Hay-on-Wye for a while.

11th -16th April 2016.

Hay on Wye or ''Town of Books'' (as it is otherwise known) is a little quaint town with an 800 year old castle in the town centre......

                         

           with a market every Thursday and Friday.................

A town full of book shops, op shops and antique shops....but mostly book shops. Mum, Elena,Valda...if you are reading this.......you would love this place.

                    

 ....and built alongside the Wye River. 

The daffodils are in bloom everywhere, lambs are frolicking in the fields and the green is as green as can be. The roads are getting narrower and in a lot of places are only single lane width so you have to pull over to let the oncoming traffic pass safely. I'm glad cam is driving.

    The walking trails were picturesque and the river was wide, perfect for skimming stones.

 

We stayed in a 300-400 year old flat above a shop built over 2 floors (each with its own split level). It had wavy stone walls over a foot thick, exposed old beams (a few of which we clonked our heads on many times), an old radio which was tuned to BBC4 which allowed us only to listen to interviews, radio plays and very very funny panel comedy shows hosted by one of my favourites...David Mitchel, (even with Netflix on offer, we enjoyed this more!). We played twister, had baths in the mornings as there was no shower (a nice treat) and a sky light over the bed for star gazing and had a kitchen that magically seemed to make the kids want to assist with cooking and cleaning! Needless to say I have taken many photos of details, drawn a floor plan and taken note on the feng shui and lighting of the space for future reference.  

We loved that on one side of the flat out the windows we saw the street below with locals catching up with each other as they passed by the local, quiet pub (The Blue Boar) across the road..............

 ...and on the other side of the flat were wide peaceful views of the county side that captured your gaze and calmed my nerves................. as our 2 kids fought over the 'Go Fish' game in the background.

I think it was the quirks and visible age of the house and town that made us like this place so much. It made us respect and reflect on the age and history of the house, the town and this country. We tried to explain this history to Oskar, but  I think it may take a return visit when he is older to fully understand. 

Exploring Wells

We would certainly recommend a trip to Wells for anyone travelling to the UK. We really loved this area.

'I spy' was on high rotation in the car. Oskar is winning currently and Ivy is slowly getting the hang of it however we always know that something beginning with ''chi' is always going to be cheese....and it always seems to start with 'çhi' when it's her turn!

We continued to begin our days with breakfast together at the table at about 9:30am. I think we need to start setting an alarm soon so we don't all sleep in so long. We have never slept so much!!

Oskar and Ivy are playing well together.......... in between fighting over whatever the other person has that they want, and we are still trying to find a balance with discipline and just letting it go. Travelling with 2 very strong willed children is tiring, so we need to conserve our energy for the months ahead and find a balance that will work for all of us.

We had a lot of rain in Wells and average temperatures of 2-10 degrees. In between the rain we managed to get out and see a bit of the area and sights.

Here is six and a half minutes of Wells for our memory box and for anyone that wishes to follow our travels. Unfortunately it has gone a bit grainy due to how far I had to compress this file, but you will get the gist.

Well chuffed with Wells

We had no intention of travelling to Wells. Infact neither Cam nor I had ever heard of the place! Cam happened to see it mentioned on a cycling page link he found on Facebook. So, we made a last minute decision to take a look.

....and as the rural landscape suddenly changed to a narrow residential road, lined with weathered stone houses, leading into town...we were not disappointed!

I recommend to EVERYONE!! who may be  travelling to the UK, please stop a while to take a look at this little medieval gem.

Surrounded by endless rolling hills and picturesque landscapes, historic cobblestone laneways and stone buildings there stands a central breathtaking pristine 13th century built cathedral. We fell in love with this little town....which apparently they call a city due to the presence of the cathedral....but really ......it is a small medieval town. Who are they trying to fool here?

Can you just please look at the camera kids...just for a second!!!! Please!.....this is actually how most of our photos start off! Thank goodness for digital cameras. 

   Now that wasn't too hard! Thank you!

 We spent 5 nights (4 days here) and could have easily spent more exploring the region.

The old gate house to the estate. ... now some lucky person's home. We loved turning into this driveway everyday. Our little Annexe was further up the lane. 

Our little Annexe up the laneway.

Again we were impressed by the AirBNB accommodation and very lovely host and can't recommend Airbnb enough to all travellers wanting a bit more space and homely comforts...and room for your husband to cook for you!

Two weeks in and Oskar and Ivy are still coping really well with the change of scene, but are testing our boundaries more and more. We do need to find ways for them to interact with other kids more often though as they are really craving it.  Two kids came to play at the family's house we were staying at and Oskar and Ivy went nutso!

In the meantime though I must say they are playing better than ever together.

The temperature ranged from lows of 3 oC and highs of 12 oC but stayed clear enough for us to get and and explore in between the rain.

Our chilly days exploring Wells will follow shortly..........