Hay-on-Wye, United Kingdom

Straddling the Anglo-Welsh border, the hilly little town of HAY-ON-WYE is known to most people for one thing – books. Thanks to the purposeful industry of the entrepreneurial Richard Booth, Hay has become the world's largest repository of second-hand books, on sale in around thirty bookshops. Just about every spare inch of the town is given over to the trade, including the old cinema and the ramshackle stone castle. The prestigious Hay Festival of literature and the arts (Tel:0870/990 1299, Web: www.hayfestival.com ), is held over ten days in late May, when London's literary world decamps here en masse.