UK August -October 2013- Tea Time and a Defunct Theme Park

Our journey from Hay-on-Wye to Blackpool took us through the beautiful English countryside. We didn't have any specific stops planned along the way, which left us open to discovery. This was one of the best drives during our road trip.

Instead of a full lunch, we pulled off in Northwich and had afternoon tea at Davenports Tea Room.

Davenports Tea Room was an amazing find. The tea room is broken up into three sections and it is themed after the works of local author, Lewis Carroll.

We arrived without reservations and we were lucky get a table. Davenports is very popular! We were seated on a love seat tucked into a corner in the front room. The spot offered a great vantage point for people and food watching. We sat right next to the case of cakes and desserts. This was a tease, as everything looked so scrumptious. Instead of a traditional table, our food was served on a rolling cart.

Dan ordered a Victoria Sponge Cake and I had a scone with our House Blend Tea.

As an American, Davenports Tea Room is exactly how I pictured a proper English tea experience. I didn't spend my UK trip trying different afternoon teas to make a comparison, so I'm not sure where Davenports actually falls on the spectrum. In any case, it was a fabulous experience that I highly recommend.

On the way out, we noticed a pretty garden and classic cars in a garage. Davenports Tea Room has character.

Sometimes, there are road signs that compel you to take a detour. We saw a sign that read "Camelot" and without hesitation, we drove about thirty miles off the highway to check it out.

Until we spotted what looked like a roller coaster peeking through the thick forrest, we hoped, but didn't know, that Camelot was a theme park.

Sadly, Camelot was our Walley World moment.

It wasn't just closed for the season, it had been closed for a long time.

We walked around the parking lot and tried to catch glimpses of the park through the gates.

The hotel associated with Camelot is still open and was hosting a big wedding reception.

They even have a Medieval Times type of show.

The best thing at Camelot = DUCKS!!!

Near Camelot, we found Heskin Hall, a farmers market and craft center.

Heskin Hall is a great place for craft and antique lovers. They have several large rooms with stalls of local vendors selling handmade goods. We picked up locally produced potato chips and lemonade for a snack. The rose lemonade was delicious.

Heskin Hall wins points for having cows that greeted us on the drive way.

UK August- October 2013- Hay-on-Wye

Several months ago, before we even began planning our recent UK trip, I saw a short segment on a travel show about the town of Hay-on-Wye. Hay-on-Wye is located in the Brecon Beacons National Park and is in Wales, sharing a close border with England. The town looked beautiful on the show, but what really caught my attention, is that Hay-on-Wye is referred to as "The Town of Books".

I love books!

LOVE THEM!

Clearly, this town was calling my name.

Dan was a good sport and planned our road trip so that we could have a night-stop in Hay-on-Wye, allowing me to live my dream of visiting a whole town devoted to reading.

Hay-on-Wye takes books very serious. Kindles are banned. I'm not sure if this is a real ban, but the anti-ereader sentiment is heavily enforced.

Another fun fact, in 1977 a local bookseller, Richard Booth, decided to declare Hay-on-Wye a Kingdom and make himself the king. The whole "Kingdom" bit stuck around. Hay-on-Wye is delightfully quirky.

My favorite bookshop with an anti-Kindle message goes to the Murder and Mayhem store.

Admittedly, I discreetly broke the ban by spending the afternoon reading on my Kindle in our hotel lounge. I was nearly done with Alissa Nutting's Tampa and just needed to know how it was going to end. I'm sure that Hay-on-Wye also has a ban on smut books, so my choice in "literature" was likely doubly insulting.

Bookstore are absolutely everywhere. One of favorites was located in a castle. Actually, the castle had more than one book store. I felt like there was a surprise around every corner.

The lower level of the castle has a covered outdoor book case with an honor system for payment.

We walked up stone steps to explore the ruins.

At the top, we peeked around a corner...

and found more books!!!!

We spent several hours walking around and exploring the bookstores. Unfortunately, I have a rather severe allergy to dust and mold, which prevents me from spending too much time in used bookstores and libraries. I know, it's crazy. What book lover avoids libraries? It killed me to not be able to spend more than a few minutes in each store. On the upside, I didn't buy a single book to add to my enormous to-be-read pile.

Some of the stores were really cool.

I took a bunch of pictures of non-book related things in the town. Hay-on-Wye has beautiful old churches and a war memorial statue.

After walking around the town, we went down a path to explore walking trails on the bank of the River Wye.

Hay-on-Wye is a beautiful small town with a ton of character. if you love books, this is a must-visit destination!

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