So whilst scouring the internet for appealing places to visit, I found that the Hay on Wye Festival was on all week. We have wanted to visit this for a while and thought Sophie would love it as well as she loves her books (don't know where she gets that from!). There is always lots of interesting talks and shows on but we decided to book ones that would appeal more to Sophie and as I also like childrens illustration, it might be ideal.
I was concerned about the weather as it hadn't stopped raining all day and managed to find a parking space in a very muddy field. How we were going to get the car out at the end of the day was possibly going to be another problem. Having not visited before, we didn't really know what to expect and dreaded a day filled with trawling through mud and sitting in wet clothes all day.
This may have been the case years ago when the festival was in its infancy but today, the organisation is near faultless. In between the different venues there is a series of covered walkways wide enough to cope with the thousands of visitors. There are also plenty of places to get a coffee and and something to eat if you don't mind struggling to find a seat and also the close to extortionate prices.
With the weather everything was running slightly late to allow people to access the site which was fortunate as we were also running late! The first talk I had booked was by Tracey Corderoy and her latest book, Monty and Milli. They are the best magical mice duo ever and it promised to be an extravaganza of puppets, magic tricks and games.
Tracey was very good at keeping everyone engaged throughout her talk and of course it also helped that she had goody bags and magic tricks. It was a clever way of getting the children engaged with the story and of course it helped having somewhere dry to sit for a while.
What I also liked was at the end you could make your way over to the main bookshop and meet the authors and have a book signed if you wished. Mainly for Sophie but I thought it would be nice for her to have a book personalised for her to keep. The layout of the bookshop for the signings was very well organised and everyone formed an orderly queue for their chosen authors.
What I did notice was the other people present at the festival. I know its difficult not to stereotype and pigeonhole people but let's just say that the majority of visitors didn't seem to worry about personal finances. Overheard conversations were either about what expensive cars they had just bought, expensive restaurants they had been to or what private schools their children were studying at. To be honest it was the most civilised festival I have ever been to. It might be an age thing but it made a nice change not to be jostled about and have to dodge drunken idiots.
When we eventually got to the front of the queue you had time to talk and ask questions and didn't feel hurried at all. Plus you had time to get the ever important photo opportunity.
Our next talk wasn't until the afternoon which gave us time to explore the site and also get something for dinner. There was lots of crafts organised for the children but these events were booked up early which is a bit difficult to explain to a disappointed six year old. There was plenty of other activities to take part in like a Where's Wally hunt and a great exhibition about the rainforest's with a very impressive 3D film. As Sky was one of the main sponsors there was plenty of 3D technology around the site including in their own venue which organised some classes where you could learn drawing and watercolours. They also had free music events throughout the day with some nice cool jazz performers.
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