A Medieval Town of Books: Hay-on-Wye, Wales

After our back-to-back sabbaticals in Tokyo and at Oxford University, I've been busy offline, settling back home in Maine. During our year abroad, my professor husband researched an academic book, and I gathered material for two young adult novels. At the end of our UK sabbatical, we visited Hay-on-Wye, which hosts a literary festival and has more used bookstores than I've ever seen in one location.

The Richard Booth's Bookshop has three floors of books, ranging from rare to new, including a large children's and YA section shown above. It's the brown woodframe building in the opening photo.

We found the best antique book selection at Hay-on-Wye Booksellers in a Tudor style building that felt appropriately Shakespearean. I chose an antique book featuring animals for our kind friends who hosted our dog while we were abroad.

To distinguish themselves, some secondhand bookstores specialized by genre. Murder and Mayhem is devoted to mysteries, crime fiction, and horror.

After a day of book shopping, we stopped at Shepherds for delicious local ice cream.

On a sunnier day, we walked along the River Wye and admired the wild swans.

We also learned how to say weak bridge in Welsh: "pont wan." Luckily said pont was strong enough for foot traffic and small cars. There were more challenging hikes in the nearby Brecon Beacons.

After our country walk, we enjoyed a cream tea (scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream) at Llangoed Hall, Laura Ashley's former home (above). Even in my hiking clothes, I felt like a character in Downton Abbey.

Back in England, we visited Highclere Castle (at left), where Downton Abbey was filmed. The tour was fun, featuring the amazing library, but they don't allow indoor photography.

It was such an inspiring year abroad! My young adult novel set in the UK is now with my agent, who loves it. I'm currently working on a new YA novel set in Japan, which I will blog about later. I update more frequently on twitter.

More about our Wales vacation here:
Carew Castle & Coastal Cliffs in Pembrokeshire, Wales

Carew Castle & Coastal Cliffs in Pembrokeshire, Wales

Tenby in Wales

I'm back home in Maine and already feeling nostalgic for our UK Sabbatical. In the last week my husband and I visited Wales. My mother-in-law's family originally came from Pembrokeshire, and since she died of cancer earlier this spring, it was a bittersweet vacation.

Our first stop was Tenby, a medieval walled city, where in 1471 the future King Henry VII supposedly escaped via a tunnel on his way to France. Exploring a back alley, I learned the Welsh word for bookstore: cafion. Most signs in Wales are in both English and Welsh. On a trash bin taught us the Welsh word for litter: sbwriel. Don't ask me how to pronounce it!

Bluebells on the Coastal Path, overlooking Tenby

From the Tenby train station is a free public trail that cuts across a golf course to the Coastal Path. My hometown in Maine is on the other side of the Atlantic, and I'd missed the soothing sound of crashing surf.

Most of the Tenby trail was an easy climb, but I couldn't resist scrambling down a rocky cliff for a photo of...

...wildflowers!

Another hazard was crossing a military shooting range, but warning flags indicated all was clear that day. Jet fighter practice flights occasionally break the idyllic quiet of rural Wales.

The next day we hiked another section of the Coastal Path, which abbutted a lily pond nature sanctuary,

...and a secluded beach.

You could hike for days on the Coastal Path. What I love the most about the UK is the public access to the coast and countryside with long networks of well maintained trails. We were lucky to have clear weather in Wales; it was the driest spring in 20 years.

Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales

After the hike, we drove just a few miles to Carew Castle. We arrived late enough in the day to have the castle all to ourselves to explore. It was built in 1270 to fortify the tidal estuary and was in remarkably good shape for a ruin. We were horrified to learn that a lord, upon installing larger windows, had razed the village for a better view.

Admiring the castle as we walked the circular river path, I was struck by how much Carew Castle reminded me of the young adult novel I had revised on sabbatical. A MATCH FOR EVE is a contemporary story about a year abroad at a castle-cum-school in coastal Cornwall, which is to the south of Wales but a similar landscape. Great Britain inspires great stories.

Like Cornwall, the country lanes of Wales are bordered by centuries old blooming hedgerows. The roads are often only wide enough for one car so you need to back up to a pullover spot to let another car pass...or to let me take more photos! I'll save Hay-on-Wye, the Welsh town of books, for another post.

As much as we enjoyed our time abroad, it's lovely to be home, catching up with family and friends.