After lunch on Saturday we headed off to Ludlow for the afternoon where Mr C had it in mind to visit the castle. On our way there I suggested we had a quick look inside the Church of St Laurence. I was keen to see how it looked now the Victorian pews had been removed. To my dismay I had learned on our previous visit to the church that the Victorian pews were about to be removed.

On stepping inside the church I was amazed at the transformation. The church looked light and airy with my eye being drawn to the building structure and stained glass windows whereas before the pews dominated the setting. Mr C was inspired to explore the church including the opportunity to climb up the bell tower.

We decided there wasn’t enough time to do the castle justice and that we would leave it for another day, although we visited to the castle shop  to see if there were any interesting books. We came away empty handed as we did on our subsequent visit to Castle Bookshop.

Then it was time to seek out a tea shop for a naughty cake. We has almost given up hope of finding the ‘perfect’ teashop, then we saw Carvell’s The Art of Tea. The tea shop was inviting with china cups set out on the table and a cabinet of interesting cakes to tempt. We choose to share a wedge of courgette and avocado cake, it was delicious. I was so busy enjoying the experience that I forgot to take photos. Visiting the castle will be a good excuse to go back and sample some other tasty delights and maybe I will remember to take a photo or two.

After breakfast we said adieu but not goodbye to the Cotford Hotel. We will be back.

We headed off to Croft Castle stopping briefly at the Hop Pocket for me to purchase the other colour cardi that I loved from the day before. Mr C and mum stayrd in the car. As I was purchasing the cardi I had a lovely chat with the sales assistant about the type of cardigan and a special broach to wear with it that he said they used to sell them but for some reason they weren’t available anymore.

Croft Castle was a little sparse inside compared to our previous visit, however I enjoyed the explanation of the two dragon statues outside the house. I learned that one is a Wyvern, a Welsh Dragon (black dragon), that has only two legs.

Whilst there we looked inside the medieval church of St Michael and All Angels and the walled garden which was especially spectacular due to it being allowed to grow more naturally without over pruning.

The café looked very busy so we continued on our journey eventually stopping in Ludlow for a takeaway lunch. Mum and I were told to find a suitable bench for an outdoor picnic, which we did. Twenty minutes later neither Mr C or the sandwiches had emerged from the café. Mum and I were left wondering where he had got to. When he emerged with drinks but no food he informed us that the café was rather busy and they would get around to our order when they could which would take some time. After waiting a further twenty minutes Mr C arrived with some food, although his sandwich had not arrived. He told them to forget it, luckily the sandwiches, when they arrived were large and mum and I were quite happy to donate a triangle of sandwich each to him.

After our slightly stressful lunch we unwound in the local bookshop. Mum picked up a couple of non-book items and I purchased Places of Pilgrimage by Ian Scott Massie which has given me ideas for future adventures (and blog posts).

We took a leisurely drive home and later Mr C and I enjoyed ‘Fine Dining’ at Chez Nous, Jamie’s Breaded Chicken with Rocket which takes moments to prepare. A fitting conclusion to a lovely few days away.

We walked around the walls at Ludlow Castle before purchasing some sandwiches which we enjoyed sitting on a bench next to the castle walls. Afterwards we went for a further walk before visiting the excellent bookshop.

We made our home via the Ludlow Food Centre where we hoped to find a slice of cake but that was not to be. Taking the scenic route home we stopped in Much Wenlock  still with cake in mind. We were unsuccessful on our quest so we settled for an ice cream instead.

When we arrived at breakfast we noticed a new gentleman that seemed to be in charge of the dining room. The breakfast area was calm and efficient with none of the chaos we had experienced over the previous few days. The tea was perfect, two individual pots with just the right amount of teabags. My pancakes were presented in a delightful way and had more fruit than on the previous days.

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and headed towards Hereford but on arrival we decided we weren’t quite in the mood for visiting a city so we continued on the route home, stopping in Leominster. After a few minutes in the town we found that Leominster didn’t quite fit our mood either. We headed off to a garden centre in Tenbury Wells, where we thought we might have lunch. Once again we weren’t quite in the mood for it when we got there. I think by now we were on plan Z.

We decided to stop off in Ludlow and against all odds on a busy day we found a parking place. From the car park we admired the views over the Shropshire countryside before wandering around the town looking for a suitable teashop for lunch. We hadn’t quite finished our recce when we happened across a bakery that provided fresh filled rolls. The weather was perfect so we purchased rolls (turkey and salad for me) and cake and made our way to a bench underneath the castle walls to enjoy a picnic.

After enjoying our picnic in the sunshine, we headed off to the Ludlow Food Centre hoping to pick up an interesting ready meal for our evening meal. We left disappointed as this type of food is no longer available in the centre, leading us to opt for plan B.

Ludlow Castle is a ruined medieval fortification in the town of the same name in the English county of Shropshire, standing on a promontory overlooking the River Teme. The castle was probably founded by Walter de Lacy after the Norman conquest and was one of the first stone castles to be built in England. During the civil war of the 12th century the castle changed hands several times between the de Lacy’s and rival claimants, and was further fortified with a Great Tower and a large outer bailey. In the mid-13th century, Ludlow was passed on to Geoffrey de Geneville who rebuilt part of the inner bailey, and the castle played a part in the Second Barons’ War. Roger Mortimer acquired the castle in 1301, further extending the internal complex of buildings, and the Mortimer family went on to hold Ludlow for over a century.

Richard, the Duke of York, inherited the castle in 1425, and it became an important symbol of Yorkist authority during the Wars of the Roses. When Richard’s son, Edward IV, seized the throne in 1461 it passed into the ownership of the Crown. Ludlow Castle was chosen as the seat of the Council in the Marches of Wales, effectively acting as the capital of Wales, and it was extensively renovated throughout the 16th century. By the 17th century the castle was luxuriously appointed, hosting cultural events such as the first performance of John Milton’s masque Comus. Ludlow Castle was held by the Royalists during the English Civil War of the 1640s, until it was besieged and taken by a Parliamentarian army in 1646. The contents of the castle were sold off and a garrison was retained there for much of the interregnum.

With the Restoration of 1660, the Council was reestablished and the castle repaired, but Ludlow never recovered from the civil war years and when the Council was finally abolished in 1689 it fell into neglect. Henry Herbert, the Earl of Powis, leased the property from the Crown in 1772, extensively landscaping the ruins, and his brother-in-law, Edward Clive, bought the castle outright in 1811. A mansion was constructed in the outer bailey but the remainder of the castle was left largely untouched, attracting an increasing number of visitors and becoming a popular location for artists. After 1900, Ludlow Castle was cleared of vegetation and over the course of the century it was extensively repaired by the Powis Estate and government bodies. In the 21st century it is still owned by the Earl of Powis and operated as a tourist attraction.

The architecture of Ludlow reflects its long history, retaining a blend of several styles of building. The castle is approximately 500 by 435 feet (152 by 133 m) in size, covering almost 5 acres (2.0 ha). The outer bailey includes the Castle House building, now used by the Powis Estate as offices and accommodation, while the inner bailey, separated by a trench cut out of the stone, houses the Great Tower, Solar block, Great Hall and Great Chamber block, along with later 16th century additions, as well as a rare, circular chapel, modelled on the shrine in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. English Heritage notes that the ruins represent “a remarkably complete multi-phase complex” and considers Ludlow to be “one of England’s finest castle sites”.

Today was my first day back to work after the bank holiday weekend. Weather-wise it can only be described as a wash out. Rain, rain and more rain. However the weekend itself was not a wash out.

The new cooker has been repaired, all that was required was a new bolt on the fan. It turned out that the one it came with was not to spec and also threadless!!

On Saturday we undertook a two hour journey to spend the day with my 90 year old aunt. This left us with Sunday and Monday free to do as we pleased.

The weather looked promising on Sunday morning so we ventured out to Ludlow for the afternoon. As soon as we set off the weather turned and it started to rain. When we arrived we visited Ludlow Castle book shop because Mr C thought there might be some books to interest him there. He came away empty handed. We walked through the bank holiday stalls and detoured into The Parish Church of St Laurence which we found to be a lovely church with interesting history and spectacular stained glass windows.

We didn’t stay very long because whilst we were there a baptism service started to be conducted near the main entrances to the church. Both Mr C and I thought it was inappropriate that visitors should still be allowed to wander round the church whilst a religious service was going on so we discreetly made our way back to the entrance and left. We will take time to visit the church when we are next in Ludlow. It was raining as we left the church so we returned home via the Ludlow food centre.

On Monday it was raining again so we spent the day at home working on the house and I had an extra day off on Tuesday when to be honest I didn’t really do anything at all… I was feeling rather tired and lethargic.

Over the weekend we were also informed that Yodel had ‘lost’ another of our wine deliveries!! On the plus side the new curtain material eventually arrived and have now been made up into curtains and are now looking rather splendid in our living room nicely framing the view to our garden

A orange globe appeared in the sky and stayed all weekend which is rather strange and unusual for a bank holiday.  I had a busy weekend spring cleaning, but also found time to chill out and read for a while.

Today the weather was too good to miss so we headed out in the direction of Ludlow and decided to have lunch in Clun.  Unfortunately ‘The Green Man’ festival was taking place so the tiny village was heaving with people.  It always pays to do your homework beforehand…

We struggled through Clun and headed out along the country roads. We found a hidden gem of a tea shop near Clungunford.  All the food was home made and I overheard that they had been up late last night getting all the food ready for today.  I can confirm the food was delicious and will certainly go back again if I am in that area.

After lunch we went to Ludlow and this also proved difficult.  The roads in the centre of the town were all closed because there was a fun fair in the street for the bank holiday week.  Eventually we found a parking space and navigated our way on foot through the fun fair to the rather more peaceful grounds of Ludlow Castle.

It was a perfect summer’s day in spring