It’s very late and very dark when we arrive at Westbrook Court B&B, three miles outside Hay-on-Wye on a lonely B road, and all I can see is a huge window, bright lights and a bed. It’s too modern and pared-down to be a barn conversion and doesn’t look like the bed and breakfast of its name. But owner Kari Morgan is there to welcome us with a drink and promises to explain all on the morrow.
Breakfast is communal and very good, thanks to excellent bacon and sausages from the local butcher, eggs from Kari’s chickens, home-baked bread made with Talgarth mill flour, and good granola and salmon for those, like my partner, who don’t want a full breakfast. It’s served in the cosy and wonky-looking 17th-century timber-framed cottage where Kari and her husband, Chris, live with their young daughter, Heidi.
“I’m from Australia,” Kari says. “We travelled a lot around New Zealand and South Africa and wanted to do the kind of hotel we saw there, something that would look very different from the traditional bed and breakfast. We trialled hospitality here in the cottage at first, and learned a lot. But I think having bedrooms in a separate building is good for guests, and also for us.”
I agree. The guest “space” – and that is the word for it – feels private and peaceful, with five sleek apartment-like suites in a black, wood-framed purpose-built structure. We’re in room one, which is the cheapest (£85), on one floor, with an en suite loo and shower. The high ceiling and windows allow in plenty of natural light and afford good views of the surrounding hillsides.
Kari, formerly in real estate, retrained in interior decoration. Her creative touch is evident in the scrubbed whitewashed floorboards, modern four-posters, dark wooden crates for shelving, velveteen armchairs, and a high wall of monochrome brick-print wallpaper that gives the room an urban accent. In the bathroom, a movable ladder for storing the towels– looks pretty and is pretty handy too. It all makes a pleasant change from your standard cosy, twee cottage-in-the-country style.
The other rooms are duplexes, come with claw-foot baths, and cost £5-£15 more. Outside is a pebbled garden and a fence-cum-feature made from railway sleepers. It reminds me of the sort of artful hotel architecture I’ve seen in Arizona and Chile, and not often enough in the UK.
By 11am, there’s a steady drizzle falling and I’m glad we’ve got something other than book-shopping planned. I’ve nothing against Hay’s lovely literariness, but as an OCD-grade hoarder I don’t need any more novels, or poetry, or art books or anything with pages in it. Instead We meet Alex Gooch, whose “work” I have tasted on other visits to the Wye valley. He’s the region’s most acclaimed baker and over five hours he teaches us about Neolithic wheat, the chemistry of yeast, the right way to kneed (being “forthright” is the trick) and the wrongness of your average supermarket load, while guidingus through the fine arts of baking chilli pepper, onion and mizuna focaccia, treacly fruit loaf, plain ciabatta and rye sourdough.
Food takes up quite a lot of the rest of our time, too, with one excellent lamb dinner at the Felin Fach Griffin– half an hour away by car but well worth it – and another fine meal at the Old Black Lion in Hay. The latter is a recommendation from a fellow breakfaster – social networking of the most time-honoured kind.
On Saturday afternoon Hay is bustling, but far less showy and shouty than during festival week. A visit to the lovely bistro at the back of Booths’ grand bookshop involves running a gauntlet of tempting nature publications. Hay’s other retail strand – antiques and home decoration – is also on offer wherever we look. But after our coffees we decide it’s time to head back to our “bed and breakfast”. With no need to take our shoes off before entering, no creeping up a creaky staircase and no guilt at all about having a quick siesta, it is more like a very un-English country hotel.
• Accommodation was provided by Westbrook Court , which has B&B doubles from £85
Ask a local: insiders’ tips
Alex Gooch, artisan baker
• I frequently canoe down the Wye towards Hereford. I take just a few beers and a bivvy bag – life doesn’t get much better than that. Book at Wye Valley Canoes.
• For picnic food, Hay Deli (41 Lion Street) has a superb range of local and organic produce. Also a great range of very high quality products from around Britain and the rest of the world.
• My favourite walk is from my bakery on the outskirts of Hay [Forest Road] to the peak of Hay Bluff, and then along the ridge and down to the base of Lord Hereford’s Knob. I go up to the peak of the Knob, and descend down the right hand side to the lane at the bottom which leads you back onto the Offa’s Dyke path to Hay-on-Wye.
• For a smart dinner, try St John’s Place, in the former St John’s Chapel on Lion Street. It’s run by Julia Robson and serves great seasonal food. Book well in advance.
