Weekend in Worcester with Sue, Pete & A Marie

We always look forward to our weekends with my cousin Sue , her husband Peter and Auntie Marie.

Auntie Marie is my father's sister and Sue's mother, & is still going strong at 90 making great fruit pies & keeping the magnificent garden under control.

We had a lovely day exploring Bewdley, & Ludlow.

Bewdley is on the River Severn a town which often floods & there was much evidence of the most recent events. Peter showed us the plates on the river bank which are used to attach flood barriers. The bridge was built by Telford in 1798. We had coffee in a charming garden around which there were exhibits of local industry, iron foundries, farming, coracle making (these were
used here mostly for transport rather than fishing.)

We admired the buildings many dating back to the 14th century. In fact the town was named then by the French who called it Beau lieu, for "Beautiful place."

En route into Shropshire & the lovely town of Ludlow we had lunch at The Castle, a lovely pub covered in Virginia Creeper.

Ludlow markets itself as a gourmet delight the food is appropriately luscious & expensive.
Ludlow castle was first developed in 1086 overlooking the Teme & Corve rivers to keep out the Welsh. In fact the Marches round here are named after the troops who used to march & protect the boundaries.

"Dinham - 'Newly Built' in 1656 after burning in the Civil War."

The town has 500 listed buildings many of them half-timbered from the Jacobean era. There are vistas down narrow streets looking out to beautiful countryside laid out like a tapestry.

Sue INSISTED that we have afternoon tea & of course she knew exactly where to go the coffee cream puffs were the biggest I have ever seen & defeated even us!!!

The next day we had a few hours in the nearby town of Stourport. Stourport-on -Severn is the only town in Britain built solely as a consequence of the canals.

James Brindley built the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal to link the River Severn with the Trent and Mersey, in 1766. The town grew quickly and by 1783 brass and iron foundries, as well as many other industries had developed. Now we can walk & see the network of several locks on many levels as well as take in the rowing regatta on the River Severn.

Apparently there is a walk along the river path which goes into Birmingham. (so much to do so little time!).

When we got home Sue had prepared another fantastic lunch. Other friends, Richard & Sue, arrived co-incidentally from Harrogate, where they have a home when they are not working in Cyprus. We all had a lovely time.

Skipton/Carlisle Railway

On a sunny Friday morning, Judith, Brian John & I set off for our adventure on British rail.
This is a great rail journey which crosses much of the Yorkshire Dales & goes over the famous Ribble Viaduct. We don't have photos yet of the viaduct we will have to wait until we climb Penyghent to get views of this.
The train goes past the village of Dent which is the highest rail station in UK & where the film "Brief Encounter" was filmed. There is still a small museum set up for the film.
Carlisle is not the most picturesque of towns but has the distinction of being the place where Judith used to meet her boyfriend when he was studying at Lancaster & she at Durham, (this person is not now her husband so we will not speculate on what secrets Carlisle holds of those little trysts)
Carlisle is making the best of itself however with amazing flower displays all over town.
The town is on the English/Scots border & was a Roman stronghold. Hadrians wall starts here. It has a castle & I'm afraid to say a rather dismal cathedral tho' John & Brian enjoyed hearing the choir practising.

The ceiling of Carlisle Cathedral

The Cathedral is quite plain on the outside but exquisite inside.