BBC broadcaster Cerys Matthews switched on Hay-on-Wye’s Christmas lights as part of her Hay Festival Winter Weekend appearance on Friday 29 November.
The free switch-on event took place between 5pm and 7pm in The Cheese Market, accompanied by carol singing and readings to kick off the Festival weekend in good spirits.
Families were invited to create their own colourful Christmas lanterns in Hay Public Library from 3.30pm, before joining the Hay Festival Winter Weekend procession at 5.30pm to the Market Square.
Matthews is a Welsh singer, songwriter, BBC broadcaster and founder of The Good Life Experience. A founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia, she is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller Hook Line and Singer and children's books Tales from the Deep and Gelert. She is vice-president for both Shelter and the Hay Festival, and recipient of a St David Award for Culture and an MBE.
Her new book, Where the Wild Cooks Go, invites readers to cook their way around the world, with a Spotify playlist ready for each country, as well as poems, proverbs, curiosities and some very surprising aspects of world history. Matthews spoke about the book immediately following the lights switch-on at 7pm on the Baillie Gifford Stage.
Cerys Matthews said: "To turn on the festive lights in the already enlightened and beautiful Hay is more than a dream come true."
Explore the full Hay Festival Winter Weekend programme here.