Clifford

Clifford and the villages around Hay-on-Wye offer a scattering of characterful places to stay rather than a large concentration of hotels, which suits the area's quiet, rural character. Expect country inns with rooms, farmhouse bed and breakfasts, and small independent hotels rather than chain properties, many of them making the most of Wye Valley views or a position close to the river. The Old Black Lion in Hay-on-Wye is a well-known choice, a 17th-century inn with an award-winning restaurant and rooms just a short drive from Clifford itself, while other guesthouses and B&Bs are spread through Hay, Clifford and neighbouring villages such as Whitney-on-Wye and Winforton. Booking ahead is strongly advised around the Hay Festival in late May, when demand across the whole area rises sharply and the best rooms are taken up months in advance. Outside festival season, the area still suits travellers who want a comfortable base for walking the Black Mountains and Offa's Dyke Path, exploring Hay's bookshops, or simply enjoying a slower pace on the England-Wales border, with most properties within a few minutes' drive of both the river and the hills.

Clifford itself is small, but it sits at the centre of some of the best walking, reading and river country in the Marches.

• Clifford Castle — the ruined motte and bailey stronghold above the Wye, birthplace (by tradition) of Fair Rosamond and one of the five castles named in the Domesday Book; open to visitors on selected days as restoration continues.
• St Mary's Church, Clifford — the village's Norman-influenced parish church, with monuments inside recording centuries of local history.
• Hay-on-Wye — the "town of books", with more than twenty second-hand and antiquarian bookshops, the famous honesty bookstall in the grounds of Hay Castle, and the world-renowned Hay Festival of literature and arts each spring.
• Hay Castle — a restored medieval castle in the centre of Hay, with exhibition spaces and a rooftop viewing platform looking out over the Wye Valley.
• The Warren — a riverside meadow and Site of Special Scientific Interest on the edge of Hay, good for an easy stroll along the Wye.
• Hay Bluff and the Black Mountains — a striking escarpment a short drive south, with some of the finest views in the Brecon Beacons National Park over the Wye Valley below.
• Offa's Dyke Path — the long-distance trail tracing the ancient Wales-England border passes close by, giving walkers direct access from the area into open hill country.
• Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty — the wooded, meandering stretch of river running through and beyond Clifford, popular for walking, canoeing and wildlife-watching.

For a full choice of places to eat and drink, most visitors head the short distance into Hay-on-Wye. The Old Black Lion, a 17th-century inn near the site of Hay Castle's old gatehouse, has an AA-Rosette restaurant and has picked up Good Food Award recognition for its gastropub cooking. Kilverts, in the centre of town, is a long-standing inn with a large beer garden and a rotating selection of guest ales alongside its bar menu. The Blue Boar, a family-run local, serves food all day and keeps cask ales on alongside hearty pub classics. Between them, Hay's pubs and cafes give Clifford's visitors everything from a quiet pint to a proper Sunday lunch, all within a few minutes' drive of the village.

Clifford and the Wye Valley around it offer some lovely, low-key camping country, mostly in the form of small, family-run sites rather than large holiday parks, set among farmland, orchards and the wooded banks of the river. As in the rest of England, wild camping without the landowner's permission is not legal here, so it is worth sticking to established campsites or arranging permission directly with a farmer if pitching up off the beaten track. The terrain around Clifford is gently undulating riverside pasture giving way quickly to the steeper ground of the Black Mountains and Hay Bluff to the south, so there is a good mix of easy valley-floor pitches and more adventurous hill country within a short drive for anyone keen to combine camping with proper walking. Late spring to early autumn is the best window for tents, when the ground is drier and evenings are long enough to enjoy a fire and a view of the Wye below; the Hay Festival period in late May is especially popular and campsites nearby fill up quickly, so early booking pays off if that coincides with a visit. For those who would rather skip the guy ropes altogether, glamping options in the area range from shepherd's huts and safari tents to converted horseboxes and yurts, many with wood-burning stoves for cooler nights, offering the same river-and-hill setting with a good deal more comfort. Whatever the choice of pitch, campers are close enough to Hay-on-Wye to combine a night under canvas with a day browsing bookshops or exploring Hay Castle, and close enough to the Black Mountains for a proper day's walking on Offa's Dyke Path or up onto Hay Bluff itself.