and fairies residing in Tamworth Castle.
We recently learned via a random YouTube video that Tamworth Castle holds some pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard. On a sunny Sunday afternoon we took the opportunity to visit the castle which has a lot more to offer in addition to the Staffordshire Hoard. Tamworth Castle covers almost 1000 years of history from its early Anglo-Saxon roots to its life as a museum today.
You can find out about life at the castle throughout the eras, including Medieval, Tudor and Victorian, as you explore its many rooms, chambers and corridors – just beware of the dungeon and the haunted bedroom!
The castle’s walls hold a wealth of stories and legends, from expelled nuns to royal visits and you can discover them all as you step back through time.
Our newest exhibition ‘Battle and Tribute’ focuses on Tamworth’s Anglo-Saxon heritage as the capital of the ancient kingdom of Mercia, where you can get a close up look at exquisite pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard.
5 Comments CherryPie on Sep 15th 2025
Week 48 – Walk Hungry
This chapter discusses the potential benefits of going for a short-measured walk (not a hike) before breakfast. It talks about recent scientific studies that have concluded a walk before breakfast whilst the body is still in fasting mode burns off more fat and improves the way the body reacts to insulin.
I would not normally have chosen to walk before breakfast but my car was booked in for a service on a drop-off-and-leave-it-there for the day basis. Unfortunately, due to Mr C’s car breaking down and the subsequent engine fire as the car was removed from the tow truck towards our driveway, he was unable to give me a lift.
This meant I had to resort to shanks pony and train to get home after the drop off and back again to pick up my car after servicing.
Mr C had told me of the pathway I needed to take to get to the railway station without crossing or walking down busy roads. As I walked along ‘motor mile’, I spotted a pathway and took it. I realised I was on the wrong pathway when I first walked over the railway and shortly afterwards the motorway. However, before retracing my steps to find the correct pathway curiosity got the better of me, I couldn’t resist walking a little further to see where the path came out.
Once I was back on track, the path to the station was obvious because it was signposted. I found the pathway rather seedy and not a pleasant place to walk. At the station I purchased tickets from the ticket office and crossed the bridge to catch the train home. Only one stop.
Whilst I sat on a bench and waited, a couple asked me about purchasing tickets. I pointed them to where I thought the ticket machine on that platform was situated. The ticket office is across the bridge on the other platform.
A few minutes later the couple returned, they had located the ticket machine but unfortunately the machine had not printed off all the tickets, giving them a message to ‘seek help’ from the ticket office. The lady sat next to me on the bench whilst her husband crossed the bridge to try and sort out their tickets. The failure meant that they missed the train by minutes. It reminded me of a similar incident that I had many years ago. Some things never change!
Back in Wellington and walking home, a walking group caught up with me and we had a little chuckle that I was joining the group. The leader waited for the rest of her group and I continued to the pedestrian crossing, pressing the button. The group caught up with me and we bantered and chuckled, the walk leader joking that I had pressed the button for them.
I knew they would be walking as part of the Wellington Walking festival and found out that they were going to Dothill via the Wellington Loop to find out more about the trees in the Dothill nature reserve.
I continued walking home by the direct route. After no breakfast and just a cup of tea I was rather hungry when I got home and was looking forward to lunch.
Unusually, the garage phoned up just after lunch to say my car was ready. They don’t normally phone up until later in the afternoon. If I had known my car would be ready so quickly, I would not have gone home!
My second walk of the day led me back to the station for my return journey to the garage to pick up my car.
2 Comments CherryPie on Sep 15th 2025
I wish I was a chestnut tree, nourished by the sun, with leaves and twigs and branches, and conkers by the ton.
Tony Hancock
2 Comments CherryPie on Sep 14th 2025
The first picture is the colouring page that I promised to share with you in my recent post about my visit to Hodnet Hall. I coloured it during July and August.
The second two photographs are colourings that I started a while ago and only recently completed.
10 Comments CherryPie on Sep 14th 2025
I picked this book up in 2024 with the intention of using it for weekly walks during 2025. With mum becoming ill again at the end of 2024 and not returning to her normal self I was so focused on her health that I totally forgot about my intention to do the walks one week at a time.
I was reminded of the book recently during my walk leader training at Attingham Park. One of the ladies on the course recommended this book and Annabel’s follow up book, The Walking Cure. Since then I have dipped in and out of the book but haven’t yet read it cover to cover. I have also purchased the follow up book which I will read after I have finished reading this one.
I have decided that I will approach the book differently than I had originally planned. I will address all the walk ideas as the mood takes me rather than in chapter order and not necessarily ‘One Week at a Time’. Colouring is another of my hobbies (also neglected recently) so I will colour the chapter heading pictures as I go along.
My first walk from the book was today; ~Week 48~ Walk Hungry.
I will be writing about this walk soon.
6 Comments CherryPie on Sep 10th 2025
My next adventure was a post shift walk at Attingham Park. When I set off on my walk I wasn’t sure which way I would go but I heard the call of the walled gardens so I set off in that direction. I sat on a bench enjoying the autumn blooms and the peaceful atmosphere before heading to the suspension bridge still not knowing which direction I would go.
After crossing the bridge I walked along the river bank to the woodland walks. When it came to the choice of left or right through the woods the atmosphere felt quite melancholy so I chose to return to the suspension bridge along different pathway that passes the signpost where one of the directions is ’short cut’, the route that I walked last week after my volunteering. I arrived at the signpost to find that it had been replaced by new one. The new signpost is very smart but the the ’short cut’ has vanished into the mystic ethers and been replaced by a bluebell path (same pathway with a new name).
As I retraced my steps over the suspension bridge back to the mile walk I was surrounded by birdsong which made me realise why the woodland paths felt strange to me. There had been a complete absence of bird song!
2 Comments CherryPie on Sep 10th 2025
