Hay Fayre 2012

For a quaint, market town on the Welsh Marches, Hay-on-Wye sees its fair share of excitement. 

On the weekend of July 14^th-15^th, The Globe café and art space saw the arrival of a brand new event by the name of Hay Fayre and it generated its fair share of buzz. And there are two more weekends to come, 25th - 26th August, and 15th - 16th September.

Punters flocked from the locality and far beyond for what the organisers call ‘a taste of the extraordinary’. The focus of the fair is a covered market, housing a selection of crafts, art, food and fashion. Amongst them are wood sculptors, jewellers, upholsterers, leather-workers and textile artists.

The event claims to be unique, with a focus on participation and demonstration rather than simply shopping. There are live displays of craftsmanship from many of the exhibitors as well as a range of workshops for the young ones. There’s even renowned children’s author Karen Wallace signing her books for all-comers.

Music is clearly another big element that differentiates Hay Fayre from the average art or craft show. Headlining the bill is Bristol-based Yes Sir Boss, a wonderfully upbeat band appearing at festivals all over Britain this summer. 

All in all, it looks like quite the weekend of activity in little old Hay-on-Wye!

Search for real life Dorothy...

Working with a glamorous vintage fashion designer, Wye Valley Brewery are searching for a real-life beauty to recreate the spirit of their 1950’s Dorothy Goodbody character. The successful Dorothy will win a fabulous prize packaging including a 1950’s photo-shoot styled by Vivien of Holloway and will star on the cover of the 2013 Wye Valley Brewery Calendar!


The brewery are searching for a vivacious character to recreate the spirit of Dorothy for the cover of their 2013 brewery calendar in a fabulous 1950's styled photo-shoot. To make this all possible, the brewery has come together with vintage fashion designer Vivien of Holloway. Vivien is a life-long 50's lifestyle and fashion enthusiast, and the Vivien of Holloway brand of gorgeous vintage style clothing now has fans across the globe.

Vivien said: “We’re delighted to be part of the search to find the new face of Dorothy Goodbody! Here at Vivien of Holloway we are always looking for sassy new models, so this is a great opportunity to get spotted!”

The judges are looking for a gorgeous but real-life beauty who looks believable as Dorothy and can carry off the 1950's photo-shoot in style.

The successful Dorothy for the day will win a fabulous prize package including: a professional photo-shoot package on location at one of Herefordshire’s verdant hop-farms, styled by vintage fashion expert Vivien of Holloway for a truly fabulous 1950's look; luxurious overnight accommodation for winner plus guest in a historic inn on the River Wye; a beautiful 1950’s style dress from Vivien of Holloway; a framed photo from the shoot and plenty of copies of the calendar on which they star to share with friends and family!

For information on how to enter click here.

Dorothy sponsors Vintage Village

Wye Valley Brewery are working with glamorous vintage fashion designer, Vivien of Holloway in the search for a real-life beauty to recreate the spirit of their 1950’s Dorothy Goodbody character.


The launch of this competition is perfectly timed for the sponsorship of the Vintage Village at Herefordshire's Diamond Day, which takes place on 11th July 2012.

Dorothy Goodbody is the brains and beauty behind a delicious range of real ales from Wye Valley Brewery. Legend tells that Dorothy was the daughter of a Herefordshire hop farmer in the 1950's and renowned local belle. Inspired by the Herefordshire countryside, she developed a passion for real ale and created a range of fantastic ale recipes using local hops.

The Vintage Village makes the perfect match for this 1950's belle, and her banner is bound to turn heads! For more information about Herefordshire's Diamond Day, visit their website.

Wye Valley Brewery invests in state of the art brew-house

Having sustained year on year double-digit growth for over 5 years running, this year Wye Valley Brewery are making a £2m investment in expanding the brewery to keep up with growing demand for its beers.

This expansion will see the installation a complete new brewhouse. The design retains all the features of a traditional English brewery including using whole hop flowers. However, it will also incorporate some truly cutting edge features that will represent a quantum leap in terms of energy consumption and, therefore, sustainability. Furthermore, it will provide a much better physical environment for brewers and visitors alike.

The project is being delivered by British engineering firm, Microdat. They are teaming up with Watergate Construction for the second time on a brewery build having successfully developed Moorhouse’s in Burnley. Furthermore, the main brewing vessels will also be manufactured in the UK by a company called Musk.

“We underwent a lengthy evaluation of various potential suppliers and it is extremely heartening that we have been able to find top quality companies in the UK to carry out our expansion – contrary to popular belief British manufacturing is still very much alive” commented Head Brewer, Jimmy Swan.

As part of the ongoing expansion the brewery is also taking on an Engineering Supervisor, Hywel Davies. Hywel is a highly experienced electrical and mechanical engineer having done his apprenticeship at Bulmer’s in Hereford and also worked at Westons Cider. He will be a valuable addition to the team.

Photo, from left: Jimmy Swan, head brewer of Wye Valley Brewery, Steve Midgeley of Microdat, Vernon Amor, managing director of Wye Valley Brewery and Richard Cryer of Watergate.