UK August- October 2013- The Swan at Hay Hotel in Hay-On-Wye

We arrived for a night stop in the picturesque town of Hay-On-Wye in Wales without securing a hotel reservation. Luckily, after a quick Expedia search, we found accommodations at The Swan at Hay Hotel. We really were lucky, because it turns out that this small town is tourist hot-spot. We very easily could have been out of luck with finding a room and it would have been a shame to have missed out on such a lovely town.

The Swan at Hay Hotel is located just a short walk from the town center, which is filled with pubs, shops and more bookstores than you can imagine.

The Swan at Hay Hotel was our first encounter with an old country inn on our trip. The two story hotel has a small amount of rooms and staff. In fact, the person working at the reception desk often had to pull double duty by making drinks at the bar or running housekeeping linens. It's fairly small and intimate operation. As such, we often had very personal service, but everything took a little bit longer. I felt that it was a fair trade-off.

We were escorted to our room at the very end of the hall on the second floor and given an old-fashioned key. I love hotels that still use real keys. It's a novelty!

Our room was roomy with a very comfortable bed and a giant Narnia wardrobe!

My favorite part of the room was the beautiful view of the back garden. We tried to go out into the garden, but we only lasted about five minutes, as the place over-run with wasps enjoying the flowers. Wasps were out in force during our entire UK trip.

The first floor had several lounge areas with wi-fi access, a restaurant, a bar and a big, sunny room where the morning breakfast was held. I spent several hours reading in the lounge adjacent to the garden, while Dan napped. I really enjoyed the quiet reading spots and both of us found the time spent at the hotel to be a relaxing break after so much travel.

I experienced my first pear cider at the hotel bar and it was love at first sip! Dessert in a glass!

Our stay set us back, 120 pounds, which included a cooked breakfast. In addition to the made-to-order menu, our breakfast included a table with chilled dairy, cereals, fruit and breads. We each ordered scrambled eggs on toast and nibbled on buffet items. We got a kick out of the foreign packaging on a single-serve box of Rice Krispies.

A special mention must be made of the best yogurt that I've ever eaten...Ann Forshaws Farmhouse Yogurt. We tried two flavors, Damson & Plum and Clemons Oranges & Lemons. If you're in the UK and like yogurt, you must seek out this brand. It was so creamy and delicious.

Ann Forshaw Farmhouse Yogurt = Eat This!!!!

If you're looking for a place to stay in Hay-On-Wye, I highly recommend considering The Swan at Hay Hotel. Check out their official website for current availability and pricing.

The Swan at Hay Hotel Official Site

UK August-September 2013 - Gluttony in Wales

Our time in Wales was short, but it included a dive cafe, a fun pub and the best meal of the entire trip!

The first stop in our gluttony tour of Wales, was in Kidderminster, on our way to Hay-on-Wye. We needed a little snack and a cup of tea before a big lunch and found ourselves at Smithy's Cafe.

Smithy's Cafe is such a small-town local dive, that I felt like we were the first tourist to ever set foot in the place. Although they were friendly, it was like that typical scene in a western where the hero enters a saloon in a new town and everyone is instantly quiet and staring. Yep.

Smithy's Cafe was a cheap, no-frills place, where we ate yummy tea cakes and shared a pot of tea. The people sitting next to us were speaking in Welsh, which was beautiful to listen to and added to the foreign feeling of the experience.

Behind Smithy's, we discovered a lovely stream, lush foliage and railroad tracks.

My favorite meal of entire trip was lunch at The Three Cocks, located a few miles outside of the town center in Hay-on-Wye.

Not only was the restaurant at The Three Cocks Inn, super cute and cozy, but the food was outstanding. Dan ordered the delicious Cottage Pie.

I ordered the "Pie of the Day", which was chicken and leek. The carrots had a sweet glaze that made them taste like a decadent dessert. I ate my veggies first and stole some of Dan's carrots!

Chicken and Leek Pie with the dessert carrots!

Obviously, we didn't enjoy our meal.

We even saved room to share an Apple Crumble for dessert. This was the first time that I tried custard, rather than ice cream with a crumble. It was good and different, but I definitely prefer the ice cream, which is a lot less sweet. The custard overwhelmed the taste of the crumble.

Apple Crumble with Custard at The Three Cocks.

Still stuffed from our fabulous lunch, we opted for a light dinner at the Blue Boar in Hay-On-Wye.

The Blue Boar was fairly typical of my pub experiences in the UK. It was super busy on a Friday night, but we managed to grab a table by the bar. As with most pubs, we ordered our food directly from the bar and it was a leisurely meal. Dan had a salad and I ordered a bowl of tomato soup with crusty bread. I enjoyed my meal. but in the grand scheme of our vacation dining, it was fairly forgettable.

Hungry yet? Check back as we continue to eat our way through the UK!

UK August- October 2013- Hilton Newport Wales

Our first Hilton of our trip and first stop in Wales!

We learned a valuable lesson on our UK trip...

Not all Hiltons are created equal.

Most Hiltons look nice from the outside, but inside you might be met with scummy rooms and rude staff or you may be treated to a first rate hotel experience. The price you're paying doesn't seem to be the deciding factor. We stayed at a lot of Hiltons and it was a mixed experience.

The Hilton Newport in Wales was middle of the road.

We arrived late at night and the employee working the front desk was very friendly and chatty. Initially, we had a very positive impression of the hotel, even after getting lost trying to find it. There is a maddening traffic circle that you must navigate and if you take the wrong turn-off, you will drive miles in the wrong direction. Beware.

The lobby was nice and although Costa Coffee was closed, the hotel bar (not seen) was in full swing.

We walked down a long hallway to our room.

The room was large, but in desperate need of a refurbishment. A refurbishment does not mean a flat screen TV, although that was appreciated. The decor reminded me of my grandparent's house. It was musty and dingy. The worst part of the room was the bed. The mattress was thin and springy. We did not get a good nights sleep.

Like the room, the bathroom was spacious. The lighting level was really low, making it difficult to see while getting ready in the morning. They also had a funny old-fashioned hairdryer still mounted to the wall, even though it was in disuse.

Despite my complaints, this was far from the worst hotel (or worst Hilton) that we encountered on our trip. In fact, some of the hotels made me long for our stay at Hilton Newport!

Driving around Wales, near our hotel, I took some pictures of the Welsh road signs. This was my first time encountering the Welsh language.

And lastly