Hay Castle

Hay Castle opened to the public in May 2022 for the first time in its history and The Travel Pages recently visited to take a look.

Hay-on-Wye is in Powys, Wales, though right on the border with England. It’s best-known for its literary festival and for having dozens of bookshops – though should be known for its good range of eating places too!

However, since May 2022 there’s been another reason to visit this quirky and artsy little market town that stands on the River Wye. That was the month that Hay Castle, after extensive renovations, opened its doors to the public for the first time in about 900 years. It was opened by Prince Charles, then Prince of Wales but now of course King Charles III.

‘You must see Hay Castle,’ said Sally, the lovely owner of The Firs, the guesthouse where we stayed. It couldn’t have been easier, as the castle is only a two-minute walk away! ‘You must see Hay Castle,’ the lady in the tourist centre also said. OK, we thought, we can’t leave town without seeing Hay Castle.

Hay Castle History

First, here’s a much-simplified version of Hay Castle’s long and varied history. Legend has it that the castle was built in a day by a giantess called Matilda. If you don’t buy that – and somehow Wikipedia overlooks this theory – then its Norman keep was built in the late 11th or early 12th century. This was after the Normans decided that invading England wasn’t enough and went ahead and invaded Wales too.

Hay Castle was attacked and burned several times, including during the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, and in the Wars of the Roses. During the 17th century a mansion house was built alongside the keep, and the castle became a private home.

The castle stayed in private ownership, eventually being bought in the 1960s by Richard Booth, the self-proclaimed King of Hay and the man who turned Hay-on-Wye into a book town and really put it on the map. In 1977 a disastrous fire destroyed much of the castle, and the roof fell in. By 2000 Booth had replaced the roof and turned the ground floor of the castle into – you guessed it – a bookshop.

In 2011 the castle was acquired by the Hay Castle Trust, who spent the next eleven years restoring the buildings and grounds. They were helped by a £5 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Trust, and another £2 million in donations from various trusts and individuals.

Hay Castle Today

On the morning we visited the castle grounds were hosting a kite-building workshop, and kites were flying with designs by artists from Afghanistan. Kids were having a whale of a time.

Other events have included life drawing classes, talks, a workshop teaching you how to turn a page from an old book into a flower, and even an evening of shanties, cider and sausages in the Great Hall with the Hay Shantymen. Quite why a town that could hardly be further from the sea should have a group singing sea shanties remains a mystery.

Touring Hay Castle

The castle has clearly become a hub of local activity. Its entrance hall is as light and welcoming as it must once have been dark and foreboding. It’s like an open-plan castle, and you can wander round freely (and for free), though you can book to join one of the two daily behind-the-scenes private tours if you like. Book on the website.

There’s no set tour or route, though one of the many friendly volunteers on hand suggested we start down in the cellar where a video plays on a loop. It’s a brilliant and amusing animated film which benefits from being projected onto one of the cellar walls. It tells both the legendary and the real history of the castle in a totally original way. The adults were impressed, as was one little boy who kept chasing everything that moved across the wall.

As castles go, Hay Castle is pretty small so don’t expect dozens of turrets and towers and battlements. They’d never be able to film Game of Thrones here. However, everything about it is a total delight. From a viewing platform you get good views of the town and down over the River Wye to the hills beyond.

In one room a workshop of some kind was happening, in another was an exhibition, Portraits of Writers, done in conjunction with the National Portrait Gallery. In a resources room both adults and children were looking things up on computers. Here we were impressed by the huge beams which supported the roof. Parts were obviously original, and you could see both the old and the new side by side.

We spent time browsing in the shop, and ended up buying a bar of nettle soap, though there was plenty more that was tempting. Outside were, of course, second-hand books for sale. The only thing we didn’t sample was the café, which was unfortunate as the menu ranged from a simple plate of chips with aioli and ketchup or a Welsh rarebit through to a Wye Valley rump steak. Still, it’s an excuse to go back… and we will!