It was our final day before returning home today and so we made the most of the fact that it didn't rain until late afternoon.
I often think that when you return somewhere it never seems as good as the place in your memory. We drove from our apartment near Craven Arms and drove to Clum. Weaved a very muddy path after leaving the car in the village hall car park. We didn't give ourselves enough time as apparently we missed the centre by just taking photos of the ruined castle. We returned to the car and missed the centre. Such is life and such is our travels.
So instead we went to Bishop's Castle. There was no problem parking in the High Street, but there was a problem in climbing up the steep hill up to the council offices where they had a large book sale.
I like book sales, be they large or small. This was a large one. I bought a book entitled "A Short History of England" by Simon Jenkins. I have a lot of books on the history of England. I must get round to reading some of them. There we are pretty much returning to comments made yesterday about buying books and struggling to read them.
We visited a local tea rooms but most of the others seemed shut and the whole place seemed tired and listless whereas on our last visit it seemed vibrant. Perhaps that's because our last visit was in December 2021, just before Christmas so everything was colourful and festive.
"Would you like hot or cold milk with your Americano?" I was asked.
"Hot please." I always go with hot when I'm given the choice. It keeps the coffee hot for longer, although to me there's not a load of difference.
Two minutes later:
"Sorry did you say hot or cold milk?"
"Hot please."
Guess what I got? Yes cold milk. But the chocolate orange cake was scrummy. Cappuccino was £3.20. A glass of wine was £3!
Had a wander down to the church after walking to the Three Tuns Brewery and noting that the Three Tuns pub is currently closed. On the wall was an interesting blue plaque to a music man I'm ashamed that I had never heard of.
Apparently Jerry Lordan wrote a number of hits for the Shadows including probably their best known number Apache and also Wonderful Land. According to the plaque Lordan spent quite a lot of his life imbibing at the Three Tuns.
After a look round the local church it was back to the car and onto our next stop which was a nice surprise. Wasn't sure whether Montgomery was in England or Wales (it's actually in Wales). We climbed up to the castle ruins which was quite a climb but the views were stunning and well worth the effort.
Just at foot of the climb was the Crown Hotel which had a sign outside: "Pot Luck lunch with any soft drink £10." What value we thought and we were right.
As it was a pot luck lunch surely it should have been pot luck as to what you got. But not so. We asked what it was and were told a lamb and mint pie with green beans and chips. Perfect.
Next stop on our whistle stop tour was Powys Castle which is owned by the National Trust. There were lots of people there and plenty of kids doing fun Easter trails. The castle itself was open but we both found the rooms very dark and the NT didn't seem to have made much of an effort to make the visit interesting. The gardens were vast and interesting but the dark clouds began to gather and as we drove back into England the rain started hammering down yet again.
Hope you enjoy the photos which were taken at our stopping places. Our trip today felt as if we were stepping back in time. The roads were very quiet and the towns and villages had a definite 1960s/1970s vibe and that really can't be bad.