Ludlow - a tweed adventure
The Cotswold way
I am very belatedly catching up on our adventures in October - I really don't know how the time has disappeared! I promise to be more diligent.
Early in October our friend Jess was coming to stay. Having said she didn't like London from her previous visits - and that she'd never in fact been outside of London into England, we decided that rather than exploring London her first weekend with us, we would go for a driving adventure in the English countryside instead.
 |
| The Water in Bourton on the Water |
We picked up a car in Kings Cross, piled Jess and our friend Kate into the backseats, connected the SatNav and headed off to Ludlow - claiming to be one of the most perfect towns in England. Like all good adventures involving members of the Berry family - the route was decided based on going through the towns along our route with the most amusing names. Even the destination was chosen because it is in Shropshire - which is fun to say - and also the shire in which Bunbury lives for those Importance of Being Ernest fans.
 |
| The pub by the water - for lunch |
Lunchtime found us in 'Bourton on the Water' - which was not to be confused with the nearby 'Bourton on the Hill'. Bourton on the Water is an lovely example of a Cotswold town - with tiny lanes that could barely fit a single car through, yellow stone buildings and achingly pretty little pubs by 'the water' from which the town got its name.
We parked out on the edge of the town in the huge carpark created for the town's tourists - complete with the 'conveniences' - which we learned were actually the public toilets. Jess has apparently had some run ins with the automated public toilets favoured around Europe - but this took the cake. Once we paid our 30p to get through the turnstiles into the toilets, we basically didn't need to touch anything to make it go once inside. This wasn't really a luxury - as once the automated systems were started they couldn't be interrupted until the cycle was complete. This left us unable to work out how to get the 'all in one' sink, soap-dispenser and hand dryer to stop drying our hands before it had washed them. Not sure this was as convenient as the engineers had hoped.
 |
| Berry on the Water in Bourton on the Water (and Tony) |
 |
| Clipboard in the Water |
Once we escaped the automatic conveniences we walked in along the water into town - over many little bridges that criss-crossed the stream. Tony and Jess went to pose on one - and discovered a clipboard that had sadly fallen in. The stream is not very deep - but the bridges are just high enough to make it too far to reach your arm down to pick up things that have fallen in. We saw this phenomenon in action during lunch. A girl of 4 or so and her father were walking across the bridge near us - when her teddy jumped from her grip into the water below. The girl was very distressed, and her father dutifully tried to rescue Teddy. We were comfortably seated across the water with an excellent view of the poor father's attempts to reach Teddy before the current got him and took him downstream. Sticks were found with which to try to get Teddy within reach of the shore. Even once he was against the wall of the stream, there was not quite enough room for the father to reach down to grab him - there was a man seated right in the way (who had really long arms) but who did not offer to move or to help. Finally, with the father lying on his belly, and his daughter looking like she was about to jump into the water to rescue Teddy, he managed to get a grip on the sopping toy and haul it and himself out of harms way - to the raucous applause of us and everyone else at the pub. Sadly we were too amused by the scene unfolding to take any photos.
 |
| Ludlow at dusk |
From Bourton on the Water we headed through Stow on the Wold, Bourton on the Hill, through the beautiful countryside towards Ludlow - where we arrived just on dusk. We had booked into a B&B at an old mill - called '
The Mill House' just on the outskirts of Ludlow and a nice walk from the centre of town. The stream that once turned the mill wheel ran right under the house and you could hear it trickling away - giving the whole house a very calm feel. The B&B was beautifully finished - our room was lovely and large (the girls' one was smaller - but their bathroom was larger than the room itself!), with views out over the cottage style garden.
 |
| The Feathers Hotel |
We had booked in for dinner at the
Feathers Hotel. which apart from being a beautiful example of Jacobean architecture, is apparently one of the most haunted places in England. Unfortunately we saw no ghosts during our dinner - although the restaurant was a little bit of a ghost town. Several functions in the upstairs rooms meant that the guests from the hotel who would normally have filled the restaurant and given it some atmosphere, were all absent. We did have a delicious meal with very attentive staff - who did an excellent job of avoiding the various challenges posed by Jess and my allergies.
 |
| Castle Ruins |
The next morning saw us up early by our standard (9am) for a cooked breakfast in the B&B's charming breakfast room. All locally sourced ingredients were cooked to order - and a selection of 6 different homemade jams left us very happy and full and ready to explore the main attraction of Ludlow - the castle!
 |
| View from the ramparts |
Ludlow castle perches above the fast running river Teme, which would have provided an additional layer of defence to this fortress. The castle left you in no doubt that castle life was not romantic.The small buildings were dark and dank (not just because they were in ruins - I'm confident they wouldn't have been much nicer in their hayday), and the big rooms would have been cold and draughty.
We had a wonderful time climbing all over the different parts of the castle, which had been added to over the 500 years until it was finally abandoned in 1689. The style of buildings varied from the very first fortress defences of the Normans, further fortified when it became a royal palace and was part of the defences to keep back the Welsh rabble threatening the peace from just over the marsh lands.
 |
| Views across the courtyard |
Enough of the stairs inside the towers remained to allow us to climb up to the very top of the ramparts and peer down at the advancing army of Sunday tourists, and at the river far below.
 |
| King and Queen of the castle |
Once safely down we partook in Castle tea and scones (with clotted cream), pottered around the market in the Ludlow square (I picked up a beautiful garnet necklace and tony found a tartan hip flask for £4!) and got on the road back to London.
