DISCOVER DISCOVER SHROPSHIRE 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 Ludlow 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 Shropshire Hills 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 Church Stretton, 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 Ironbridge to Craven Arms, 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 River Severn extending from the Wrekin above Ironbridge that awaits your keen eyes and winter boots. seek rabbit holes or overhung ledges, you Cardington, Whittingslow, Hopesay. ABOVE Enjoy carol singing at the Gorge to the Clun Forest, and from the In sleepy Much Wenlock, where medieval, MOONSCAPE, may find golden-green mats of luminous Sometimes, when walking the moonscape Christmas Fayre in Much Wenlock Stiperstones to the Clee Hills, 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 Wales, 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 22 www.countryfile.com www.countryfile.com 23 DISCOVER 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 Ironbridge Gorge, 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. Clun Castle’s ruins sit high on a Day; perhaps the journey is as spiritual as it spray-painted, to depict miniature greenery. natural spur, overlooking Clun Forest and is about atoning for mince pies. To tackle the Stiperstones on a day laden into the Kerry Hills of Wales. Bridgnorth Limestone, volcanic, sandstone – 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 English Civil War 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. 24 www.countryfile.com www.countryfile.com 25 DISCOVER Laurence of Ludlow built Stokesay 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 England’s oldest Food suppliers for your festive feast the governing centre of Wales and border working one.