UK Tourist & Leisure Attractions - Shropshire

This converted stable in Halford, near Craven Arms in Shropshire, was our comfortable holiday cottage; well at least the ground floor part under the porch on the left was.  The cottage was well located for...

...the Craven Arms Carvery.  We sussed it out on their website prior to our Shropshire holiday, as we use the internet extensively for our holiday research.  You too can benefit, see our UK tourist resources.

In fact we went to the Craven Arms Carvery three times during our holiday in Shropshire, so it must have been good!  Very friendly, but not very busy on each of our visits.  Oh, the beer was good too!

In Craven Arms there's the grass roofed Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre containing the Secret Hills Exhibition (£4.50).  It was all about the landscape and aimed at kids really, but still worth visiting.

Now, time for our castle visit fix.  Stokesay Castle, which is just outside Craven Arms, is actually a fortified manor house.  Entrance cost £4.90, including the personal audio tour which...

...we soon gave up on as there were no signs in the castle to indicate where you were and which section to play.  Stokesay Castle was all a bit sparse inside with few exhibits.

We made it to the top of Stokesay Castle tower still tuning in to the guided commentary where...

...Mike posed for a photo with the castle's splendid Jacobean gatehouse in the background and his usual assortment of tourist gadget tech around his neck.  We also did a walk round the moat, but have to report we were disappointed with Stokesay Castle.

Next up in Shropshire was a visit to Ludlow.  We parked just off the A49 bypass and used the excellently efficient Park & Ride, the bus dropped us off at the market square and right outside the museum in the town centre which we visited.

There are many fine old buildings in Ludlow, this is the Feathers Hotel which apparently is the most photographed building in Ludlow.  We went in for a drink, but disappointingly found ourselves in the somewhat bland new bit on the right.  Doh!

We must be suffering from castle-itus - two castles in one day!  Ludlow Castle was constructed at the end of the 11th century and is now mainly ruins.

Just the evening before Ludlow Castle had hosted a Shakespeare production as part of Ludlow Festival and the temporary seating was being noisily dismantled.

The view from the top of the castle offered a good view of Ludlow below and the Shropshire hills beyond.  The castle entrance cost £4 each.  Next...

...we walked down the hill to picturesque Dinham Bridge over the River Teme where boats can be hired.  Ludlow Castle can just be seen atop the hill.

This is looking up Broad Street towards The Buttercross.  We didn't try any of the Michelin starred restaurants Ludlow is famous for, but did buy some quality mince and produce for our yummy Spag Bol we were cooking in the holiday cottage later.

In the Craven Arms (well, Halford) self catering holiday cottage in Shropshire we often started the day with a hearty cooked breakfast before venturing out on the tourist trail.  Yum!  Today we were off for a steam train ride on our Shropshire holiday >>>