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DISCOVER YE OLDE CHRISTMAS With merry medieval villages, ancient landscapes, ruined castles and beguiling firesides, Shropshire in the festive season twinkles xxxxxxxxxxxxxx with tradition and traces of days of yore, says Marie Kreft Es et liciendessi aliam velita Hoar doluptifrost decorates siminctis the acerferepero medieval

Getty tem essit ex eossimus, cusciis Steve Docwra market town of in Shropshire,

Photo: ciminction porro quis voluptiam

Photo: creating a stunning winter vista fuga. Mos dolupta tessim apellore 20 www.countryfile.com www.countryfile.com 21 DISCOVER

inter in the Never is this serenity more palpable than see evidence of tiny crystals, fossil corals brings short days of mist- in the twilight weeks of the year. While and crinoids that existed long before we did. veiled sun and stargazers’ hedgehogs hibernate and warblers migrate, long clear nights. Ash and many of Shropshire’s paid-for attractions RAMBLERS’ REFUGE alder, stripped of their finery, undeck their halls for the winter. Some of An ideal walking base is , castW witchy silhouettes against the sky. the best-attended Christmas events are in sheltered from the west by the Long Mynd The ground may be brittle with frost, November – including Ludlow’s Medieval and from the east by volcanic hills that or heaped in snow, or leaf-damped and Christmas Fayre (25-26 November this year). include the Lawley and Caer Caradoc. When earthy smelling. But one thing is as This spell of quietude is our cue to embrace you’re ready to wrap your frosty fingers certain as the coming of solstice. It’s the simple pleasures of the season. around a mug of coffee, there are several the ease with which, in Shropshire’s Underneath this landlocked county lies a welcoming cafés to try. I love the thrown- unblemished landscape, you can reach diversity of rock that over millions of years together elegance of Berry’s. back and touch the past. twisted and wrought its dramatic landscape, Slip behind St Laurence’s Church and up Pick a road, any country road, and you and now nurtures a richness of nature. It through Rectory Wood to reach the sweeping needn’t journey far to find hamlets and gives us infinite walking options.Wenlock moorland of the Long Mynd, coffee-hued in villages that could be time-travellers from Edge, a limestone escarpment running winter with dead bracken. Look up for Victorian greetings cards. Woodsmoke curls from near to , was “WALKING soaring buzzards in daytime hunting mode, from the chimneys of stone-built cottages, TOP The village of Ironbridge, so No wonder Shropshire is steeped in folklore. formed in shallow tropical seas 400 million or ravens eyeing carrion. Say hello to the wild while leaded pub windows glow with firelight. named after its cast-iron bridge Since 1958, the Shropshire Hills region, years ago and now harbours dense woodland LONG MYND’S ponies. If you venture into boggier parts and Even place names evoke a cosier yesteryear: crossing the extending from the Wrekin above Ironbridge that awaits your keen eyes and winter boots. seek rabbit holes or overhung ledges, you Cardington, Whittingslow, . ABOVE Enjoy carol singing at the Gorge to the Forest, and from the In sleepy , where medieval, MOONSCAPE, may find golden-green mats of luminous Sometimes, when walking the moonscape Christmas Fayre in Much Wenlock to the , has been a Georgian and Victorian buildings loll moss, sometimes known as goblin gold. OPPOSITE, TOP Church Stretton plateau of the Long Mynd, or gazing out from designated Area of Outstanding Natural together companionably, you’ll find In A Night in the Snow or A Struggle for Life sits beneath the striking moorland YOU SENSE the quartzite ridge of the Stiperstones into plateau of the Long Mynd Beauty. Tremendous efforts are made to specimens of Wenlock limestone. While (1865) the Reverend E Donald Carr recounts , you sense the presence of something OPPOSITE, INSET St Laurence’s understand and protect the AONB’s brass bands and candlelit carols herald the AN OLDER setting out on a Long Mynd crossing he had

older – a world that predates Christmas Church in Church Stretton fortuitous converging of geology, scenery, Alamy annual Christmas Fayre (2 December), peer undertaken nearly 2,500 times before,

and the pagan festivals that came before it. wildlife, cultural heritage and serenity. Photos: at Jubilee Fountain in the town square to WORLD” getting lost in an unexpected blizzard

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Holly day On Christmas Eve, find out about the mysterious 400-year-old holly trees on the Stiperstones on Living World.

and glissading down a ravine where he blights your light, a mood of foreboding can optional, free sandwiches and soup are almost died. Following the blue waymarkers overcome even the most sanguine walker. served in the pub afterwards, and all money DIVINE INSPIRATION Three beautiful churches to visit should keep you on track, taking you via The ridge is entrenched in folklore – of raised is donated to a local hospice. Parish Church of St Laurence churches. Look for the ‘holy well’ and, fed by Pole Bank – the Long Mynd’s highest point apocalyptic ravens, of Wild Edric and his Topped with a 135-foot tower, Ludlow’s its waters, the drooping yew tree that’s – and down into Carding Mill Valley where fairy bride. Its brooding atmosphere OLDE WAYS awe-inspiring church is rich with treasures, 1,600 plus years old. A carol service on the National Trust’s Chalet Pavilion offers inspired DH Lawrence and Mary Webb. We have our traditions and ways, and so did including 28 intricately carved misericords. Sunday 17 December (4pm) will be followed food, warmth and a secondhand bookshop. One tor is nicknamed the Devil’s Chair. our ancestors. Criss-crossing the geological At 4pm on Christmas Eve, around 800 by mince pies in the adjacent village hall. But even in deepest December, the and ecological layers of the Shropshire Hills people will congregate for a Christingle RUGGED HILLS bleakness is tempered by the ever-changing are human imprints: Bronze and Iron Age service, partially held in candlelight. Holy Trinity Church North of , rising from a dances of nature. Look for winter visitors hillforts, drovers’ routes, mining scars. Some From its heavenly position overlooking plain, is The Wrekin, 407m high and formed such as fieldfares and redwings feasting on of the best-preserved sections of Offa’s Dyke St John the Baptist Coalbrookdale, the ‘Jewel of the Dale’ (built Hope Bagot’s predominantly Norman by Abraham Darby IV) is holding a carol more than 600 million years ago from the haws and holly berries that thrive in – an ancient linear earthwork at the boundary building is one of Shropshire’s smallest service on Sunday 17 December at 2.30pm. volcanic rock. The hill can appear crouching TOP Wild ponies graze the Long acidic soil. “I once saw a red grouse against of Anglian Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of or mountainous depending on where you’re Mynd in the snow-covered pure white snow,” county ecologist Dan Powys – can be found in the Clun Valley. standing, but its dominant presence on mid Shropshire Hills ABOVE A fieldfare Wrench tells me. “That was pretty special.” And then we have manifold medieval Shropshire’s landscape means many feeds on guelder rose berries Dan says you can find mistletoe on the strongholds and castle ruins whose walls Salopians consider it the embodiment of OPPOSITE TOP Walking the Stiperstones. And if you start your journey carry stories of a turbulent past: Marcher home. There’s even a local toast: “To friends Stiperstones in winter offers by the Bog Visitor Centre (closed in winter), lords and territorial disputes. Their presence all around the Wrekin.” Families often make atmospheric and beautiful views you may see cushiony clumps of reindeer reminds us of Shropshire’s liminality at the the steepish ascent through bare oak woods moss. This bushy lichen is appreciated by borders of four English counties and two to its hillfort top on Boxing Day or New Year’s model railway enthusiasts who use it, Welsh. ’s ruins sit high on a Day; perhaps the journey is as spiritual as it spray-painted, to depict miniature greenery. natural spur, overlooking and is about atoning for mince pies. To tackle the Stiperstones on a day laden into the Kerry Hills of Wales. Limestone, volcanic, – and now with cheer, try Boxing Day, when hundreds Castle was the victim of a botched explosion quartzite. To walk the six-mile Stiperstones of revellers meet at the Stiperstones Inn to in the and now its ruin

on a sunny day is invigorating, but when a register for an 11am ‘Dawdle or Dash’ to the Alamy, RSPB Images, Geograph/Alan Murray-Rust slopes by 15 degrees – more than the

chill wind passes or low-hanging cloud Devil’s Chair and back. Santa suits are Photos: Leaning Tower of Pisa.

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Laurence of Ludlow built Castle in the 13th century. This fortified medieval manor becomes a festive attraction at Christmas

HEART OF THE MARCHES sorry remains of a wall. Nevertheless, it is a One of the most imposing castles would have fun place to visit, with its arty vibe and two CHRISTMAS LARDER been Ludlow, in turns a fortress, palace and breweries, including ’s oldest Food suppliers for your festive feast the governing centre of Wales and border working one. The Three Tuns was granted counties. Mary Tudor, a Queen of England in its licence by King Charles I in 1642. Ludlow Food Centre Many delights are prepared at this Bromyard site by cheesemakers, bakers, waiting, spent three winters here. The At 11am on Boxing Day, crowds will gather butchers and chefs: watch them working in romantic ruins are subject to seasonal outside the Castle Hotel to wave off the glass-fronted kitchens. ludlowfoodcentre.co.uk closures but, on 22 December, Carols in the local hunt. If that’s not your thing, take to the Castle will take place by candlelight in the courtyard of the Three Tuns Inn where, from Swifts Bakery A fifth-generation family business in Ludlow. swifts-bakery.co.uk roofless medieval chapel. On 16 December midday, morris dancers from the Shropshire at 7pm, the Ludlow Choral Society will sing Bedlams and Martha Rhoden’s Tuppenny The Mousetrap Cheese Shop As specialist as its carols from around the world in St Laurence’s Dish will bring jingle bells to the proceedings. name suggests. mousetrapcheese.co.uk Church, the ‘Cathedral of the Marches’. Amid all the festivities, I think about the Apley Farm Shop My children adore this shop near Ludlow is a fruitful town for Christmas phrase ‘as old as the hills’. We use it in jest Bridgnorth, which is sometimes a stop for handmade shopping. Alongside almost daily markets or exaggeration but, in the depths of a sausage rolls, and sometimes a whole day out. apleyfarmshop.co.uk you’ll find many independent stores: look for Shropshire winter, it’s heartening to think the Bindery Shop on Bull Ring, selling of the hills in their glorious steadfastness. “SHROPSHIRE Kerry Vale Vineyard To add award-winning English hand-printed letterpress cards, wrapping TOP Ludlow castle in winter frost striking 17th-century half-timbered The millions of seasons they have seen and wine to your Christmas feast, visit this vineyard in , open until 18 December. paper, and hand-bound diaries. When thirst ABOVE The Bindery Shop in Ludlow gatehouse. From 6-8pm on 9 December, have yet to see – including the snowdrops MORRIS kerryvalevineyard.co.uk calls, try the Church Inn for regional ales, or sells traditional hand-printed the cruck-ceilinged Great Hall will be and promise of this coming spring. Have a the Ludlow Brewing Co’s tap house in a cards and hand-bound books transformed from ghostly to toasty for happy, timeless Christmas. CF DANCERS RIGHT The Three Tuns in the converted railway shed near the station. Christmas carolling, followed by a market town of Bishops Castle is BRING JINGLE England’s oldest working brewery Shropshire mummers’ play. Book early. OF CASTLES AND CAROLS While the name Bishop’s Castle conjures Marie Kreft is an award-winning writer and Seven miles away, cradled by wooded slopes images of the marcher lords who governed author of Slow Travel: Shropshire for Bradt BELLS TO THE

in the valley, is Stokesay Castle the area in Norman times, the town’s castle Alamy Travel Guides. She lives with her husband

– a fortified medieval with a today is little more than a mound and the Photos: and two small sons in Birmingham. THREE TUNS”

26 www.countryfile.com www.countryfile.com 27 DISCOVER NOW GO THERE › Where to walk, feast and make merry in Shropshire’s hills and villages at Christmas, by Marie Kreft

CHRISTMAS FESTIVALS PUB 7 Green Dragon 12 2 Little Stretton Ironbridge In a pretty black-and-white village two miles south of Church Stretton (look for an unusual A458 thatched church), the Green STAY Cardington Dragon offers scrumptious Sunday 5 lunches, locally sourced meat and 8 Hopton House Hopton Heath 7 10 Bridgnorth Little Stretton beers, and cider microbrewery. Within walking distance of Hopton Castle’s 1 Ludlow and Bridgnorth CAFE greendragonlittlestretton.co.uk atmospheric ruins, this dreamily comfortable B&B On Tinsel Tuesdays in December, Ludlow’s Castle 9 has super king-size beds, double-ended baths, and 13 Square lights up with a Christmas gift market, Shropshire Ludlow luxurious linen. Wake up to local bacon and Hills AONB A442 6 Green Café school choir carols and music from Merrie Modern, imaginative British food served in a delightful sausages, and eggs from the resident hens. Loughton Noyse. For late shoppers, there’s a Christmas riverside location at Ludlow’s Mill on the Green. This shropshirebreakfast.co.uk 11 Stokesay Eve market, too. Bridgnorth is hosting a friendly, unfussy café has an impressive list of local Christmas street market on Sunday 3 December. suppliers and a well-deserved string of plaudits. 9 Crown Country Inn Munslow 8 A49 Hopton Heath Kidderminster You’ll need to book ahead. thegreencafe.co.uk Inglenook fireplaces, flagstone floors and timber 6 1 Ludlow beams make this former hundred house an ideal 4 hideaway. Enjoy an excellent dinner in the two Brampton Bryan LOCAL DELICACY AA-rosette Corvedale Restaurant before retiring to 3 your room in a converted Georgian stable block. Tenbury Wells No-one’s sure how fidget pie got its crowncountryinn.co.uk name. Possibly it’s because the ingredients (which include gammon, 10 Wilderhope Manor Longville in the Dale onion, potato, apple and cider) Major Smallman was a Royalist who rode his horse 2 Blists Hill Victorian Town TRAIN JOURNEY shuffle around in their pastry case over the precipice of Wenlock Edge to avoid capture Blists Hill is an open-air ‘living museum’, with when baked. It’s delicious served by Roundheads. His gabled grey house is owned by shops, cottages and role-playing volunteers 5 Severn Valley Railway cold with pickles at picnics, but in the YHA, offering budget comfort in an inspiring showing the joys and realities of life in a Victorian Slam-door carriages and wheezing winter enjoy it hot with vegetables, wooded setting. town. Christmas festivities include tots’ trails, whistles evoke a romantic age of accompanied by cloudy cider. yha.org.uk/hostel/wilderhope-manor 1800s-style entertainment and Father travel as the region’s most popular Christmas’s grotto. Warm up with traditional fish heritage line rumbles for 16 miles and chips or ale in the New Inn. through the rural Severn Valley from 3 GREAT WALKS Bridgnorth to Kidderminster. Book ahead to climb aboard the Santa Steam Specials and Christmas Carol Trains in December. svr.co.uk

SNOWY DAY

4 Aardvark Books 3 Tenbury Mistletoe Festival Over the Herefordshire border in In early December, Tenbury Wells in northwest Brampton Bryan, a 19th-century 11 Bury Ditches from Clunton 12 Iron Trail from Ironbridge 13 from Worcestershire, separated from Shropshire by barn holds this vast bookshop, Among the country’s best-preserved hillforts, The 3.5-mile circular Iron Trail starts on the From Ditton Priors you can take a six-mile the , hosts the Tenbury Mistletoe warming café, and child-friendly Bury Ditches dates from about 500BC. One of world-famous iron bridge, winding up through circular route that incorporates the twin Festival (2 December). Previous festivals have ‘Book Burrow’. Its Christmas Fair on two clearly waymarked trails is Druid’s Walk, the ‘Sabbath Walks’ to take in wintry views of the summits of Brown Clee, Shropshire’s highest featured locally grown mistletoe, the crowning of Sunday 10 December promises just under two miles long with a short, steep gorge from the Rotunda on Lincoln Hill. Collect a hill. For a map and detailed instructions, a Mistletoe Queen, and a kiss-a-thon world antiques, crafts, music, mince pies, ascent to the hillfort. Your reward: magnificent leaflet from the Museum of the Gorge, or the search for ‘Ditton Priors Walk 3’ at Getty, Alamy Getty, record attempt. mulled wine and jollity. Alamy open views to pinewoods, mysterious in mist. dispenser in Station Road Car Park. shropshiresgreatoutdoors.co.uk Photos: aardvark-books.com Photos:

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