New Shops

Coming back from a walk with Islay the other evening, I noticed all the lights on at the shop on Broad Street that used to be Country Pie and will soon be Herbfarmacy. It's the one opposite Broad Street Book Centre and next door to Oxford House Books. I'd seen people putting shelves up and painting in there for a little while, so I knew they were getting ready to open, but now they're getting ready for Christmas with a stained glass exhibition.
Hung up in the windows with the light behind them, the pictures in the stained glass were amazing!
They're made by a lady called Rowan McOnegal, who is also a medical herbalist, and the pictures in the stained glass are all of plants, in great detail.
They're opening every Thursday up to Christmas.

In fact, visitors to Hay (and locals!) are spoiled for choice this month, as there's also the Veronica Guest watercolour exhibition on the Pavement, and Kate Modern is showing off some of her latest paintings, too.

Up at the Castle there are changes too - as I found when I followed the trail of signs that said "New Shop". Mason's Yard shop has just opened in that part of the stables that used to be Castle Drive Books (the lady in the shop, wife of the stone mason himself, said that they'd had to shift a lot of books up to the loft before they moved in!). There were stone fireplaces on display, and a rather fine round stone dove cote, as well as smaller pieces for sale, and a few other bits and pieces for the gift buying public. The plan is for the stone mason to work in a corner of the shop that has been partitioned off, where people can see him.