A village on the border of Wales and England for over a millennium, Hay-on-Wye reinvented itself in the 1960s as the “Town of Books.” In 1963, this market town was dying, sure for the morgue when it lost its train stop in 1963. Richard Booth opened a used bookstore in 1962 and discovered there was money to made in used books. He bought books en masse, from estate sales and private libraries, and started filling the empty store fronts. In 1977, he bought the town castle, declared himself King and his horse Prime Minister.
Now, Hay-on-Wye has over than 30 used bookstores and more books per square mile than anywhere else. The Guardian hosts a 10 day literary festival every June that is attended by thousands. Booth’s vision grew into quite a literary kingdom.
I learned about Hay-on-Wye from The Best of Britain’s Countryside: The Heart of England and Wales by Bill and Gwen North, a driving and walking itinerary. I bought the book 20 years ago, it’s out of print, but found the directions remained accurate. We approached Hay from a single track road after surmounting the “Gospel Pass.” What’s a single track road? Picture a two-way road about the width of a sidewalk, closed on both sides by high hawthorn hedges with occasional pull outs for when you come upon a driver heading the opposite direction. Imagine my husband driving a stick shirt with his left hand navigating the roads and the pull outs (he did great). We reached the top of the summit for an incredible view of the Black Mountains. There is a reason it’s called Gospel Pass, it is steep for Wales, but not so much for Westerners used to the Sierra Nevadas and the Rockies.
After the beautiful and challenging road trip, we were all happy to pull into Hay, eat lunch, and split up for our own personal bookstore excursions. What we found will be the subject of future posts.
Tags: Hay-on-Wye, Hay-on-Wye bookstore, literary town, used book village, Wales, Wales bookstore
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I love Hay-on-Wye – but welcome to the great British roads! We don’t have many of these single track roads but they are rather scary aren’t they? You should try Cornwall as well – renowned for its hedges as well. Also has some godd local bookshops – especially in St Ives, but that will have to wait for another trip!
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I really enjoyed Paul Collins’s book, Sixpence House, about living in Hay-on-Wye.
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Thank you for the recommendation for Cornwall, we love visiting England and that is one area we have yet to explore.
I’m going to look for Sixpence House, I’d love to read it!
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