Mr HD and I recently had our 6th wedding anniversary and, as has become tradition, we booked a holiday to celebrate. Instead of going somewhere abroad we decided we wanted to explore a part of the UK we hadn’t yet been to and settled on beautiful Shropshire, and, oh my goodness, beautiful it was!
We hired a cute little romantic cottage just big enough for two with a log burner to keep us cosy (although we didn’t need it as the weather was too warm!). The cottage was situated on a quiet country lane just outside of the village of Clun. All we could hear was the bleating of sheep and the chirping of birds, it was just perfect.
The cottage was really well placed for visiting nearby towns and villages and had some lovely walks across green fields right on the doorstep. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking, I couldn’t open my eyes wide enough to take it all in. I told Mr HD I wanted to live there it was so gorgeous!
Below are some of my highlights:
Carding Mill Valley and the Long Mynd – There are five walks you can do in the Valley and Long Mynd. We decided just to walk up to the waterfall as it was such a blustery day (we experienced the tail end of hurricane Ophelia!). First of all we stopped off in the cafe for some sustenance before our walk, and also had a look in the shop (I do love a National Trust shop!). The forty minute walk to the waterfall was fairly easy although there were some rocks to stumble up and down. The waterfall was nice but I think it is probably more impressive after a few days of rain. We sat on a rock in the middle of the stream for a while to take in the sights and sounds and soak up the atmosphere before making our way back down the valley.
Ludlow – We really enjoyed walking around this lovely medieval market town with so many examples of medieval buildings to see. We visited on a market day which was nice as there were lots of stalls selling everything from fudge to flowers and most of the sellers were local to Shropshire. We enjoyed lunch in The Church Inn which is in the centre of the town and provides yummy traditional pub food, we whiled away some time sitting at the scrabble table and sampling the local beer.
The Ludlow Food Centre – Mr HD and I are big foodies so discovering the Ludlow Food Centre was a bonus part of our holiday. This farm shop and deli sell local and seasonal produce, have their own bakery and cheese factory and produce jams, pickles, chutneys and ready meals. We popped in here a couple of times to pick up nibbles for dinner and lunch. Everything was delicious, a particular favourite were the chocolate orange brownies, yum!
Stokesay Castle – It honestly amazes me that these types of buildings still exist. Stokesay Castle (not really a castle but a medieval fortified manor house) is like something out of a Harry Potter film. It was built in the 1280’s which just blows my mind, the gatehouse (the yellow building) was a later addition in the 18th Century. We arrived in the late afternoon on a weekday and had the place to ourselves so we could take our time exploring without worrying we were holding up other people or getting in their way. The view from the top of the tower was a particular highlight.
Acton Scott Historic Working Farm – Acton Scott Farm is where they filmed the BBC programme Victorian Farm so as we were in the area we thought this would be an interesting place to visit and it was, although I was expecting there to be more animals! However, I did get to pet a cow and a pig and hold a chick. we enjoyed a nice lunch in the cafe which is the old schoolhouse and spoke to a nice lady about spinning yarn (yes, really). I think as the place was so quiet they didn’t have as many demonstrations as they would usually have so we only spent a couple of hours there. I would recommend it if you have children!
Bridgnorth Cliff Railway – I loved riding on this quirky little funicular. It is the oldest and steepest inland funicular in England and connects the high part of Bridgnorth town to the low part, locals still use it to get up and down today. The old carriages are still in use which is lovely and gives the railway a real vintage feel. We enjoyed the views from the top and walked to the River Severn at the bottom.
Ironbridge Gorge – We felt our visit to Shropshire wouldn’t be complete without visiting Ironbridge, a town famous for its (yes, you guessed it) ironbridge and was at the heart of the industrial revolution. Unfortunately they were carrying out maintenance work on the bridge when we visited so we couldn’t see it in all its glory, plus it was rainy and miserable. However, we stopped in a lovely cosy pub along the river for a hot chocolate and into an adorable shop called Ironbridge Gifts which is just over the road and down a bit from the bridge. There are lots of museums to visit in the area, but we skipped these in favour of just exploring ourselves. I think if we’d had more time and better weather we would have visited Blists Hill which is a recreation of a Victorian Town.
One more place I must mention is a lovely pub just outside Ironbridge called The Woodbridge Inn. The food was delicious, we had a lovely view from our table of the River Severn and the old bridge that crosses it and the atmosphere was cosy and friendly. If we lived in the area this would definitely be our local!
This certainly won’t be our last visit to Shropshire (I am already planning my retirement there), it’s just beyond lovely.
M x
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