Build-up to the Hay Festival 2011
Taking a deep breath after all the excitement of the Borderlines Film Festival before taking the plunge and getting involved with the Hay Literature Festival at the end of May. Tickets have been on sale for a couple of weeks and many events are sold out - especially the evening concerts and all the outdoor guided walks and jaunts. Work in the Box Office has been relentless - telephones ringing off their hooks from 9am until 6pm every day of the week.
Booking has also started on-line for HowTheLightGetsIn at the Globe with special early bird prices to entice us locals. The garden at the globe is transformed at festival time - a bar in a yurt, philosophy talks in tents, live music and organic ice cream on sale. The Globe garden has been extended to provide plenty of space for outdoor tables for those who just want to sit, read and daydream.
So far, I have bought a handful of tickets for the first weekend of the Literature Festival and seats for the amazingly inventive and colourful Gifford's Circus. HowTheLightGetsIn tickets are the next priority - I am determined to give more support to this brilliant, cerebral initiative this year. The Festival Fringe and the food stalls in the Castle courtyard also help to bring people up from the Festival site and into the shops, pubs and cafes of Hay-on-Wye town.
On a personal note, our retreat cottage is fully booked for the whole Hay Festival period and has been since last year's Festival, but I am still getting email enquiries!
Photograph: Retreat Cottage
