Visit to Stokesay Castle
This event was organised by Rob & Sue Preece, who led us on a brilliant route through beautiful countryside on Sunday 25th June 2017. 5 cars carrying 9 members met at Hereford on a fairly grey day - him indoors had spent ages the day before buffing his TReasure, so didn't want it to rain! Sian & Martin arrived with their roof down & shamed everyone else into opening up for the drive. So, on to Kington where we were joined by Kevin & Carol from Builth Wells, then Knighton and Clun. We had a short 'comfort' break here, and carried on through Craven Arms to reach Stokesay Castle - a castellated manor house built by Lawrence of Ludlow, a wealthy wool merchant in the late 13th century. It boasts a magnificent Great Hall, and stone tower, and is entered through a 17th century gatehouse. En route we'd stopped to put the covers back on due to a few short sharp showers - we in the TR 7 smiled not a little at being able to slide the roof open & closed as necessary!
The castle is maintained by English Heritage, and is well worth a visit. At this time of year, swallows & house martins were nesting, and seemed oblivious to us humans, as they wove their way in & out to feed their nestlings.
Lastly we drove south to Wooferton and the Salwey Arms for lunch - most cars detoured to drive through Ludlow, and found the speed bumps a bit of a trial! Many thanks to Sue & Rob for a great day out, and to the Wye Dean members who joined us for the day - lots of good humour and varied chat.See more photos in the gallery