Weekend Break

Mappa Mundi Herefor Cathedral

Brambles Cafe church stretton

Bramble cafe garden

The weather forecast gave rain, but we were lucky in only getting the odd shower of rain otherwise sun. Friday 10th june we set off for our break, we had booked into the travelodge at ludlow, with adjacent pub called the aquirrel. We drove down and saw some of the places we are fond of, church stretton, stokesay castle, Berrington Hall. not enough time to visit but nice to spot from the road. Then we reached  Hereford, well worth the journey. We stopped off at all saints church where inside is a  restaurant, we had quiche and salad and well deserved hot tea, nice. There was an art exhibition on too, . Then onto Hereford Cathedral which was wonderful, an imposing medaeval building, 13th century in date. The stained glass, the vibrant colours and wall hangings were magnificent. We went to see the Mappa Mundi the version of the world as it was known in the 12th century, marvellous, there was an illustrated video talk, then we saw the real thing, the map is enclosed in a temperature controlled glass case so that it is preserved for the future. We also saw the chained library where all the books date from the eigth century and  were chained in position in the reign of james the 1st so they didnt get stolen.
We saw the lovely river Wye and yet another spectacular view of the Cathedral. Then a small tour around the shops, Berry Red was a very nice place with lots of goodies, also the black and white house museum.
Back to Ludlow and check in , a rest, then out for an evening meal in The Squirrel and a drink.
It was a wonderful view from our hotel room window the next morning, we saw whitcliffe common hill, down into Ludlow, the castle and the spire of St Lawrence Church. Even better was it was shrouded in early morning mist, and all you could see was the ghostly outline of the tall church spire, eventually the mist burned away, leaving low cloud which made Ludlow appear to be arising from the clouds, great view.
We bought a print of Hereford to hang on our wall at home from Ludlow, Gary did his famous food shopping, he cannot resist really Good Food and local produce. So we came back with good wholemeal bread, nice cuts of meat fromMR HALLS the Butchers, and salad for tea.
It then started to rain, so we set off for Church stretton just in time to catch up with the Church Stretton Festival, Belly Dancing, fiddle playing, lots of stalls. Eventually we found BRAMBLES a lovely olde worlde cafe where I had tea and scones and jam, Gary a huge bowl of homemade mushroom soup.

hereford cathedral

Beautiful river wye

Inside Hereford Cathedral

Black and white house Hereford

Berry Red shop in Hereford

St Lawrences Church Ludlow

Church Stretton fete

Girlies Belly Dancing for church stretton fete

We then bought a ceramic cupcake as a souveneir to go in the china cabinet, some vintage postcards and buttons, and then it was time for home. Quite a lot packed into two days. Good times!!!!