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10:50.

After a hectic week and weekend which has seen me up to my neck in judging stations and photographs for the 2026 Community Rail Awards we’ve breezed into a new week which sees the pair of us taking some time off. It’s our wedding anniversary on Tuesday so we thought we’d get away for a few days. We’d planned to visit Rome, but neither of us had time to plan things the way we’d have liked, so we’ve opted for plan B by returning to somewhere we know well – which means we can relax. Instead of the eternal city we’re heading back to Shropshire to spend time in Church Stretton and the Shropshire hills AONB – somewhere far less built up and chaotic! But first, we’ve got to get there…

Church Stretton seen from the Long Mynd during our visit in October 2021. Hopefully we’ll be able to get to walk places like this again, but the weather forecast doesn’t look too promising, so it’s time to pack the waterproofs!

14:00.

We’re on our way! We had a few chores to finish before we departed so we didn’t leave Halifax until 12:30. Right now we’re on a busy M53 heading towards Chester after traversing the M62 and M6 – which were chokka with traffic – and wet, which added to the fun!

Now the skies are clearing…

16:10.

We resisted the temptation to stop en-route, which has meant we’re now settled into our home from home here in Church Stretton. We stayed in the same place in April and loved it so much we promised ourselves we’d return. Here’s Bigland Towers in exile.

The 1st floor living room has a view looking acoss to the Long Mynd.
Looking in the opposite direction towards the kitchen and bedroom.
Our hosts left us a welcoming treat – and there’s even a couple of real ales in the fridge!

20:10.

And relax! Having established ourselves in our new surrounds it was time to walk into town in order to explore, pick up some shopping – and stop for a drink in our favorite pub, the Kings Arms.

Wooden beams aplenty. The pub is an old gem – but the narrow frontage belies just how big it is inside.
The pub is run by Joules, a brewey based in Market Drayton, here’s a selection of the real ales on offer.

The pub also serves food, which seems very popular. We were tempted by the battered onion rings which turned out to be fish-flavoured as they’d been fried in the same oil as previous foods. It certainly made for an ‘interesting’ combination of flavours!

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Cheers!