Monday 16 January 2012

Saturday in Hay-on-Wye







Hay on Wye, is one of my favourite places. I love the drive through the Brecon Beacons to get there, with the sweep of the mountains and the windy road past the resevoirs. This saturday was extra lovely as the further we got into the country the frostier and colder it got. The trees were covered with a modest dusting of frosty negligees making them look really beautiful.

Apart from the obvious attraction of more books than you can ever hope to read, Hay on Wye has some of my top shops as far as clothes and nicknackery goes too. But, by far the most beautiful is The End at 20 Castle Street, which is a fabulous film set of forgotten stories, a cross between a cabinet of curiosities and Miss Havisham's boudoir. The owner, Marina Rendle has stripped the decor back to reveal layers of old paint and wallpaper on wood panelled walls and so all the strange objects seem like archeological finds or something left behind from long ago.

She has the most curious antiques and medical wall charts alongside ancient dresses and french linens, but I always love the odd creatures in glass domes by Annie Hutchingson, who makes the most wonderful and unsettling stuffed toys with animal heads and costumes of an exquisite faded glory.

1 comment:

india flint said...

hello, i really liked your photos of Hay so have linked to you here

http://prophet-of-bloom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/making-for-hay-while-sun-shone.html

hope that's ok with you?