Spent
Christmas in to lovely Mayfield Cottage just outside Church Stretton in
Shropshire. With a backdrop of the Mynd Hills, log burner fire and occasional
frost it was all very seasonal.
Marilyn and I
took a walk up Carding
Mill Valley to Lightspout waterfall then back to Challet Pavillion, via the
Victorian Reservoir, for warm drinks and sustenance.
Sis arrived
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we had an amazing meal at the wonderful Royal
Oak Cardington in the company of mine hosts Steve and Eira.
The following
weeks highlights included:
Meander round
Shrewsbury. In countryside near to the Welsh Borders, it is one of England's
finest medieval market towns. packed with timber-framed black & white
buildings, steep narrow streets and alley ways. The town boasts over 600 listed
buildings including the Castle, now a regimental museum and the world-famous
Shrewsbury Abbey, home of the fictional Brother Cadfael. Also Charles Darwin
was born and educated in Shrewsbury. It also hosts the amazing Shrewsbury Flower Festival.
Walking tour
of Bridgenorth which was once one of the busiest river ports in Europe, but
nowadays, the Severn, clear and unpolluted, is a quiet haven for anglers,
walkers and wildlife. The river divides the town into High
Town and Low Town, the two being linked by seven sets of ancient
donkey steps and a Victorian funicular, the Bridgnorth Cliff Railway – the
UKs oldest and steepest inland funicular railway. The Castle Keep leans at an
impossible angle greater than the Tower of Pisa. Thomas Telford's church of St
Mary Magdalene sits grandly next door, while the timber-framed Town Hall is set
on high brick piers in the High Street.
A nightime
trip to see the wonderful light show at Birmingham
Botanical Gardens.
Mayfields
provided a heaven of rest in between activities and the wonderful Berry’s Coffee House in Church Stretton provided the equally wonderful cakes and hot
drinks (and occasional wifi connection :)
Sis headed
back north on Thursday amid total chaos, cancellations and bus replacement
systems that are now the hallmark of our once great railway network! Whilst M and I stretched our legs with a walk round the lake at Colemere Country Park near Ellesmere;
Marilyn
and I departed the next day for Gloucester via a drive through a frost laden winter
wonderland and a walk along the Wye
Valley at Symonds Yat – an eerie experience cloaked in mist and frost.
