Two pleasant and lazy afternoons after Saturday’s leg stretch. The Dower House garden is at Morville, and is open to the public on Sunday and Wednesday afternoons. The house adjoins Morville Hall, which, though a National Trust property, is not open to the general public. Dudmaston is on the other side of Bridgnorth, and at the other end of the scale – a pleasant spot for a wander around the lake. It was too warm for anything more energetic.
Dower House garden, Morville
Dudmaston Estate
Sounds charming, doesn’t it? We started out from The Bog… It was warm, clear, sunny – beautiful! Gone are the pastel shades of the winter months – it’s all in technicolor today.
We leave the Bog car park by the new path beside the road, heading north-east on a walk that would be south-west of our starting point. There’s method in our madness – we’re avoiding a short stretch of path that can be seriously muddy. Later, as we descend from the ridge, a fairly comfortable rock beneath The Rock provides us with table and chairs (I exaggerate) for lunch – a near-perfect spot, away from the wind (a light breeze, very welcome later in the afternoon) and the gunfire. It’s not the quietest part of the county…
Quiet tracks (on the opposite side of the ridge to the shooting range) and a very minor road take us down to the West Onny valley, then via Nind back up onto the hills. Mucklewick Hill is another pleasant spot (enjoying that breeze now) for the last of the day’s provisions before, after a short descent, the long gentle rise to tea and cakes at the Bog Centre (highly recommended!).
I walked this route, more or less, in January (see “Mogg Forest“). It was rather wet underfoot back then, and still a bit sticky in places today. There were few other similarities – instead of wet mid-winter, we’re now in spring – there are crops in the fields and yet more bluebells in the woods
A dry, warm (in the sunshine) and bright afternoon, after a string of showery days. Benthall Hall is our objective – we can go through the bluebell woods on the way, and have a drink and cake before setting off back…
More than half the abbey has gone, but what remains is a pleasant spot for a brief exploration on an afternoon when heavy showers threatened between bursts of sunshine. The threat was not followed through, apart from a few spots in the wind, but the sunshine did its best to confound. There are some nice little details in the stonework, and the topiary is wonderful!
One of Shropshire’s little-known gems, and an ideal spot for exploration on an afternoon when showers threatened
A walk down to the Severn below Coalport, following the river, the canal and the old railway track to Ironbridge. Tea and scones are available at the YHA near the china museum – just the thing to get us back up Bridge Bank.
They’re everywhere now – must check out the local bluebell wood. Today we’re on Wenlock Edge, walking a circular route from Aston Munslow. There’s quite a variety of other blooms beside the paths and tracks – a riot of colour (I may be exaggerating). But for sheer quantity, the bluebells win, hands down.
Wandering with the camera on a warm, but only intermittently sunny, spring afternoon.
We’ve had one or two steam-hauled specials in Shropshire recently – this would be the last for the immediate future. It should have been a Britannia, then it was going to be Duchess of Sutherland. In the end, they were all indisposed, and the duty fell to humble Black 5 no. 44932 – an ideal subject for “steam in the landscape” shots…
(A few) More photos and video at “Steam in the Landscape” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries
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