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About the area
Garway is a small village in the south-west corner of Herefordshire, and is situated in one of the most sparsely populated parts of England. In a parish of just about four hundred people there are still numerous individual working farms amd the landscape is almost entirely rural and agricultural. Our main products are lamb and milk, plus specialised items like excellent ice-cream and farmhouse cider.Garway is notable for a number of features including the wonderful Garway Hill - a fairly easy walk up to about 1200 feet above sea level with stunning 360º views. Just away from the village centre is the stunning St Michaels Church, originally built by the Knights Templar and rebuilt by the Knights Hospitaller, where you'll find some remarkable ancient carvings (including our famous Green Man), a healing garden and a holy well.
Garway is within the ancient area called Archenfield (we sometimes still use the name locally) which was a sort of independent buffer state between the Saxons and the Celts. Many of our surnames still reflect the nature of the ancient Archenfield, being a mixture of English and Welsh roots - names like "Sayce" (from the Celtic word for "Saxon" - related to the Scots Sassenach) and Bevan (from the Welsh Ap Evan - son of Evan). Archenfield is basically a triangle between the rivers Wye and Monnow.
The Monnow itself forms the western boundary of the parish of Garway as well as the border with Wales; if you're feeling energetic, you can walk down to the church and then along the lane next to the river to the bridge over the Monnow and cross over into Wales at Skenfrith - so your weekend can be spent partly in another country, at no extra cost!
A little further afield you'll find the pleasant town of Monmouth (in Wales, even though it's on the east side of the Monnow) - and notice the difference in the accent between the Herefordshire of Garway and the strong Welsh of Monmouth, despite the fact that they are only nine miles apart! Or you might like to visit Hereford, with its fine cathedral and the Mappa Mundi - one of the oldest maps in existence.
But of course we think you'll like Garway so much that you won't want to go very far at all!