IF you like books, you'll love Hay-on-Wye. And if you're interested in art and antiques, good food, history and eccentricity, Hay has plenty to offer.

NICHOLAS WHITEHEAD paid a visit and was granted an audience with 'King' Richard in the castle

ONLY 45 miles from Newport, Hay-on-Wye is a world away from the bland, plastic-and-steel shopping experience we find in most British towns. Its unspoiled streets are lined with good, old-fashioned, independently-owned shops. Thirty-eight of them sell books.

It was back in 1961 that the eccentric businessman Richard Booth opened a secondhand bookshop in Hay.

Until then, it was just a small market town, hiding away in a corner of borderland on the River Wye, where Breconshire, Radnorshire and Herefordshire meet.

Hay, just inside Wales, remains an agricultural town and still has a cattle market, foot-and-mouth permitting, every Thursday.

But it is known throughout the world as a book town and home of the Sunday Times Literary Festival, graced this year by Bill Clinton.

The festival began in 1988, well after Richard Booth's three bookshops had drawn more booksellers to the town and put Hay on the tourist map. In 1970s Richard achieved personal fame when he declared himself King of Hay. He lives in the town's 13th century castle and has a state room with a velvet-draped wooden throne.

He conducts campaigns against supermarkets and holds public 'executions' of those he considers villains, such as chiefs of quangos. "I have a minister of entertainment who does the public executions," he explained casually.

"When we executed an official of the Welsh Development Agency, we got a bigger audience than Bill Clinton." The executions involve actors being switched for identically-dressed dummies just before the fatal moment. The next execution is on the scaffold outside Hay Castle on October 18, 'King' Richard's birthday.

As befits a medival town, there are plenty of inns with evocative names like the Blue Boar, the Black Lion and the Swan. By the town's clock tower is the friendly, family-owned restaurant the Granary. Comfortable and rustic, it serves dishes prepared largely from local ingredients - including cider.

Events in Hay October 18 - Public 'execution', Hay Castle. November 5 - Firework display, Clyro. December 1-2 'Hand-made-in-Hay' event, the Butter Market, Hay. December 7 - Hay Christmas lights switch-on. May 2002 - 100-mile raft race from Hay to Chepstow. Late May-early June - Festival of Literature.

FACTFILE The earliest known reference to Hay is in King Hywel Dda's survey of Wales in 944 AD. There it's referred to by its Welsh name, Y Gelli, meaning 'the grove'. The Normans named it La Haia in the 12th century and the Anglicised form, The Hay, was used until 1948. The castle was completed in 1211 by William de Breos, Lord of Hay. It was extended in Jacobean times.

Apart from accommodation in inns and B&Bs, there are self-catering cottages, ranging from £100 to £500 a person a week. Expect everything to be more expensive/fully-booked during the literary festival.

Pony trekking, conoeing and other outdoor activities are available around Hay. www.hay-on-wye.co.uk www.hayfestival.co.uk Tourist information: 01497 820144.