Update - September 2010

I've just come back from a wonderful few days in Shropshire and Wales. The Shropshire update is below, and the updates have been added to the Wales page

Shropshire

STOKESAY CASTLE



Stokesay Castle is quite simply the finest and best preserved fortified medieval manor house in England. Set in peaceful countryside near the Welsh border, the castle, timber-framed gatehouse and parish church form an unforgettably picturesque group.

I went there on a beautiful September day, and the bright sunshine enhanced the warmth of the gatehouse.



It's funny, but most places I visit, you try to imagine what it would have been like to live there. With Stokesay, I found myself wandering around thinking, 'I'd have a long sideboard there, a big leather couch there................' I could actually imagine living there.

It's an odd sort of place. To start with, you get to it through the churchyard next door. You walk through the gatehouse, and if you look to your left, you see a castle, but if you look to the right, what you see resembles a castle wall with a medieval house perched on top. Most odd...........



Altogether, well worth a visit