At Ludlow

Ludlow, nestling  in the Shropshire Hills,  is a lovely historic town with some super shops and cafes and a wonderful market.  If any of you watched 'Countryfile' on BBC1 last night you will recognize the market from the photo below.

Ludlow is well known as a 'foodie' town; it's shops and markets are full of wonderful, local produce and there is a modern food centre on the Shrewsbury road on the outskirts of the town.  The building at the top left of the photograph  houses the Ludlow Information Centre and Museum.  We did have a browse around - it's free admission - and found it was a very interesting local museum with a super geology collection.

When we first arrived  we stopped for coffee on Church Street before setting off to look at some of the buildings around the town.  Ludlow is noted for its timber framed buildings some of which we managed to photograph.

The Feathers is probably the most well-known of these lovely buildings - below are some more

De Grey's tea rooms and town house on Broad Street - further down the street we found the lovely building below

and the wool shop, too!

We also had a wander around the Antique and Flea market in the  Ludlow College building before heading towards our main goal -  the castle.

 We had a good look around here and had lunch in the wonderful Castle Tea Rooms.  I think the castle deserves a post of its own so I'll be back with more.

Lovely Day

Yesterday was my birthday and what could be nicer than to spend your birthday

in a lovely historic town with gorgeous shops

Wandering around some historic ruins and

visiting an interesting museum?

That's  exactly what I did yesterday  - I'll be back to tell you more later.
In the meantime thank you everyone for my lovely cards, letters, e-mails, presents, flowers, food and 'phone calls - and a special thank-you to the sun for shining for most of the day!

Autumnal August

Yesterday morning we walked in the Oakwood at Trentham.  There was a cool breeze whispering in the trees and rippling through the ferns.  

The air was damp and the ground beneath our feet was soft and  soggy

As we walked there were definite signs of Autumn - leaves tinged with yellow and so many species of fungi.

As we walked we saw evidence of deer, tracks, droppings and antler marked tree trunks;  we followed their tracks for awhile whilst the buzzards and peregrines called overhead.

 Their mournful cries seemed to match the cool, dim, dankness of the day.  Autumn is creeping in early this year.

Look what's growing

You may remember this post from back in June when I was hoping that the pumpkin plants we'd grown from seed would produce some pumpkins. Well, look what has happened!

We have not one

not two

not even three - but four pumpkins

I'm hoping that they will survive until the end of October!

Dovedale

I'm still taking things slowly but I thought, just to ease me gently back into blogging regularly, that I would share today's walk with you.

It seemed ages since we'd visited Dovedale so this morning off we went to walk there.

We walked from the car park and over the bridge to the opposite side of the river - the paths seemed better and more even underfoot since our last walk here.

Today the sun was shining - a welcome relief from all the grey, damp and rainy weather we've been experiencing of late. After a few days spent around home it was lovely to get out and about again!

The famous stepping-stones - these too seemed different to those we saw on our last visit.

Through the gate - well squeeze stile - and on to the path to Milldale - we'd decided not to walk all the way to Milldale this time so here is a link to the post I wrote about the village a while ago.

The path climbs up and away from the river bank for a while.

Up the stone steps to the rocky outcrop at the top and down the steps at the other side.

After a while we turned and retraced our steps back along the riverside; this time looking towards Thorpe Cloud. If you enlarge the photos you can see people walking along the ridge up towards the summit.

I love the view of this hill from the village of Ilam - it is one of my favourite views - here is a link to a post I wrote about Ilam a while ago now.

We crossed the river at the stepping stones and walked back along the path on the opposite side. After coffee and homemade biscuits back at the car we set out on our second walk which took us around the base of Thorpe Cloud.

We walked across the bridge again and up through the sheep on the hillside. The views were stunning.

The building you can see in the foreground is the Izaac Walton Hotel; behind it is Ilam Hall, now a youth hostel.

The summit of Thorpe Cloud; perhaps one day we will get up there but for today we were skirting around it.

Following the well-trodden way down to the path in the valley

which took us back to the path towards Milldale by the stepping stones which we crossed for the second time on our way back to the car park.

Here are a few more scenes from our morning's walk

Taking a Break

I'm feeling a bit like this...........

.......so I'm taking a break!
I hope you all enjoy the rest of the summer. I'll see you soon.
'bye for now:)