Shropshire Weekend

Met up with friends from Derbyshire at Bishops Castle in Shropshire.

Bishops Castle boasts two micro breweries, so on Friday night it was off to the The Three Tuns Inn to sample their brew. There were three of their real ales on draught so I choose the one in the middle of alcoholic strength. A very enjoyable drink. After our drinks we went to The Poppy House for a meal. The menu was varied with some interesting choices - I had the Russian Chicken. This was reasonable value and the staff were friendly. Some more friends joined us at The Poppy House for desert. The staff had not problems with this! We had started with a booking for five people but by the end of the meal there were about 15 of us!

Next day we went for a 7 mile circular walk with 300 metres of climbing. We started at Bishops Castle and ended up at the Powis Arms at Lydbury North for lunch. There were no hot meals available, but their cheese sandwiches were very good. It has new owners and they do set a very high standard for food - even sandwiches! They had Big Nev's beer which is brewed at the Six Bells in Bishops Castle - and very good it was!

Despite to low temperature of the day (5 degrees Celsius) the lack of wind made it a very pleasurable walk and we ended back at Bishops Castle around 4pm.

Our walking group (23 of us) were booked in for a meal at the Six Bells for 7:30pm so a few of us went a little early to sample some of the other beers brewed by the Six Bells. But this is a place that could not cope with a party of 23. We were prepared for the meals to arrive over a period of time but two people - my wife and her friend - had to wait over two hours. It was clear that the cook had not looked closely at the orders and missed these two! The problem was compounded as my wife's friends choice was no longer available! In fact her second choice was not available. So she had to have something that she really did not want to eat but as it was after 9:30 she was very hungry!

That evening was marred by the pub not begin able to cope with a party of 23. We will not go there again!

Next day we went to Stokesay Castle for a look around. Although it was warmer than Saturday, the wind was a good deal stronger and the wind chill was severe. So we spent a long time in there tea shop to warm up after going around the castle.

Then we started to make our way home. We went to Much Wenlock for a quickly lunch and ended up at Carole Anne's Coffee Shop. What a very pleasant way to spend an hour with treacle pudding, chocolate sponge, other cakes and hot drinks. After the debarkle of Saturday night, it was refreshing to find helpful and attentive staff - all of whom smiled!

Having been refreshed and warmed at Carole Anne's Coffee Shop we visited Wenlock Priory. It was freezing again. So we saw it all as quickly as possible before returning to the cars to warm up and make our way home.