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No - we haven't lost it! ......
My uncle has a very large cactus that desperately needed repotting. His plan was to wrap the cactus in thick foam and then towels, to enable 3 of us to pick it up whilst the 4th (my aunt) knocked the old pot off and slid the new pot underneath. One of us would stabilise the plant whilst others packed the special soil around.5 locks, 258 in total.
A massive thank you to Sheila and Peter for their company, meals, taxi service and laundry facilities of the last 2 days – a little bit of luxury is hard to resist!
Whilst we did not see much of the town on this visit I can tell you that it is an ancient market town which contains many black-and-white half-timbered buildings from the 17
th and 18
th century; many earlier buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1641. These are preserved and utilised for various shops and pubs and newer shops of different ages are intermingled. There are several ginnels – Shropshire word for an alleyway – which also have small independent shops. Everywhere you look is different and it definitely doesn't conform to the modern vision of a shopping area. Similarly the housing is a mixture of all ages. The street market has been in existence since 1245 and there is an annual fair. This used to be a horse fair with dealers coming from all around, including Wales. In the 19
th century the town prepared horsehair for furniture.
And it worked!
One proud daddy here! By the way, the cactus weighed 23kg. Market Drayton claims to be the home of gingerbread although this is disputed; the secret ingredient is rum. It is also apparently famous for producing all things damson, sing local trees but probably best known for the Muller Yogurt factory!
Robert Clive, of India fame, was born here in 1725. Market Drayton was probably pleased he went to India as he didn't behave too well in his home town by all accounts – one exploit involved building a dam to flood a local shop when they refused to pay protection money.
We left mid-afternoon after a pub lunch with Sheila and Peter. There is a new brewery in town - Joules - and they have taken over and refurbished 4 pubs in the last couple of years - if they're all as good as the Red Lion there should be no complaints. We motored for 3 miles to the Adderley locks, which have a farmer's stall at the top lock selling all manner of things – more sausages to try!
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