The city of Hay-on-Wye is prepared for a crowd of e book lovers to descend on the Powys group for the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts.
Celebrating creativity, literature, writing and phrases, the second-hand e book capital of the world is internet hosting the annual Hay Festival for the thirty eighth yr.
For 2025, guest speakers embody Good Omens star Michael Sheen, The Good Place actor Jameela Jamil, artist Grayson Perry, comic Miranda Hart, and musician and author Paloma Faith. ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly, actor Sara Pascoe, and activist Katie Piper are also set to pop up in Britain’s leading town of literature during the 11-day gathering.
This year’s programme is bursting with more than 600 events. There are eight stages in the free-to-enter Dairy Meadows festival site, performances all week at St Mary’s Church, and a host of exhibitors and market stalls.
Aside from flipping pages, catching a stand-up set and getting crafty with the kids, there will be plenty of outdoor adventures, plates of local produce and, of course, bookshops to browse in historic Hay-on-Wye.
Here’s everything you need to know about where to stay, how to get there and what to do when the chapter ends for bibliophiles headed to Hay Festival.
Read more: Hay Festival 2025 – ‘carnival of ideas’ returns with new events programme
When is Hay Festival 2025?
This year’s edition of the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts spans 11 days, from 22 May to 1 June, and tickets are available to book at hayfestival.com.
The most effective of bookshops
Richard Sales space’s
The creator of Hay – a beloved city of books – as we all know it is immortalised in his personal Richard Booth’s Bookshop. Sales space opened his first bookshop in Hay-on-Wye in 1962, and his love of second-hand literature led to the institution of the Hay Competition of Literature and Arts by Peter Florence in 1988.
The Poetry Bookshop
Open since 1979, The Poetry Bookshop homes the “most complete” number of new, second-hand and antiquarian poetry within the UK and is a high hit with lovers of stanzas by John Keats, William Wordsworth and Carol Ann Duffy.
North Books
North Books on Fortress Road hosts creator occasions, e book golf equipment and craft teams, and is bursting with nooks for studying. Additionally they maintain “bookshop breakfasts” for out-of-hours entry to the critically stocked cabinets.
Homosexual on Wye
In 2023, bookshop and group centre Gay on Wye opened on Lion Road as a sanctuary for LGBT+ literature and queer storytelling.
What to do in Hay-on-Wye
Hay Market Day
Held within the centre of Hay each Thursday for greater than 700 years, Hay Market welcomes 40-plus impartial merchants in craft, cheese and report stalls, usually full with stay music and avenue meals.
Canoe on the River Wye
If the Welsh climate isn’t matching as much as your wild swimming plans, a cagoule-wearing paddle of the River Wye with Wye Valley Canoes begins from £35 per particular person.
Hike the Brecon Beacons
Step exterior the competition for two-foot excursions of the Brecon Beacons Nationwide Park (Bannau Brycheiniog) to flee the crowds, or stroll the 136-mile Wye Valley route and move by Hay as you border hop between Wales and England.
Paraglide off the highest of Hay Bluff
For a unique sort of cliffhanger, Crickhowell Paragliding has tandem floats off the highest of Hay Bluff and over the peaks and troughs of the Brecon Beacons from £199.
The place to eat and drink
Contained in the competition, avenue eats meet jugs of Pimms and candy treats, with all the things from espresso outlets to woodfired pizzas and sheep’s milk ice cream.
As for the city’s high spots…
The Outdated Black Lion
For elevated pub grub and old-world appeal, the Old Black Lion B&B is a historic hang-out on the Welsh borders. Suppose jazz nights and conventional Sunday roasts wrapped up with spoonfuls of indulgent apple crumble.
Hay Distillery
This micro-distillery sells domestically sourced Wild Knapp and Dr Beaky’s gin, biodynamic wine and inventive cocktails from a store and tasting room within the centre of Hay.
Chapters
Make it Michelin information high quality with a weekend go to to Chapters restaurant on Lion Road for seasonal native menus of pickles, purees and sustainably sourced fish.
Artistraw Cider
Simply exterior of Hay, pure cider makers Tom and Lydia at Artistraw Cider provide tastings and excursions from £45. The cidery and orchard is filled with apple and perry pear timber with views of the Black Mountains – dreamy for sips of cider on a summer season day.
The place to remain
By the Wye
Observe the competition vibe to By the Wye for riverside glamping in eco-friendly safari tents and treehouses constructed for a cwtch. There’s woodland wellness massages, scavenger hunts and bespoke hampers of native produce for conventional Welsh flavours on the rustic Herefordshire spot.
4-night stays for 5 adults from £380.
Duke’s Farm
For cosy vacation cottages within the Black Mountains, three barn conversions at Duke’s Farm sleep {couples} or households in search of mountain views, oak timbers and hearth armchairs (good for curling up with a superb e book).
4-night stays for 2 adults from £284.
Kaya at Blackhill Farm
Hunker down at Kaya at Blackhill Farm for glamping in a Darkish Sky Reserve away from all of the motion. Tucked between the Wye Valley and Brecon Beacons, there are yurts kitted out with all the house comforts, firepits for holding heat and stars for gazing.
Two-night stays for 2 adults from £340.
The Outdated Cider Home
Within the coronary heart of Hay-on-Wye, The Outdated Cider Home has been renovated with a Japanese aptitude that spills into the furnishings, with hospitality from hosts Simon and Kazuko, and sushi-centric dinner menus. It’s additionally the best base to discover Hay Market and the riot of bookshops on Fortress Road.
The best way to get there
From central London, it’s a four-hour drive to Hay-on-Wye, however with 193,679 tickets bought for final yr’s occasion, count on attendance to be excessive and the roads to be busy.
The closest railway station is at Hereford (21 miles from Hay) and Nice Western Railway providers depart from London Paddington through Newport for a five-hour journey to Hay.
Final yr a competition bus service ran between Worcester, Hereford and Hay during the competition, with an grownup day return costing £14. An everyday shuttle bus may even function between the competition web site and the city centre from 8am to 11.15pm; £5 per day.
Learn extra: Hay Festival announces return of expert panel series The News Review for 2025
Source link