December 20th 2017
Having a free day before Christmas we drove to Church Stretton, a small market town in Shropshire situated 13 miles south of Shrewsbury on the English /Welsh border, gateway to the area known as The Marches.
The town is surrounded by hills including the Long Mynd and Caer Caradoc, on the edge of town is Carding Mill valley an area now maintained by the National Trust, you can take an enjoyable walk along the stream from the car park to a small waterfall, Lightspout, It is a round trip of 3 miles and dependant on the weather you will need walking boots/shoes. A great place to picnic in the summer, but very busy at weekends.
Historically there are remains in the area of iron age hill forts but Church Stretton has it’s roots as an Anglo Saxon settlement near to Watling Street, a Roman Road. The church dates from Norman times and there are examples of buildings from across the centuries throughout the town. It has been a market town since the 12th century with it’s charter being granted by King John.
For us it holds a special place in our lives as just over 10 years ago Michelle and I visited here on our first “date”. We enjoy visiting the antiques market housed in a former four storey mill building, there are lots of good priced cafes and pubs and independent shops, today we spent two and a half hours there and could have spent longer but we suddenly realised that the parking fee had run out thirty minutes before!
