National Trust, English Heritage, museums etc.
It’s another fine, bright and breezy autumn day – warm in the sunshine, cool in the wind. We’re walking through the Dudmaston Hall grounds, out through the fields of the asparagus farm and into Comer Woods. There are lots of cars parked at Dudmaston, but there don’t seem to be many people out and about. Are they all in the tea room? (On this occasion, we’ll never know)
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…on a fine bright October afternoon. There’s plenty of interest for the camera here.
Wednesday afternoon – a lazy walk from Dudmaston taking in the cool Comer woodland, the asparagus farm and the ‘Big Pool’ lakeside. In the grounds of the house are some large colourful artwork panels, depicting various fauna and flora. One last call, before we set off home: ice cream in the orchard…
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Certainly much cooler than the last few days! My last post was on Saturday – since then, it’s been too hot for outdoor activity (it’s been too hot for any activity! It’s possible that readers elsewhere in the world may have noticed that a maximum temperature exceeding 40C was recorded yesterday, for the first time in the UK). It’s barely exceeded 20C today, and a wander around Attingham Park’s parched grassland was very pleasant. The walled garden seems to have survived the heat – still plenty of colour, and some of the fruit crops look rather tempting.
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Taking it easy – after lunch at the All Nations, it’s the only way.
Thursday 12 May: Staffordshire – a walk from the Satnall Hills car park, near Milford, through the Shugborough estate to find draught Bass in Great Haywood (no, it doesn’t look like rain! The weather’s better than expected too!). We return beside a tranquil stretch of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal to complete a circuit full of interest.
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We need to walk down to Ironbridge to buy some cards, apparently. We’ll go this morning, as there’s a chance of a shower this afternoon (again! It is April, of course). I’ll take the camera…
One of the photos below depicts some old brickwork, topped by steel sculpture. Only very recently (after more than 40 years of walking past it) I discovered that it was the southernmost support of the former railway station footbridge, which spanned the road alongside as well as the tracks. There’s always something of interest to discover!
There’s been a lot of rain in Wales over the last few days, and for the eastern part of mid-Wales, there’s only one way out – the river Severn. We walked down to Ironbridge this afternoon to take a look.
Perfect palindrome: has anyone noticed today’s date? In the UK it’s 22022022!
We need to visit Shrewsbury in the early afternoon – a visit to Attingham afterwards would be good. The snowdrops will be out! Nearby, the bothy is full of knitted people whose homes in the woodland came crashing down in the storms (apparently…). They seem to be having fun – there’s a tea party in progress. Out in the park, the deer have been having a party too – they’ve had their 3pm winter feed, and are now taking it easy.
Walking from Dale End late this afternoon, I’m about to cross the bridge. In the gathering dusk, coloured lights play on the ancient ironwork. I’d better take a photo…
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