A newspaper feature based on Bridget Ashton’s new book, Hay Before the Bookshops or the Beeman’s Family, got published in the local newspaper, the Northumberland Gazette, on 15th  April 2022. The article said, “In Hay Before the Bookshops or The Beeman’s Family Bridget Ashton sets out to recall, from the perspective of her girlhood self, what Hay-on-Wye (located on the Welsh side of the Welsh/English Border in the county of Powys) was like in the 1940s and 50s – with trains, a half-ruined castle, and a cinema.”

In Hay Before the Bookshops or the Beeman’s Family, Bridget Ashton goes back in the time of 40s and 50s in her native Welsh border town of Hay. She writes extensively about how the town used to be during her childhood. Hay town is renowned for producing many famous authors, consequently, bookshops in Hay are not only numerous but quite prestigious. Similarly, the fame of Beeman’s family that resided in Market Street, off Castle Square, is quite unparalleled. But Bridget has narrated the story of Hay before the bookshops or Beeman’s family acquired popularity amongst the masses. She reminisces about the times when the town of Hay witnessed trains, a cinema, and a half-ruined castle. She elaborates how Beeman’s family conducted itself during those frugal times. She also highlights their origin in her childhood town.

Bridget Ashton’ was born to a nature-loving mother and a beekeeper father in the Welsh border town of Hay during the post-world war II years. She actively campaigned against the nuclear power stations in Hay. She got settled with an American guy and has four offspring with him. Taking after her mother, she promoted green energy schemes and currently preaches the English language to the new generation. She also wrote local history books and studied primitive woodlands recently.