Richmond Booktown

Richmond is a small Karoo town on the N1 that had, like many of its neighbours, been slowly emptying. In 2007 a group started a project to remake it as a book town on the model of Hay-on-Wye in Wales - secondhand and antiquarian dealers opening in old buildings, with an annual literary festival, the Booktown Richmond weekend, drawing writers and buyers from the cities. Several shops now hold substantial Africana collections, and the town's position exactly halfway on the drive between Johannesburg and Cape Town gives it a steady flow of people who stop for fuel and stay two hours. Alongside the books there is a modern horse museum reflecting the district's Karoo horse-breeding history, sandstone Victorian buildings, and the same enormous night sky that the region trades on everywhere.

What's there

• The bookshops - secondhand and antiquarian dealers, several with strong Africana holdings.
• The Hay model - a town deliberately remade around books from 2007.
• The festival - an annual literary weekend that fills the village.
• The halfway position - a stop exactly midway on the Johannesburg to Cape Town drive.

When to go

March to May and September to November; the festival is in October. Half a day.

Practical notes

Shops keep irregular hours and some open only by arrangement out of season - phone ahead if books are the reason you are stopping. The town is small and quiet. Summer heat is severe. Accommodation is limited during the festival.

Nearby

Hanover and Colesberg are along the N1; the Karoo plains surround it.