A brief exploration of a corner of Mortimer Forest we’d not visited before – Black Pool, just off the Richards Castle road. There’s only one waymarked walk starting from the car park – but others are encountered just a short way into the forest. May be worth a return visit, and a longer walk to take in Mary Knoll valley and High Vinnals.

Ironbridge Fireworks, a photo by geoffspages on Flickr.

Seen from near Leighton. Ironbridge church – the tower is just visible bottom left – is about 3.5 miles away

Evening: anglers on the rocks; a freighter passes in the Minch

It’s difficult to know what to expect – bits of scrap metal welded together at random? The “Ironbridge Open Air Museum of Steel Sculpture” (one of the Telegraph’s four best sculpture gardens, as I discovered, with the help of Google, after our visit) definitely contains works that give one that impression (I’m sure they were assembled / constructed / welded / sculpted with care and forethought)…

…or something else entirely? Yes – some works did appear to have been forged in one piece from hot metal, some made clear reference to real things – and some were obviously created by an author with a sense of humour.

The museum is one of those places that we’ve passed many times, thinking “I wonder what that’s all about?” (and possibly coming to the wrong conclusions) and “must go there one day and find out”. It’s somewhat off the beaten track, though barely half-a-mile from Darby’s furnace in Coalbrookdale. There are 79 permanent exhibits, set in steep-sloped woodland and grassy open space. The map provided at admission is a must – the site is a fascinating maze with surprises around every corner, and it would be next-to-impossible to find everything without it. We must have spent nearly two hours there – great fun, worth every penny of the £3 admission charge.

Ironbridge Open Air Museum of Steel Sculpture

A few photos from a brief trip to the old East Riding over the May Day weekend

Saturday:

Sunday: