The Warren is Hay's open secret, a riverside meadow along the Wye that's a ten-minute walk from the bookshops and about a hundred miles from the busyness of the world. Flat grass, the river running wide and slow, and the Black Mountains visible in the distance.
Take a picnic from the town's deli or a bag of books and spend an afternoon doing nothing in particular. This is what Hay-on-Wye is actually for.