Hot Spot: Hay-on-Wye, Powys

The annual literary festival and more than three dozen book shops make this a bookworm's delight, says Robert Liebman

Skirting the Welsh-English border on the southern side of the River Wye, this ancient town is known as Hay-on-Wye in English, and Y-Gelli in Welsh. Hay refers to a fenced or hedged enclosure, and Y-Gelli is Welsh for Books-R-Us. (Just kidding; it really means grove.) Located at the northern tip of Brecon Beacons National Park, Hay is premier-league tourist territory. Its history, however, is filled with fighting. The original castle was built in the early 13th century but destroyed several times due to fighting and fire. The castle standing today suffered two major fires in the last 100 years alone, the most recent being in 1977.

Skirting the Welsh-English border on the southern side of the River Wye, this ancient town is known as Hay-on-Wye in English, and Y-Gelli in Welsh. Hay refers to a fenced or hedged enclosure, and Y-Gelli is Welsh for Books-R-Us. (Just kidding; it really means grove.) Located at the northern tip of Brecon Beacons National Park, Hay is premier-league tourist territory. Its history, however, is filled with fighting. The original castle was built in the early 13th century but destroyed several times due to fighting and fire. The castle standing today suffered two major fires in the last 100 years alone, the most recent being in 1977.

At the time of the last conflagration, the castle was owned by Richard Booth, the man who brought the book world to Hay. In 1961 Booth opened a bookshop - it claims to be the largest secondhand and antiquarian bookshop in the world - that started the trend. One by one, others opened, and the movement was consolidated in 1988 with the first of what was to become a major annual literary festival. Today, Hay has more than three dozen major booksellers, one of which is located in the castle.

Tourism and books make for a strong property market. "Hay is attractive on several levels," says Michael Rylands of Russell Baldwin & Bright. "Basically, it is a market town that is strongly agricultural. With the bookshops, it is a small rural community that is also cosmopolitan. For young families, it offers a good choice of both primary and secondary schools. My two children go to local schools."

The town contains very few flats and with two-bed modern homes selling for £130,000, first-time buyers have difficulties, says Rylands. Otherwise, prices are affordable in town and in such popular villages as Clifford, Clyro and Glasbury. Two-bed cottages start at about £150,000 rising to £400,000 for four- and five-bed townhouses.

"Quite a lot of our buyers are Welsh people retiring back to Wales, and we also have many people from cities in south-east England attracted by our quality of life. Some of them know Hay because of the books and the literary festival, and many can work from home. Some work in Hereford.

"Prices for smaller town properties are rising, but larger country properties are currently static," he adds. "This is probably because the country market is more influenced by London prices, and if London prices are not moving, they are static too."

THE LOW-DOWN

Getting there

The nearest rail station is Hereford (21 miles away) for London Paddington, with a change at Newport.

An A-Z of bookshops

The secondhand and antiquarian bookshops, which are open throughout the year, include the following specialities: American Indians, bees and apiculture, boxing, children, crime, maps and prints, railways, sci-fi and travel. Some shops sell prints and recorded music.

Walking and climbing

Two famous walks course through Hay: Offa's Dyke Path and the 136-mile Wye Valley Walk. Offa's Dyke consists of eighth-century defensive earthworks; about 80 of the original 150 miles are still standing. Also popular in the area are caving, mountain biking, canoeing, pony trekking, fishing and gliding.

Other attractions

Annual events include the Open Universe Conker Championship, a storytelling weekend, a food festival, a jazz festival, and Handmade in Hay.

Starter homes

A one-bed, self-contained, second-floor flat with a reserved courtyard parking space has a kitchen (14ft x 12ft) larger than the bedroom; £98,000. A two-bed semi is conveniently located for the town centre and for country walks and has a single garage; £129,950. Both are at Clee Tomkinson Francis. A two-bed Victorian end terrace in Glasbury, four miles from Hay, is £148,500 at McCartneys.

Moving up

A modern two-bed terrace in Talgarth, eight miles from Hay, is £135,000. A modern stone, three-bed semi with garage, which backs onto open fields and offers rural views in Felindre, five miles from Hay, is £162,500. The double-fronted, four-bed Old School House in Gladestry, eight miles from Hay is believed to date to the 16th century and was recently renovated; £174,950. The agent is Clee Tomkinson Francis.

Top of the range

Russell Baldwin is selling several five-bed townhouses with gardens and garages in Hay for between £415,000 and £425,000. A detached house with three bedrooms but large plot (1.75 acres) with double garage, greenhouse and potting shed outside Clyro is £480,000.

Character home

Dawe Smithy Cottage, a three-bed black-and-white period home in Moccas, 10 miles from Hay, has exposed beams, a traditional stone fireplace that now houses a wood-burning stove, plus an original arched-brick fireplace in the kitchen. It is being marketed at £169,950 via McCartneys.

Manor house

Trefecca Fawr in Talgarth is a historic Grade I-listed manor house with beautiful views, six principal bedrooms (all en suite), a housekeeper's cottage, coach house with flat, outbuildings, ancient fishponds and paddocks, set on more than 20 acres; c.£1.3m at Knight Frank and McCartneys.

New

Persimmon has two developments: a handful of houses remain at Orchard Mews in Hay, from £197,995 for a three-bed mid-terrace, and there are four four-bedders at Buttercup Meadow in Clyro, from £214,995 (01497 821651).

Estate agents

Clee Tompinkson Francis, 01497 820045; Knight Frank (Hereford), 01432 273087; McCartneys, 01497 820778; Russell Baldwin & Bright, 01497 821222; Taylors (Hereford), 01432 342233.