A short circular walk from Much Wenlock, across the edge and down to Homer (it’s near Wigwig…). In a week or two, there should be lots of orchids in the woods – the early purple variety. Too early to see any today? There were one or two, in amongst the emerging bluebells – early early purple perhaps?
We’re getting a breath of fresh air – it’s been cold and grey all day, but now the sky has cleared, and the sun is strong and low. There’s a lot of yellow in the landscape…
Wednesday: the fine weather continues, and we’re on Brown Clee again. We’ve walked this route, from the picnic place near Ditton Priors, on previous occasions. Today we’ll walk anti-clockwise – up through the woods to the summit, and back past Boyne Water, to follow the estate road back to the start. A most pleasant way to spend the afternoon!
It’s too good to waste! Local wandering on Monday and (with tea and cake) Tuesday. Ironbridge Gorge and Benthall Hall
It’s a Tudor house, on the banks of the Avon near Stratford, busy on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Just published to “Geoff’s Rail Diaries“, more on yesterday’s steam special, including (a few) more pictures. Visit “Reunited – 44871 & 45407“
44871 and 45407 at Craven Arms
We sallied forth last week to see them go south – but gave up when, as the rain clouds gathered, we heard the train was running two hours late. Today, they were four minutes early, and going well (as was the light, after some glorious sunshine earlier in the afternoon) – a fine sight!
Wednesday afternoon on the Wrekin: it’s always worth walking the few yards beyond the trig point and toposcope. Everyone goes to the summit; few go beyond it. The rocks above the Needle’s Eye provide a quiet viewpoint for the Severn valley and the south Shropshire hills. It looked like it might be a bright and sunny afternoon – it was, once we were on our way down again…
…around some of the local footpaths – a somewhat indirect route to the greengrocer and back…
We’ve done it before, but last time, the Hall was only open at weekends. Now, it’s open (March to October – closed in the winter) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays too. There’s a tea room, with some tables and seats outside – and it’s just nicely half-way on this walk – perfect!
There are only four buses each day, but the Arriva no. 88 service is ideal for this one (and there’s entertainment value in the negotiation of some of Broseley’s narrower streets, where “anywhere” is the rule for car parking).
There are several possible routes from Benthall Hall to Broseley; most involve field paths and tracks before walking through the streets. On this occasion, we walked down surfaced lanes, to enter Broseley by the “Fiery Fields”.
NOTE for tea drinkers: the tea room is inside the hall, which would require payment of an admission charge; the outside area is not accessible though the hall, but whether one should pay, I’m not sure – we’re members anyway. The Hall is well worth a visit – but muddy feet (and ours were) would not be appreciated…
Bus timetable | Benthall Hall NT
