Sunday pursuits and a Monday meet-up

Welcome back to the Shropshire travelogue, which has now reached episode # 5. As the adventures I'm chronicling here today are now well over a month old, a bit of time-travelling was required to relive them all. So, once again I'm thankful for the effort I made to at least jot down a couple of lines in my diary each day, and there's definitely more than just a modicum of truth in the time-worn adage that a picture is worth a thousand words!

Take this one for instance, for which we stopped at the top of our lane on the morning of Sunday the 16th of June. For once the weather gods appeared to be with us that day, treating us to a blue sky floating with fluffy cotton wool clouds and bathing the rolling green sheep-dotted fields in glorious sunshine. It instantly takes me back to that morning when, breathing in the scents of Summer in the countryside and listening to the soothing soundtrack of bleating sheep, I felt on top of the world.

After our outing to the Ironbridge gorge on Saturday, we wanted to stay a little bit closer to home on Sunday. Just as we'd done on the in-between Sundays in both 2022 and 2023, we'd planned to drive over to Ludlow, about half an hour up the road from the cowshed. However, as our journey would take us through Craven Arms, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the English Heritage owned Stokesay Castle, tantalizing glimpses of which can be caught from the A49.

It wouldn't be our first visit to this picturesque fortified medieval manor house. In fact, we first came here on a rainy day in July 2008 when we were holidaying across the county border in Herefordshire, while our second and penultimate visit was on a glorious Summer's day in June 2019.

What we hadn't reckoned with on on this sunny Sunday, on which highs of 18°C had been forecasted, was that we had to share the property with a coach party, who were just making their way towards the entrance when we were parking our car.

Stokesay Castle was constructed at the end of the 13th century by Laurence of Ludlow, who at the time was one of the richest men in England. It remains a treasure by-passed by time and one of the best places to visit in England to experience what medieval life was like.

With so many people milling about the property, it was virtually impossible to take a proper photograph of the17th-century timber-framed gatehouse leading into Stokesay or the beautifully ornate carvings in its frame. The photograph on the top right was taken at the back of the gatehouse in a rare moment when nobody was passing through it.

The same problem awaited us in Stokesay's great hall which has remained virtually unchanged for more than 700 years. The fine timber roof and staircase (the latter not pictured, as I gave up trying), with treads cut from whole tree trunks, all show the same carpenters' mark from 1291. 

Too swift to determine whether they were swallows or house martins, we were nevertheless captivated by the birds who were clearly treating the castle as their domain, freely flying in and out of the windows in order to feed their hungry offspring in their intricately built clay nests.

Inside the solar - or private apartment block - one is bowled over by the overmantel, intricately carved with fruit, flowers and figures. Once brightly coloured it still has some traces of the original red, green and gold paint. The two-storey solar has one of the few post-medieval alterations to the castle, having been refashioned in the 17th century into a fine panelled chamber.

We ended our visit with a stroll around the castle by way of the moat walk, taking in views towards the North Tower and Great Hall, with the occasional glimpse of the surrounding Shropshire Hills.

For further reading, I urge you to have a look at Aril's blog (here), as she serendipitously posted about her visit to Stokesay Castle earlier this week.

Before continuing to Ludlow as planned, we enjoyed a car picnic, and made some quick outfit photos. I was wearing a cotton skirt I'd bought in an Outlet shop back in February, combined with a green and blue Breton top from H&M by way of the charity shops. My fuchsia belt and wooden discs necklace were bought on the high street, while the pink, flower-patterned sneakers were a lucky find in a Shrewsbury charity shop in June 2019.

It's only a 10-minute or so drive from Stokesay to Ludlow, where we managed to grab one of the last parking spots going. We were just about to put our money into the Pay and Display machine, when we were reminded by a couple passing by that parking was free on a Sunday. Duh, of course! We ended up talking to the lovely couple, who'd just travelled up from their home in Somerset the previous day and, like us, were staying in a holiday cottage called The Byre!

We went for a stroll around this gem of a town, found treasure in the handful of charity shops which were open on a Sunday and browsed the Antiques and Collectors fair on Castle Square, where most of the brooches were found.

I'd been on the lookout for Emma Donoghue's Slammerkin for ages and couldn't believe my luck when I happened upon a pair of pristine Clarks Wave Walks, which might be in the running to replace my beloved but slightly battered Cloudsteppers. The Big Biba book was picked up from Castle Bookshop.

Having done our rounds, we were in need of a sit-down and some sustenance, which we found in the café of the newly refurbished Assembly Rooms turned arts and community centre on Castle Square. Which comes highly recommended, by the way.

Before rejoining our car, we couldn't resist popping into St. Laurence's Church, Shropshire's largest parish church and often described as the "cathedral of the marches". 

I'm not surprised it was among the 18 churches given a five-star rating in England's Thousand Best Churches by Simon Jenkins (1999).

My main reason for popping in was to swoon once more over the church's magnificent collection of misericords or mercy seats. Misericords are medieval choir stall seats designed to be raised during services, so that the occupants had to stand. If they became tired, they could rest their bottoms against the small ledges protruding from the bottom of the seats: a small mercy of the heart (or misericordia).

St Laurence's has a total of 28 of these, one of the largest collections in a parish church. They date from two periods: the construction of the original choir stalls in about 1425, and the remodelling of the stalls in 1447 when the Choir was extended.

We had an early night on Sunday, as we needed to be up early-ish on Monday. 

We were relieved that it looked set to be a mostly dry day with some sunny spells thrown into the mix as another blogger meet-up was on the menu that day. I had suggested the National Trust managed Dudmaston Hall due to its manageable distance for all of us. This time, apart from Vix and Jon, we would be joined by my blogging friend Claire and her husband Gareth, whom we'd met for the first time last year. 

We were the first to arrive but had only just stepped out of our car when Vix and Jon's red Citroën C5, Patrice, trundled up the drive, closely followed by Claire and Gareth in their red Beetle.

Lots of hugging ensued, after which we proceeded towards the entrance, where we arranged to join a tour of the property's art collection at 11.30. Finding our plans for a stroll around the garden thwarted as it only opens at 11, Claire and Gareth suggested going for a walk, which turned out to be the delightful Dingle Walk we did back in 2019 and 2023. It was here that the ominous looking sky decided to rain down on us. Thankfully, it was only a mere and very short-lived drizzle! 

We made it back to the house with only minutes to spare for the Cocktail of Art tour during which Alison, our lovely volunteer and guide, walked us around Dudmaston Hall's art collection, pointing out favourites and giving some background information on the artists. 

Dudmaston Hall houses one of the most important collections of modern art in Britain, started by Sir George and Lady Labouchere - who inherited Dudmaston Hall in 1952 -  in the 1950s while Sir George was working for the British Embassy in Brussels. 

The collection includes works by Barbare Hepworth (top right) and Henry Moore (bottom left) amongst many others. I'm not sure the boys were quite as impressed by the works of art as us girls!

Photos on top left and right courtesy of Vix

With the tour finished, it was time for a spot of lunch, which at around 19°C we were lucky enough to be able to have outside in the orchard.

Afterwards, we headed back to the house for a visit to the rooms proper.

The girls were drawn to the fabulous collection of antique fans. No fear, we didn't raid the display cases for the ones we are holding. They were laid out alongside some leaflets explaining the language of the fan. According to Vix, I'm wishing to get rid of you here. Sorry about that!

Dudmaston’s story spans almost a millennium, lived in by the same family through inheritance and marriage for over 875 years and never sold. 

After years of diplomatic service, Sir George and Lady Labouchere moved into the property in 1966. 

By this time it had been decided that the estate would be given to the National Trust, which was completed in 1978 with the provision that Lady Labouchere’s descendants could carry on living at the estate. Lady Labouchere died in 1996, followed by her husband George in 1999, but members of the Hamilton-Russell family (descendants of Lady Labouchere’s cousin), remain occupants of the house to this day.

Vix, Claire and I kept snapping away, often captivated by and photographing the same things. We all swooned over the yellow Nina Campbell wallpaper in one of the bedrooms.

By then, gaps of blue had appeared in the sky, and we were raring to go and explore the gardens. The usually fabulous view towards the house was marred by a giant marquee, which thankfully disappeared once we'd descended the steps into the rockery to arrive at the edge of the Big Pool.

There are several sculptures by the artist  Anthony Twentyman (1906-1988) dotted around the garden. One of them, called Space Frame (1985) was featured in the BBC 2 series Hidden Treasures of the National Trust last year. As it was fenced off, I refrained from taking a photograph this time around, but the link will take you to the one I made on our previous visit.

The sculpture Jon and I are posing next to is another one by him, called The Watcher. The photo is courtesy of Vix.

Photos courtesy of Vix, Jon and Claire

We ended the day by going for another, longer walk around the estate, skirting Big Pond, with us girls chatting all the time and only marginally taking in the views. After all, it might very well be another year until we meet again!

After a final drink, which we once again had in the orchard, it was time to say our goodbyes, and to exchange presents with Claire and Gareth.

They absolutely spoiled us with local delicacies, a Bridgnorth tankard, a gorgeous patchwork washbag, lots of lovely jewellery, including a woolly sheep brooch from Ireland, a vintage Berkertex blouse and St. Michael skirt.

I'm ending this post with a view from the cowshed's window that evening. That moody sky really didn't bode well. 

What would the weather gods have in store for us for the final days of our holiday? I'll tell you all about it in my next and final travel post!