Weobley, Ludlow and Shrewsbury Prison

Roy found us a village to checkout called Weobley, it was Saturday afternoon after our lunch at The Cider Barn so still hot, but there wasn't a soul around. One of the prettiest villages that we've either driven through or aimed for as a destination. A lot of black and white houses and I was reliably informed the biggest village in Herefordshire. Roy said he couldn't fault it, but for me it seemed slightly too big. No doubting how lovely it was though.

There definitely a change in the weather for our second week in Herefordshire, great that it had cooled down considerably, but it would have been better without the rain. It did mean though that we could hang out a bit more at the camper reading and relaxing.

Sunday night brought an electrical storm like Ive never experienced before. Lots of lightening, but no thunder or rain. Fascinating to watch but sightly scary being in the middle of a camping field.

On Monday we went to Ludlow. The last time we visited was a few years ago now and it was lovely, but this time we found it a bit disappointing. Over the weekend they had held the annual Ludlow food festival, which we missed as the website stated no dogs were allowed in the marquees. We later found out that due to the heat they had allowed dogs in, so that was a shame. Turning up the next day was a bit of a mistake and we ended up having buying a packet of crisps for lunch. 

St Laurences Church, Ludlow

Tuesday we went to Shrewsbury and what a lovely town it is, we've not been there before and the drive through the Shropshire hills was just beautiful, despite the rain.

We had brought tickets to visit Shrewsbury Prison, but before our booking for the tour we popped into the town for a quick look around. I'll definite be going back to spend a few hours there looking around the independent shops, rather than rushing about in an hour or so.

Shrewsbury Prison; we did the guided tour and it was well worth a visit, interesting and informative.

Hereford, Pembridge and The Dunkerton Cider Barn

As we were seeing a property on Thursday afternoon in the village of Much Birch, we decided to tie it in with a visit to the cathedral city of Hereford. Off we trundled in the heat, with our lunch and picnic blanket, planning to have a potter around the little shops and take a look at the cathedral which dominates the centre.

Not much shop pottering was done as it was just too hot. 

Unusually for a cathedral it was free to go in, so we took turns to have a look around. I couldn't figure out what had taken Roy so long, until we realised that I had somehow missed about 2/3rds of it, so I went back in to check it out properly and I'm very glad I did.

By the way the house wasn't for us, it needed some work, which would have been fine, but there was a huge problem that an A road more or less ran through the back garden, or at least sounded like it did.

On Saturday we had planned to spend the day at the Kington Show, the largest one day agricultural show in the county. I was really looking forward to it too and had even planned to enter Tulip into one of the dog shows, with in my mind to at least walk away with a rosette, Roy wasn't so sure about that one.

After careful consideration we decided it wouldn't be a good idea due to the heat and certainly not fair to be dragging Tulip along. As it turned out it was a very good call as most of the animals on show were returned home to get out of the heat as well.

We instead had a quiet morning and when it got too hot to stay on the campsite we went to the village of Pembridge. Another day, another village and another church but this time Tulip was allowed in as well.

Pembridge is a lovely village, with a wonderful Old Chapel Gallery which houses many inspirational pieces of original art, from stained glass and collagraph prints to paintings and garden sculptures. It also has a really sweet village shop where I brought some fig bread and Roy a handmade pork pie, but sadly it also has a busy main road running right through the middle of it. 

For lunch we stopped off at The Dunkerton Cider Barn, which I can't rate highly enough. Slightly hit and miss opening time (we originally went on a Tuesday and they are closed) but once you know what they are its definitely worth a visit, whether you like cider or not. The food at lunchtime was amazing and very reasonably priced.

Kington, Eardisland, Berrington Hall

The late summer heat wave is scuppering our exploring, it's just so hot. We spend our mornings at breakfast deciding where we could go for the day to find shade.

On Tuesday morning we popped out to Kington. We came across the Kat and Fiddle Studio who I happened to already follow on instagram. I spent a little while chatting to the artist Kathryn Moore who produces beautiful works in paint and collage. After that the heat pushed us back into the car for some air con, but not before Roy managed to walk into dog poo with not just one but both of his walking sandals. What we think of people who don't pick up after their dogs would be another rant for another day.

Kington main road

Not the most pleasant of drives back, with all windows open, until we could stop and give his shoes a proper wash in the river, whilst we ate our preprepared picnic in the shade.

After lunch we took a walk around Eardisland, visited another studio of a local resident and headed round to see the church. The amount of time I have spent inside churches on this holiday, especially as a non-church goer, is ridiculous. Not only are they cool inside, but so calming which for one reason or another I am in great need of at this time. I think we've visited a different church in a different town/village nearly every day.

St Marys Church, Eardisland

Wednesday was another scorcher, so we took a picnic and headed off to Berrington Hall National Trust. A stunning building in beautiful surroundings, with lovely big trees to hide under in the blissful shade.