Valentine Venue

Had a great Valentines weekend. Stayed at the Gainsborough House Hotel in Kidderminster– using a chrissie gift token from Marion :) The largest town in the Wyre Forest District, just 17 miles south west of Birmingham, Kidderminster, on the River Stour and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, boasts Victorian buildings.

On the way up we spent an interesting few hours at the old Bishops Palace at Hartlebury, now a museum. You are guided round by animated portraits on the wall – an inventive and amusing idea. Hartlebury was owned by the Bishops of Worcester for over 1,100 years. There are records of a land grant to the Bishop of Worcester by King Burghred of Mercia in the late 9th century, with records of the first building on the site in 1268, making Hartlebury the centre of civil and ecclesiastical power and influence in Worcestershire.

You enter the grounds through a series of out buildings housing cider presses, butter churns and the most amazing collection of horse drawn vehicles.

The early Castle was fortified and moated ready to house soldiers and quell unrest along the borders with Wales, by the 15th century times had become more settled and the Great Hall was built, transforming the Castle into a place of status and comfort. During the Civil War the Castle received major damage and was abandoned for over 40 years. In the late 1680’s Bishop Fleetwood started the transformation from medieval castle to gracious country mansion and grounds. Successive bishops throughout the 18th century beautified the Castle and surrounding estate to create the Castle in its current form, except for the remodelling in the 1960’s. This most recent chapter in the Castle’s history arose as the Castle was becoming too much of a burden for the Bishop, so the north wing was leased to Worcestershire County Council to house the Tickenhall Collection of rural life. The retirement of the Bishop of Worcester in 2007 saw the end of the Castle role as a Bishop’s Palace.

The Long Gallery charts English History

The Palace is situated in over 40 acres of parkland and garden.

After a walk by the river in Bewdley, which surprisingly ended opposite the Bewdley Brewery, we headed off to the hotel. Valentines evening was spent over an excellent Italian washed down with red wine.

The area is crossed by the steam railway (which unfortunately wasn’t running whilst we were there. The Severn Valley Railway Company began operations in 1970 from Bridgnorth to Hampton Loade, extending services southwards to Bewdley in 1974, then to Kidderminster in 1984

Kidderminster is also on the eastern edge of the Wyre Forest through which we walked on a beautiful spring day. We drove and meandered many country lanes, walked the East side Severn Valley Country Park then drove south to revisit Shipston upon Stour.

Ending the trip with tea n n cake at an olde world candy store