beacons National Park, and as rural in character as Abergavenny is urbane.
        Like Abergavenny, Brecon has a noted food culture, with good restaurants and an annual food festival. Its covered market hall is open 5 days a week and regularly hosts farmers’ markets and craft fairs.
        But the big attractions are the highest mountains of the Beacons which begin their climbs just south of Brecon. Because the town draws many visitors for hiking, and other outdoor activities, it has several specialty shops and outfitters.
       South of the Brecon Beacons Mid-Wales ends and South Wales begins. In this region a series of parallel north-south valleys (“The Valleys”) have played an oversized role in the history of Wales.
        It was here in the 18th and 19th centuries that iron and coal deposits combined with relatively short transportation routes created one of the earliest centers of the Industrial Revolution. Great wealth was mined, processed, and transported in this region, but with the wealth came many of the ills of industrialization: poverty, disease, and civil strife.
        The historic and social legacy of The Valleys can be experienced at Blaenavon where a World Heritage Centre, the Big Pit Coal Museum, the Blaenavon Ironworks, and the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway tourist line provide an excellent, albeit somewhat sanitized, overview.

ACTIVITIES & TOURING: Llangattock, Crickhowell, and vicinity offer much to do: horseback riding, walking & hiking, kayaking, mountain biking & road cycling, and golf lead the list.
        Visitors find Llangattock & Crickhowell centrally located: ideal for scenic and cultural touring. As a touring base, Llangattock offers excellent day-trip coverage of much of Mid-Wales and South Wales, plus western England including Bristol, Bath, and the Cotswolds.
        Here’s a partial list of driveable destinations:

• London Heathrow Airport: 2¾ hrs. ESE
• Manchester Airport: 3 hrs. NNE
• St David’s, Pembrokeshire, on the west coast: 2½ hrs. W
• Burton-on-the-Water, Cotswolds, England: 1¾ hrs. E
• Bath Spa, England: 1½ hrs. SE
• Tintern Abbey, Wye Valley (romantic medieval ruin): 50 min. SE
• Raglan Castle (impressive medieval ruin): 25 min. SE
• Abergavenny (large town, east edge of Brecon Beacons): 16 min. ESE
• Monmouthshire Golf Club: 20 min. SE
• Celtic Manor Resort Golf Club: 40 min. SSE
• Hay-on-Wye (NE gateway town to Brecon Beacons N.P.): 38 min. N
• Blaenavon World Heritage town (early Industrial Age): 25 min. SSE
• Caerphilly Castle: 50 min. SSW
• Cardiff Castle: 55 min. S
• Royal Porthcawl Golf Club (#1 links in Wales): 80 min. SW
• Brecon Mountain steam tourist railway: 25 min. SW
• Brecon (market town in central Brecon Beacons N.P.): 25 min. NW

  Regardless of whether you stay close to home or choose to day-trip far and wide, Llangattock & Crickhowell are friendly, happy, and welcoming Welsh hometowns to return to, to dine in, to stroll around, and to find some of Britain’s best-kept secrets.

JUST OUTSIDE HAY-ON-WYE
herefordshire, england

EASTERN MID-WALES BORDER

wye river farm COTTAGE apartmentS

On the English side of the  River Wye 1km — 2min by car; 13min walking — north of Hay-on-Wye Wales.

WYE RIVER FARM COTTAGE APARTMENTS are two stylish, one-bedroom apartments in a converted two-story barn: one on the ground floor; one on the upper floor.
        Each apartment sleeps 1-2 persons comfortably in contemporary style. Both apartments have king beds, tiled bathrooms with showers, kitchens well-equipped with electric oven & range, microwave, fridge/freezer, dishwasher, and clothes washer/dryer.
        Private parking is by the cottage. Free WIFI is included. Cell reception is admittedly somewhat “iffy”. Neither apartment accepts pets or permits smoking.
        The owner/hosts live next door in their large farmhouse. They take an active interest in their guests and are happy to make recommendations for activities, restaurants, day-trips, and shopping. 
       The ground floor apartment is accessed through a front door. The living room includes a wood-burning stove and flat-screen TV. French doors from the living room open onto a private furnished patio with BBQ.
       The upper floor apartment is accessed by an uncovered flight of stone stairs that lead to the entry door and the furnished patio/terrace with BBQ. Whenever necessary, heat is supplied by electric heaters.  

THE COTTAGE’S SETTING:  Wales is not all mountains, valleys, seacoasts, and mining & manufacturing. Wales is still remarkably agricultural, and its arable land is a patchwork of small, family farms. Dairy, sheep, and beef cattle are the focus of the agricultural economy, with organic farming a growing segment of Welsh agronomy.
        As it meanders across Mid-Wales and western England, the Wye River basin is largely agricultural country on both sides of the border.
      Home At First’s Wye River Farm Cottage is situated on a small farm in a pretty setting on the banks of the Wye River on the English side of the border one kilometer outside of Hay-on-Wye.
        The farm raises organic produce, sheep, and free-range ducks & chickens for eggs. Guests can purchase fresh farm produce from their hosts, if they wish.
        The nearest grocery store is on the way to Hay, a 1-minute drive or 6-minute walk. The nearest restaurants are in Hay, 2-minutes by car or 12-minutes walk along the riverside trail. En route you cross the border into Wales.

Getting lost in the maze of alleys is part of the fun of visiting Hay-on-Wye.

HAY-ON-WYE: Hay-on-Wye (or, just Hay) — population about  1,600 persons — is a small town with an outsized history. Its first recorded mention coincided with the arrival of the Normans shortly after The Conquest.
        Its strategic placement where the Black Mountains descend to the River Wye at the Wales-England border made Hay a logical setting for a castle, or two. The Normans never missed an opportunity to build castles, and two separate fortresses were built in Hay as early as 1070.
        Whatever remains of one now lies buried under a parking lot along the river. But significant remains of the other castle —  including what might be the original 1070 AD tower, the oldest in Wales — still dominate the southern leg of the triangular town of Hay-on-Wye.
        The other two sides of Hay’s triangle are water barriers: the Wye forms the left leg, and the right leg is Dulas Brook — the border with England for about 5 miles southeast. 
       With water barriers on two sides of the town and a fortress blocking the only land approach, Hay was hemmed in and well defended. It needed to be. From the arrival of the Normans through the War of the Roses — some 400 years — battles ebbed and flowed in and around Hay, as Welsh fought Normans, Barons fought each other, and, finally, Lancastrians fought Yorkists.
        At least once (1231) Hay was burned and rebuilt. Today, Hay, still built on a meandering street plan of a fortified medieval village, has some 150 listed historic buildings, including Hay Castle and numerous market buildings dating from the 17th to 19th centuries. Visitors find Hay easy to become lost in despite its small size.
         In the 20th century Hay became “the town of books”, with many of the shops inside the village triangle being taken over by booksellers.
         In 1977, one of these, Richard Booth, sought to bring attention to Hay-on-Wye by declaring independence from the United Kingdom and establishing the Kingdom of Hay with himself as king. The stunt went viral, and the world flocked to Hay.
        The town’s eccentric focus on books and reading caught the public fancy. Two major annual festivals were established for spring. The HowTheLightGetsIn festival of philosophy and music happens each May. The literary-cum-all-things-intellectual Hay Festival draws participants from all over the world for two weeks at the cusp of each May/June. After he attended, President Bill Clinton called the Hay Festival famously called the “Woodstock of the mind”.
       Hay-on-Wye is at the northeastern corner of Brecon Beacons National Park. South and west of Hay-on-Wye rise two mountain ranges (the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons), a region of challenging hills, wild, whitewater rivers, and delicious scenery, with few villages to interrupt the wilderness.
        Two other towns of size are in the National Park region. About 30min drive southwest is the market town of Brecon near the center of the National Park. Some 45min drive south leads to the large town of Abergavenny on the park’s eastern edge.

ACTIVITIES & TOURING: There is much to do around Hay-on-Wye: horseback riding, walking & hiking, kayaking, cycling, horseback riding, and golf lead the list.
        Many guests choose Hay for their holiday because of its border-straddling location offering excellent day-trip touring across much of Wales plus western England as far as  Shakespeare country and the northern Cotswolds.
        Here’s a partial list of driveable destinations:

• London Heathrow Airport: 3-3½ hrs. SE
• Manchester Airport: 3 hrs. NE
• Aberystwyth on the west coast: 1¾ hrs. NW
• Builth Wells Golf Club: 30 min. NW
• Chirk Castle & Llangollen canal viaduct & steam railway: 2 hrs. N
• Stratford-on-Avon (Shakespeare’s town): 1¾ hrs. E
• Chipping Campden, northern Cotswolds: 1¾ hrs. E
• Bath Spa, England: 2 hrs. SE
• Tintern Abbey (romantic medieval ruin): 80 min. SE
• Abergavenny (large town, east edge of Brecon Beacons): 45 min. SE
• Monmouthshire Golf Club: 55 min. SE
• Celtic Manor Resort Golf Club: 80 min. SE
• Crickhowell (town btw the high Beacons & Black Mts.): 35 min. S
• Blaenavon World Heritage town (early Industrial Age): 1 hr. S
• Caerphilly Castle: 75 min. S
• Cardiff Castle: 85 min. S
• Brecon Mountain steam tourist railway: 50 min. SW
• Brecon (market town in central Brecon Beacons N.P.): 25 min. SW

 Regardless of whether you stay close to home or choose to day-trip far and wide, Hay is a friendly, happy, and welcoming village to return to, to dine in, to stroll around, and to find some of Britain’s best-kept secrets.