A weekend in Clyro, Wales - Tom Chesshyre · From Richard Booth’s Bookshop (Booth began the...

the times Saturday March 19 2016

Travel 35

Need toknow

Where to stayBaskerville Hall Hotel(01497 820033,baskervillehall.co.uk) hasmarvellous views andB&B doubles from £120.The Baskerville Arms(01497 820670,baskervillearms.co.uk)has simple butcomfortable B&B doublesfrom £69. Cwmhir Court(cwmhircourt.com)offers self-cateringaccommodation in Clyro.

Where to eatThe Wye Knot Stopcafé in Llyswen(wyeknotstop.co.uk) doesexcellent sandwiches,cakes and teas; perfectfor after a long walk.The Blue Boar on CastleStreet in Hay-on-Wye, justbelow Hay Castle, offersgood pub food atreasonable prices, withtwo roaring fires.

Further informationVisit Wales (visitwales.com)

tall Herbert Rowse Armstrong, a lawyerwho disposed of his domineering wifewith the assistance of arsenic, which heclaimed in court to be weed killer “forhis dandelions”. After seeming to getaway with it, Armstrong was hanged in1922, after attempting to see off aprofessional rival by similar means.It’s a story fit for Sherlock— and

Clyro and its environs feel bursting withsuch intrigue. Go for a weekend. Justdon’t forget your walking boots.Tom Chesshyre

A weekendin. . . Clyro,Powys,Wales

The snow-sprinkled slopesof the Black Mountains aregorgeous, looking likeicebergs sliding along aridge beneath a crisp bluesky as we amble up a laneto the Baskerville Hall

Hotel (not a car in sight). The silhouetteof an eerie-looking Victorian buildingemerges (with no vehicles in the carpark) and we enter the reception (withno receptionist around). A sign with apicture of Sherlock Holmes smokinga pipe reads: “Only drinks purchasedhere may be consumed here: it would bea shame to have them confiscated.”The suitably mysterious hotel, on the

edge of the little village of Clyro inPowys, likes to play up its Sherlockconnection, although the master sleuthwould perhaps have concentrated onbigger crimes than guests sneaking inillicit booze. His creator, Sir ArthurConan Doyle, visited what was thenClyro Court, the home of theBaskerville family, many times —during which he came up with histitle The Hound of the Baskervilles.The author eventually set thebook (published in instalments in1901-02) in Devon, apparentlybecause the Baskervilles wanted to“ward off tourists”.Nowadays the opposite seems to be

true. As well as the prominentSherlock-conscious hotel — spookilyquiet when we passed by in February —there’s the Baskerville Arms, the onlypub in the village (population about600), where a sculpture of a black dogwith pointy ears sits above the entranceas though keeping evil spirits at bay. Itis said that Conan Doyle was partiallyinspired by a local legend of hounds atnearby Hergest Court. The owner ofthese bloodthirsty beasts, so the storygoes, would set them upon walkers.Do not, however, let this put you off a

stroll. This is prime walking territory,with footpaths, hills, ridges andmoorland aplenty. Indeed, Clyro’s morerenowned literary connection is that itwas where the Rev Francis Kilvert livedin the 1870s, writing his sharp-eyed andhumorous diaries. These were published

posthumously, with much vividdescription of his movements by foot inthe surrounding area. Recognised as aminor classic, the diaries capture dailylife in and around Clyro and Hay-on-Wye, the little market town a mile tothe south, with its annual literaryfestival now held at the end of May.Walkers and visitors of any sort areadvised to pick up a copy to pinpointspots described by Kilvert, who diedfrom peritonitis in 1879 aged 38.After taking a look at the charming

grey-stone St Michael and All Angels’Church in Clyro, where Kilvert was acurate (a plaque marks the house inwhich he lodged opposite the BaskervilleArms) and where tombs are inscribedwith the name Baskerville, my brotherand I set forth into the green-gleaminglandscape. We head in the direction ofthe village of Painscastle, with adiversion into the Begwyn Hills,National Trust-owned land.Here the legend of the hound feels

strong as we follow narrow tracks acrosswindswept rolling grassland populatedby sheep, and with the occasional sheep’sskull by the trail. Our way leads to alittle copse on a hill where a sign tells usthat red kites can be seen in these parts,although we don’t glimpse one. Theground is springy — “elastic turf”,Kilvert said — and the views of theBrecon Beacons are awe-inspiring. Westop in Painscastle for a reviving pint ofButty Bach ale (from the Wye ValleyBrewery) at the Roast Ox Inn, with itscrackling fire and crooked floors, thentrudge back across hills to Clyro.Over a long weekend, our Kilvert-like

perambulations include an eight-miletramp along a muddy section of theRiver Wye from Llyswen throughfarmland and back down a steepbridleway. We shun a trail through thehills from Hay Bluff (too windy with50mph gusts) but take on another part ofthe river from the village of Llowes toClyro, then on to Hay-on-Wye.Hay is a big reason to visit Clyro, and

it’s impossible for the bookish not to bestopped in their tracks. A pamphlet inthe first bookshop we visit says thereare 21 booksellers in town. Our perusalin muddy boots (not frowned uponby owners) uncovers obscure biographies,first editions (£35 for Graham Greene’sThe Comedians at one shop), histories,travelogues, histories, Victorian railway

books and faded novels by the skip-load.From Richard Booth’s Bookshop

(Booth began the self-styled “town ofbooks” tradition in Hay in 1962), we pickup the excellent little Blue Guide to Hayand take it, appropriately enough, to theBlue Boar pub for another pint of“Butty’s”. The history of the town’s pivotalposition in skirmishes between the Welshand the English and its book-dominatedrecent years are covered, as is the tale ofthe Hay Poisoner.This was a certain five-feet-nothing

Baskerville Hall Hotel

St Michael and All Angels, Clyro

TAMARA HILLS