The Hawthorn
£95 / night
South-facing double with a brass bedstead and bookshelves on every wall.
The Garden Gate
01497 405 880
A small B&B inHay-on-Wye
Four rooms. Big breakfast.
The bookshops are
just down the lane.
A small, properly looked-after bed & breakfast on the Welsh border — Aga-cooked breakfasts, a walled garden, a log fire, and a hosting couple who've been doing this for twelve years.
Welcome in
A proper bed & breakfast,
run by people who live here.
We're a four-bedroom B&B on a quiet lane in Hay-on-Wye, a five-minute stroll from the castle, the bookshops, and the river. The house is old, the garden is full of birds, and the kettle is always on.
Helen does breakfast on the Aga. Tom does the garden, the maps, and the suggestions of where to walk. We've been at it twelve years and we still love a good story over the toast.
AA
5-star B&B
Visit Wales
Gold-rated
Dogs
Welcome in 2 rooms
Hosts
Helen & Tom · 12 years
Four rooms · all individually decorated
Pick your favourite.
Each room is a bit different — we've furnished them slowly, mostly from local salvage and the antiques fair down in Brecon. Decent mattresses, proper bathrooms, the windows actually open.
Dogs Welcome
The Foxglove
£115 / night
King-size with a window seat over the walled garden — dog-friendly.
The Bluebell
£105 / night
Tucked under the eaves — beams, claw-foot bath, twin sash windows.
Dogs Welcome
The Wisteria
£135 / night
Largest room — four-poster, sitting nook, garden view — dog-friendly.
What's for Breakfast
Cooked on the Aga,
served until ten.
Breakfast is the main event. Helen's in the kitchen by seven, and most of what's on the table comes from within ten miles — sausages from Williams in Glasbury, eggs from Tom's sister's hens, bread baked the day before.
The Full Welsh
Two Aga-cooked rashers, Glamorgan sausage, free-range eggs, laverbread, field mushrooms, tomato, toast.
Smoked haddock & poached egg
Cured down the road in Brecon, served on buttered crumpet with hollandaise.
Buttermilk pancakes
Maple syrup, blackberries from the garden in season, clotted cream.
Porridge & rarebit
Pinhead oats with cream and honey, or our Welsh rarebit on sourdough — local cheddar, mustard, ale.
Included with every stay · served 8 till 10
Walled garden & log fire
A place to linger.
Out the back: a south-facing walled garden Tom's been working on for a decade. Cottage planting, two old apple trees, a stone bench by the wisteria. Tea brought out on request.
Inside: a small drawing room with a log fire we light from October to April, shelves of books to borrow, board games, and a decanter of sherry on the side that we'd rather you helped yourself to.
Helen & Tom Pritchard · Hosts since 2014
Your Hosts
Helen & Tom Pritchard.
We bought the house in 2014 — Tom had grown up walking these hills, Helen had been catering in London for fifteen years, and we wanted somewhere we could feed people properly without doing it at scale.
Twelve years on, the dog has changed, the children have left, and the breakfast is, if anything, even better. We'll point you at the best walks, the quietest pub, the bookshop with the proper poetry section — and we'll meet you at the door.
From the door
Walking & cycling, start here.
Hay sits where the Brecon Beacons meet the Black Mountains and the Wye Valley. Routes for ten minutes to ten hours, all from the front gate.
01
The Wye Riverside
Out the back gate, left past the church — flat, dog-friendly, two pubs en route.
02
Hay Bluff & the Cat's Back
Twenty minutes by car, then a proper hill walk with the whole valley laid out below.
03
The Offa's Dyke Path
Crosses the lane at the bottom of the garden. Stratford-on-Avon left, Chepstow right.
04
The Bookshop Crawl
Forty-odd second-hand shops within a half-mile. Plot a route, pack a tote bag.
From the guestbook
“The best B&B we've stayed in this side of the border. The room was spotless, the breakfast extraordinary, and Helen and Tom went so far out of their way to help us plan our walks that we ended up staying an extra night. We'll be back, and we'll bring the dog.”
Sarah & David Mortimer · Stayed October 2025
Book a Stay
Come and stay with us.
We take bookings direct, by phone or email — the easiest way is a quick call. Helen or Tom will pick up. Minimum two nights at weekends, one night any other time.
Telephone
01497 405 880Address
The Garden Gate B&B
Bear Street
Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5AN
Bear Street
Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5AN
Check-in & Out
Check-in
3pm — 7pm
Later by arrangement
Check-out
by 10:30am
Later on quieter days
Good to know
- · Free parking on the lane
- · Two rooms welcome well-behaved dogs (£10/night)
- · Cot and high-chair available on request
- · Breakfast included · special diets catered for
- · Five minutes' walk to the bookshops & castle