On Friday the 11th September 2026 we drove to Diggedi Wildlife Camping just outside of Hay-On-Wye, we were early for checking in but the owner let us in early.
We were staying in the Bowtop Gypsy Caravan.
The Bowtop grounds are perfect for family and friends to pitch their own tents! the bow top is supplied with a bottom double bed sheet with pillows and pillow cases so please bring your own bedding, crockery etc this is sited with river views
Please bring your own camping stove.
Perfect for those family members who don't want to camp in a tent.
I wanted to stay in the Bow top as my great Grandparents were Romany Gypsies so I wanted to experience a stay in one.
The campsite is a basic back to nature, the Bow top has no electric and it was a 5 minute walk across to the toilets in a container and a bit longer to the showers in a horsebox.
The site has fantastic views and wildlife keep your eyes peeled for:- Swans, Ducks, Egrets, Otters, Red Kites and Herons.
The campsite is set over 10 acres of river views which is totally un-spoilt. Private pitches with ample room to ensure you have a peaceful stay. They even have a shingle beach which is great for watching the sun go down. The camping field with fantastic river views is well suited to families with younger children. There are 2 different areas for washing up including a sink with cold water only
Digeddi is a working stud farm and private equestrian facility.
We leave the campsite and drive up the road to Hay-On-Wye.
We parked at the Oxford Road Car Park which is a pay as you go carpark and walked into town.
Hay-On-Wye is a famous market town on the border of Wales and England known as the world's first "Town of Books".
Hay-on-Wye, or simply Hay is a market town and community in Powys, Wales. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as a "town of books"; it is both the National Book Town of Wales and the site of the annual Hay Festival. The community had a population of 1,675 at the 2021 census.
We pass Hay Castle which is a historic medieval fortification and 17th-century Jacobean mansion located in the heart of Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales.
The town lies on the south-east bank of the River Wye and is within the north-easternmost tip of the Brecon Beacons National Park, just north of the Black Mountains. The town is just on the Welsh side of the border with Herefordshire, England, here defined by the Dulas Brook. Where the brook joins the River Wye just north of the town, the border continues northwards along the river.
The village of Llanigon is about 2 miles (3 km) south-west of the town of Hay-on-Wye. Before the Norman Conquest, Hay-on-Wye was part of the parish of Llanigon. The church of St. Eigon (possibly identified with Saint Eigen) in Llanigon was the principal church for the area. This was because the settlement in Llanigon predated the settlement in Hay-on-Wye.
Brycheiniog (an independent kingdom in Wales) was conquered between 1088 and 1095 following the second Norman invasion of Wales. The Norman invaders were led by Bernard de Neufmarché, a marcher Lord. He divided Brycheiniog into smaller lordships, which were gifted to the knights who contributed to the conquest. The Llanthomas lordship (in Llanigon) was part of the Hay lordship owned by William Revel, one of Bernard's knights. Motte and bailey castles were typically built soon after a lordship was allocated to a knight.
Hay-on-Wye grew after the conquest. Around 1121, a motte and bailey castle was built near St. Mary's. It is thought to have been built by William Revel. The castle remains are known as Hay Tump. The church of St Mary's was built around 1135 and took over the role of the principal church and parish for the area. St. Mary's is near Login Brook and the River Wye.
The main part of the town was subsequently developed on a spur of land between the River Wye and Dulas Brook, about 200 metres east of Hay Tump. The town was fortified with walls and defended by Hay Castle, which appears to have been built from the late 12th century onwards. The earlier centre of settlement around Hay Tump and St Mary's Church lay outside the later town walls. A chapel dedicated to St John was subsequently built inside the town walls around 1254.
We pass the clock tower on Broad Street;
Built: Erected between 1881 and 1884.
Architect: Designed by J.C. Haddon of Hereford.
Cost: Originally cost £600 to build.
Height: Stands about 50 to 65 feet high to the tip of the spire.
History: Funded by a legacy from Captain Brown (originally intended for a church clock). The clock faces and bell were later added and set going on Christmas Day in 1884. Locals once humorously called it the "clockless tower" before the clock was installed.
Features: Features two-stage pyramidal slate roofs, an upper bellcote, arrow-slits, and arched clock-face frames. It sits next to the site of the town's Thursday local produce market.
We walk down to the bridge over the River Wye.
The River Wye is the fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching approximately 155 miles (250 km) from its source on Plynlimon in Mid Wales to the Severn Estuary.
In post-conquest times, Hay-on-Wye was divided between two manors, known as an Englishry (i.e. English Hay or Haya Anglicana) and a Welshry (i.e. Welsh Hay or Haya Wallensis). The Englishry was within the fortified town of Hay. The Welshry was outside the fortified town; it included some rural land, the village of Llanigon and the hamlet of Glynfach.
We stop for dinner at the Three Tuns Pub for dinner before walking back towards the car.
In 1894, Hay Urban parish was created from part of the Hay Urban District. Hay Tump is within the Hay Urban parish. Hay Rural parish was created from the rural part of the parish of Hay, and includes another Norman castle called Llanthomas Castle Mound. It is on the same lane as the Hay Festival fields (Dairy Meadows). D. J. Cathcart King's list of UK castles numbers Hay Castle as Hay No. 1, Hay Tump as Hay No. 2 and Llanthomas Castle Mound as Hay No. 3.
We reach Hay Castle and walk the many steps up.
Hay Castle (Welsh: Castell y Gelli) is a medieval fortification and 17th-century mansion house in the small town of Hay-on-Wye in Powys, Wales. Originally constructed as part of the Norman invasion of Wales, the castle was designed as a ringwork overlooking the town in either the late 11th or the early 12th centuries. It was rebuilt in stone around 1200 by the de Braose family and then had a turbulent history, being attacked and burnt several times during the First and Second Barons' Wars, the wars with the Welsh princes, the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr and the Wars of the Roses. In the 17th century a Jacobean mansion house was built alongside the medieval keep and the property became a private home. Serious fires in 1939 and 1977 gutted the castle and, despite repairs in the 1980s, by the early 21st century much of the building was derelict and unstable. Since 2011 it has been owned by Hay Castle Trust who have restored the property to form a centre for arts, literature and learning. Following the restoration, partly funded by grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund of over £5m, the castle opened to the public on 26 May 2022.
We try to walk out the other side to the car park, but they had started to lock up the gates for the night so we had to walk back the way we came and around the castle and back through town.
By the car park is an impressive wooden Dragon carving by Danny Thomas. A striking heraldic dragon carved from a fallen West Wales Wellingtonia tree.
Back at the site, we made a coffee and walked down hill to sit and drink by the River Wye.
Very tranquil down by the river listening to it bubbling by, and it was lit by a warm glow as the sun begun to set.
Back at the caravan, we set in for the night and managed to get the West Ham game up on my phone to watch.
That night we could hear Tawney Owls hooting in the surrounding trees and I was lucky to see one fly by.
Saturday 12th September 2026
The next day after breakfast we drove to the town of Brecon not too far away.
We parked up in the Alexandra Road Car Park.
Brecon is the third-largest town in Powys, after Newtown and Ystradgynlais. It lies north of the Brecon Beacons mountain range, but is just within the Brecon Beacons National Park.
The Welsh name, Aberhonddu, means 'mouth of the Honddu'. It is derived from the River Honddu, which meets the River Usk near the town centre, a short distance away from the River Tarell which enters the Usk a few hundred metres upstream. After the Dark Ages, the original Welsh name of the kingdom in whose territory Brecon stands was (in modern orthography) Brycheiniog, which was later anglicised to Brecknock or Brecon, and probably derives from Brychan, the eponymous founder of the kingdom.
Before the building of the bridge over the Usk, Brecon was one of the few places where the river could be forded. In Roman Britain Y Gaer (Cicucium) was established as a Roman cavalry base for the conquest of Roman Wales and Brecon was first established as a military base.
We had a look about the market hall, where I had a few tastings of local cider, and bought 2 pints of Mole Catcher.
Chatting to the man, he commented on my Those Damn Crows t-shirt asking if I was from Cardiff. I said no but the band was from nearby in Bridgend, He seemed shocked saying in Welsh Terms Cardiff is nowhere near Bridgend and was bloody miles away! ( 17 to 20 miles apart lol).
Brecon Beacons Cider is an award-winning traditional cider and perry producer located in the village of Bwlch in the heart of the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park.
Producer Overview
Maker: Andrew Jenkins
Location: Bwlch, Powys, Wales
Production: Around 7,000 litres annually using hand-picked, vintage-quality apples from local, pesticide-free orchards situated within a ten-mile radius.
Method: 100% natural using fresh juice and wild yeasts with no added water, fruit concentrate, or sulphites.
As we walk trough the town we can see Brecon Castle sitting above us.
It was built by the Norman Lord Bernard de Neufmarché in 1093, and was frequently assaulted by the Welsh in the 13th and 15th centuries. The castle's ownership changed numerous times. It began falling into ruin when Henry VIII executed the last dukes of Buckingham, who at the time controlled the castle. It was renovated and made into a hotel in the early 19th century. It is a Grade I listed building.
Below the castle is the River Usk.
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| The Deanery at Brecon Cathedral. |
We walk on and visit the Brecon Cathedral.
In the town of Brecon, Powys, is the cathedral of the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon in the Church in Wales and seat of the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon. Previously the church of Brecon Priory and then the Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, it became Brecon Cathedral following the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920 and the creation of the diocese in 1923.
Because of the characteristic round shape of its churchyard, the cathedral is thought to be on the site of an earlier Celtic church, of which no trace remains. A new church, dedicated to St. John, was built on the orders of Bernard de Neufmarché, the Norman knight who conquered the kingdom of Brycheiniog in 1093. He gave the church to one of his followers, Roger, a monk from Battle Abbey, who founded a priory on the site as a daughter house of Battle. The first prior at Brecon was Walter, another monk from Battle. Bernard de Neufmarché also endowed the priory with lands, rights and tithes from the surrounding area, and, after his death, it passed to the Earls of Hereford, so giving it greater prosperity. The church was rebuilt and extended in the Gothic style in about 1215, during the reign of King John. In the Middle Ages, the church was known as the church of Holy Rood or Holy Cross, because it owned a great "golden rood" which was an object of pilgrimage and veneration until it was destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. The smoke-blackened roof of its hall was built between 1237 and 1267.
In 1538 the Prior was pensioned off, and the priory church became the parish church. Some of the surrounding buildings were adapted for secular use; and others, such as the cloisters, were left to decay and later demolished. By the 19th century, the church was in poor repair and only the nave was in use. Some restoration took place in 1836, but major renovation of the church did not start until the 1860s. The tower was strengthened in 1914.
There are 10 bells, rung in the traditional full-circle manner of ringing, the tenor weight being 16 cwt.
We back back down into the town and back through to reach the canal.
We have a quick look around the Brecon Canal Basin. Visitors can access narrowboat moorings, dayboat rentals, and seasonal cruises via operators like Dragonfly Cruises.
Brecon Canal Basin is the northern terminus of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, located in the market town of Brecon within the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park.
Rebuilt and reopened in 1997, the basin marks the end of a 35-mile navigable stretch of the scenic canal.
The basin serves as the northern starting point for the Taff Trail (National Cycle Route 8).
We walk back through the town, passing the Duke of Wellington Statue complete with cone in front of St Marys Church.
We drive up the road stopping at Capeli Heol Caradog refers to the twin Gothic cemetery chapels located inside Brecon Cemetery on Cradoc Road in Brecon, Powys, Wales
Designed in 1858 by H.J. Powell, these two nearly identical mirrored chapels sit 30 meters apart, facing a circular turning area. They feature a grey stone exterior accented by red-brown bands and ashlar dressings, built in a traditional 19th-century Gothic Revival style.
Amazing views across to the Black Mountains from here.
We drove on a short way stopping at the Brecon Boathouse. You can stay overnight here in a campervan for a fee.
We sit eating our lunch watching the canoes on the river.
We then drive back to Diggedi Camp for the night. We cook ourselves a chicken Korma on our camp cooker. Then the rain set in.
It was very heavy rain all night. The net morning we woke to find water in the tent from the rain. It had also managed to flood the rear floor well in my car. The rain really put a damper on the trip.
We packed up and made our way home
