We have condensed these 10 days into 1 post as we have taken things very easy, a mid holiday break if you like.
Day 43 July 1 2019 Ipsley (Birmingham)
We had a quiet morning, did a bit of shopping, and in the afternoon watched a bit of Wimbledon Tennis and went for a walk around the local lake.(Arrow Valley Lake). It was great to watch Ash Barty win her first round singles match.
Day 44 2 July 2019 Ipsley (Birmingham)
Quiet morning, hair cut morning. I’m starting to feel like a shaggy dog. Haircut and beard trim, looking a bit more civilised. We spent the afternoon relaxing and watching the tennis.
Day 45 3rd July 2019 Ipsley (Birmingham)
We headed out and had lunch at Chateau Impney, an old french style Chateau built in 1875. A beautiful building said to be One of the finest of its type in Britain. We ate outside soaking up the sunshine, another beautiful day. The Chateau is surrounded by green fields that have a deer farm in them. Our drive back was through more of the country side, it really is amazing how much green country side / farms / fields there are here and how close they are to large urban areas.
Day 46 4th July 2019 Ipsley (Birmingham)
We took a walk over to the neighbourhood church, St Peter’s, to have a look around and inside it. Unfortunately it was closed. We had a look around the outside and the old grave stones surrounding it. The oldest we saw was mid 1800’s. The church dates back to the 13thand 14th century, with substantial repairs/restoration/additions made to it in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. We hope to be able to get a look inside before we leave. It retains many of its medieval masonry and components, including the tower.
In the afternoon our car got washed and we watched the Wimbledon tennis, the Nadal V Kyrgios.
Day 47 5th July 2019 Ipsley (Birmingham)
Vic arranged for someone to open the church next door for us this morning so we could have a look through. Their local “village” community have a tea and cake morning in the church hall once a fortnight. One of the church wardens showed us through and pointed out a few of the older/interesting things to be found. The medieval tower still has gas bells in it and they are played at least one a month. The bell ringers (or Campanologists) range in age from 11 to 70. So good the skills are being passed on. The original stone font looked medieval to me and she showed us an old intricately carved wooden plaque they found during some renovations. There were some old, interesting engraved burial stones in the floor either side of the alter and an old pulpit from Scotland. They even had old oil lamps that were occasionally used still hanging in the church. The colours of the various stained glass windows (both tradition and contemporary) were vivid in the morning light The church is very well patronised by the local community and the delightful Warden was so full of life.
We finished the day with a delicious meal at the Arrow Mill pub at Arrow near Alcester with Val and Vic.
Tomorrow we leave our hosts and friends and head to Deb’s cousin Steve and his family in Wythall.
Day 48 6th July 2019 Ipsley (Birmingham) to Wythall
Today we went to our very first English Garden Party. All was going well, (1% chance of rain they said) it would stay cloudy but dry for the party. It was a group of friends raising money for a cancer charity and having a get together with a few laughs at the same time. There were around 25 people there and they raised around £550 in 2 hours through raffles, an auction and lucky guess competition. The garden was a beautiful English garden and very well maintained, and yes, what would an English summer be without a bit of rain against the odds.
We said good bye to Val and Vic our wonderful hosts for the last 6 nights and headed to Wythall for a night with Deb’s cousin Steve and his family (Catrina, Eleanor and Amity + 3 chickens). They had plans to take us to an outdoor Jazz night nearby, but with the rain hanging around we decided on a visit to the local pub for a pint and then back home for a “picnic” dinner. It was great catching up with Steve and Catrina and their girls, its been about 7 years since we have seen them when they visited us in Adelaide.
Day 49 7th July 2019 Wythall to Shrewsbury.
We had a slow start and then Steve’s mum, Dee, and her husband Chris, came around for breakfast. It was 10 years ago when we last saw them. We had a good time catching up with them and their lives over the years.
Later Deb and Catrina had lots of fun tracing the Fenton family tree of recent times. Katrina was a real pro using various access sites in the UK to come up with answers very quickly. We have “homework” to follow up on. ?
We left around 2pm and drove to Deb’s godmother’s (Monica and her husband Len) place in Shrewsbury, a 1 ½ hr drive away.
It was great to see them both, they looked very well and have changed very little in the last 10 years.
Day 50 8th July 2019 Shrewsbury.
We had a quiet morning then headed off with Len and Monica to Worcester Races about a11/2 hr drive away. It’s a jumps meeting Senior Citizens Race day. We had a great day. Tea and scone and marquee entrance with our reduced entrance. We didn’t do well in the betting ring, but Monica did well recovering their costs. We left at 5pm, a bit before the last race to beat the traffic out and peak hour traffic. (I can see family members in shock at the thought of us leaving a bit early! ? ).
We called into the place that Len goes shooting and beating at. They also mature up day old pheasants there to restock for / after the shoots. About 200 pheasant are shot during each hunt. They allow 4 shotgun shots per bird. So a 1000 shot hunt can only take up to 200 birds.(which is the norm). All the birds killed on the day are sent away for processing into cleaned birds and sausages etc. Len also collected some cider while we were there. In the old days Len and his friends would make up to 5 x 44 gallon drums of cider at a time.
Had dinner in a pub on the way back, a relatively young pub at only 200-300 years old. ? It was a good meal with great company.
Back in Shrewsbury around 9pm ish.
Day 51 9th July 2019 Shrewsbury – Stokesay Castle
This morning we headed off to Stokesay Castle and The Church of St John the Baptist in Craven Arms, Shropshire.
It was about a 45 minutes drive east, out in the very green countryside. The castle is an English Heritage operated site. They look after and operate around 500 historical sites around the UK. Every site they operate that we have visited so far has been very good. They usually have audio guides you can use and they add so much to your visit.
We shared a Ploughman’s Board for lunch at the cafe; 3 local cheeses, nice crusty bread, chutney and salad, more than enough for us. A tasty lunch.
We then walked to the church, and came to a very heavy closed wooden door. We were happy to pull on the handle and found it open. There was minimal lighting inside, it was a dark church. Rather than lines of pews, there were lines of narrow boxes in which to sit, it looked like the Lord of the Manor and guests had much better seating in private boxes just to the left of the alter. The church was founded as a chapel in the 13th century (around 1250) by the Say family who came over with William the Conqueror of 1066 fame. It suffered significant damage during the English Civil War of the mid 1600’s and rebuilt in the 17th. It was interesting walking around inside, the church bells are still played (I was tempted to reach up to a bell rope and test one, but I resisted ? ). There were many old scripture and service exerts painted (written) on the walls for the faithful to read and to help them follow the services. While not ornate, the church was appealing and had a quietness about it.
We then took a short stroll over to the castle, paid our entrance fee and picked-up the “free” audio guide. We dutifully followed the guided instructions and made our way through the castle, being taken back to the days of old. It was a fascinating insight into how life was led back in those days and the function of the many rooms. We climbed the south battlement tower and the views were great over the surrounding rural countryside and the adjoining heritage buildings. We finished our visit with a walk around the castle in the moat, it gave a very different view of the castle.
We were back at Monica and Len’s place in Shrewsbury at around 3pm. Had a quiet afternoon watching the Wimbledon tennis, unfortunately the World Cup Cricket ODI (NZ v India) was cancelled due to rain.
We head to the Lakes District tomorrow.
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