Clamping Experience

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I had brought Fiona an experience voucher for Valentine's Day and she decided to use it for us to go away together for a couple of nights in a luxury pod in a remote and rural area of Shropshire. Her voucher only initially covered a basic camping pod for 2 nights but we paid extra to upgrade it to the luxurious pod that she really wanted. I could have easily done the basic pod, but you literally only have a light and electricity, and with Fiona being pregnant too, it made sense to have the luxury pod.

With childcare arranged and the children dropped off, we are free to head northwest towards the county of Shropshire. It is nice to be going back to Shropshire, as this was our first getaway together, although we will be staying in a different part of Shropshire. Annoyingly I didn't really plan this trip well as we are travelling on Good Friday (the first day of the long Easter UK bank holiday weekend). Including our trip to drop the kids off, our journey time was 6 hours instead of 3 hours. We initially wanted to visit Ludlow, but decide to change the plans as felt we had lost too much time to get the most out of our time there. We decide to head towards the campsite and stop off somewhere not too far away to explore. We learn of Stokesay Castle, this site is owned by English Heritage and so we decide to become annual members again after cancelling our membership as we weren't really using it, especially with all the Covid lockdowns. If you become members, you can visit any attraction they own for free and as many times as you want.

Stokesay Castle is a well preserved fortified medieval manor house. The charming site has a beautiful gatehouse with ornate carvings in its frames. From going through the gatehouse, we are within the grounds of the castle. It's a beautiful sunny day with very little cloud in the sky. The air has that fresh feeling of a spring day; you feel the warmth in the sunshine and a slight chill when in the shade. We take the stairway and enter Stokesay's tall south tower, the most castle-like part of the site. There are many windows and I can't help but look out of them and appreciate the stunning views of the Shropshire countryside. At the top of the tower you can get a 360 degree view of the breathtaking countryside. It feels amazing to be out exploring without the children as you can really take your time to read info and have that true appreciation feeling without feeling rushed. From the tower, we enter the great hall, which has been unchanged for over 700 years. This place is pretty remarkable and amazing at how preserved it is.

Before leaving Stokesay Castle, we just have enough time to grab a tea and cake at the site's café before it closes. Despite our long journey, it feels we have utilized our time effectively by visiting this interesting place.

We have a short trip back on the A49 up to Marshbrook where our camp site is located. The camp site in owned by a pub called The Station Inn. We are completely in love with our clamping pod. The site is situated in the rural countryside of Shropshire; we have sheep in the field behind us and a quiet road in front, hidden away by trees. This idyllic location is just perfect for a quiet and peaceful getaway. The clamping pod is cosy as well and has the essentials to enjoy our stay. Each Pod has its own hot tub but, with Fiona being pregnant, we decide not to use it. It does cost an additional £50 to use on top of booking the pod.

A little while later I suggest we head up to nearby town Church Stretton for dinner and before sunset we go to Long Mynd, Bur Way view point. This view point is meant to offer some stunning views of the Shropshire countryside and is on the way towards Church Stretton.

As we take the car up the steep hills to Long Mynd, Bur Way view point, I am actually feeling a little frightened as, at times, there is no barrier to stop our car from coming off the road and crashing down the steep hill. Also, when another car is coming the other way, making sure there is enough space that we can pass each other safely.... eak! Once we get to the top there is a small parking area and wow the views are incredible. Fiona and I appreciate the stunning views with the sunset and take some panoramics and selfies. We are also followed by a very friendly sheep, who appears to be annoying a couple parked up, as it wants some of their BBQ food they're cooking. I personally can't blame the sheep as I wouldn't mind a cooked sausage myself.

Once we safely drive back down the steep hill... phew! we head to Church Stretton and have a fantastic meal at an Indian restaurant; It's so lovely to be spending time together, relaxing without having to keep an eye on the children. We love our kids and wouldn't change it for the world, but it is nice to spend some alone time and have a change of scenery. This will most likely be our last trip away together as a couple for a little while.

Next day

I wake up relatively early and, although slightly chilly, I cannot resist having breakfast outside in the sunshine. I wrap a blanket over my legs whilst I enjoy my toasted hot cross bun with a coffee. I can feel the warmth of the sunshine beaming down on me but at the same time can feel that crisp fresh cold air; the birds are singing and the sheep are baaing. This is perfection.

Once Fiona is up and ready, we head back towards Church Stretton and visit a National Trust sure called Carding Mill Valley. This area is at the bottom of Long Mynd. It's free to walk around but you do need to pay National Trust for car parking. It's extremely busy as we arrive but thankfully we grab a parking space. The sunshine and Easter bank holiday weekend must be making people motivated for a walk. There are several walking routes and we learn of a beautiful waterfall and so I make us take the shortest walk approx. 3 miles, as appreciate Fiona is pregnant.

We enjoy a short walk first to a reservoir, where people actually get in and swim. Here, we just sit down and enjoy a snack and drink, whilst Fiona feels recovered and ready to carry on walking. Once she is ready, we walk across the wildlife-rich heathland and walk up a hill where we have to keep crossing a busy stream making sure our shoes are on stones to avoid getting wet socks. We've been told there is a stunning waterfall when we get to the top. We get so far up and the walking route goes in two directions. A member of the National Trust is there guiding people and so we check the easiest walk for someone who is pregnant before choosing which way to go. Both directions take you to the waterfall, but one route is longer than the other and may involve more climbing. We start to climb up the hill, it's getting steeper and more challenging to climb, also there is the challenge of people trying to overtake you or come down the path. Fiona is finding it hard to climb, not because it's steep but because the paths are narrow and involve climbing up some rocks every now and then. We stop regularly to let people past and for Fiona to catch her breath, after all her heart rate is working twice as hard right now. When we get close to the top, we stop and enjoy a quick picnic lunch after finding a nice green area we can enjoy sitting on. Just a little further we continue to walk to see this waterfall. We are a little disappointed as the waterfall is quite small and I think we hyped ourselves up that it was going to be a lot bigger. Fiona is like "I've almost killed myself to see this small waterfall". I understand her pain but at least on the way back down we can enjoy the views across the Shropshire Hills, as it's much more noticeable coming down. On the way up, the beautiful views were behind us and so now we can admire and appreciate them.

Once we get back towards the car park, we stop off at the National Trust Café for a well earned Cream Tea. Hopefully Fiona has forgiven me.

For our evening, we visit the pub that owns the camp site we are staying at. I call them up to book a table, as we noticed they weren't too busy as we drive past after coming back from Carding Mill Valley; weirdly, to be told they had no availability and the lady I spoke to seemed quite offish. My partner subsequently calls them back and spoke to someone else who was able to accommodate us providing we came straight away, which we could easily do. I'm so glad we tried to reserve a table again, as the food is amazing and really tasty. We both go for steak, a lovely thick cut.

One of the things I really love about this camping site, is all the pods have fairy lights and the paths up to each pod are well lit; it just looks so pretty at night and really adds ambience.

It's sad that our time has come to an end, but we decide to head back home the next day in the morning so we can get back for the children, given it's Easter Sunday, and they will be wanting to do an Easter Egg hunt. But before we leave, we enjoy a hearty full English breakfast with locally sourced meat from the butcher.

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Comments

[alex waring]

Shropshire
I've never been to Shropshire. I must admit, I love saying the name! Looks like you had a lovely kid-free getaway, and the weather looks just gorgeous! Great walking, outdoor experiences, and lovely food. It makes it even more interesting reading your blogs now, having already met you both - I can put names to actual faces now, lol!

[Readingfcboi]

Shropshire
Oh you must get yourself to Shropshire. It truly is a beautiful part of the country. Our first trip to Shropshire we stayed in Ironbridge a wonderful place and there were so many museums and even a Victorian town. We did Shrewsbury too on the county town challenge at the start of this year and another great place to visit.

[D MJ Binkley]

Clamping Experience
I'm glad you upgraded! We love clamping. It is hard to think of everything and the traffic is easy to forget about on a holiday weekend. I like the looks of this area, thanks for taking us along. I might not have enjoyed the drive to the viewpoint. Looks like great weather and a lovely place to explore.