More of Shropshire

 This is Stokesay Castle about 20 min north of our house. It made for an easy afternoon trip yesterday. It was chilly cold as the wind picked up and rustled through the castle. It is actually not a castle, but a fortified manor house dating back to the 1600's. We have bought a 12 month family pass for all of the heritage listed castles and monuments in UK which will make things a bit easier and allow us to be a bit spontaneous with visits. This was our first entry to a castle per se and it was amazing.

 Check out the hand carved timber work above the fire place.

After listening to the audio on mp3, I began to realise that each of these castles generally speak a story for their area, the main families and generations, and local struggles etc. So its more than just admiring building,

1st week of 3 in Ludlow already done

I won't bore you with too much text other that I am overindulging on food!

Many public paths pass through farming properties giving the public rights of way dating back many years.

The boys outside Ludlow Castles walls

 One of the many forest walks near home base.

This is to prove that the sun actually came out for a few moments - our home base

Entering Ludlow castle in the middle of town

Our street in our village(Caynham)...this is the owners wall of their home right up against the road.

View out of our side kitchen window

 Ludlow Castle through the thicket

 Narrow suburban streets in town

You simply have to look into windows to see what shops sell as its not obvious ....advertising is not around so shops look like homes. Here is a shop dedicated to cheeses!

Check out how narrow these streets are ....can you spot the van in the shadows?

Wales - please use a vowel

Just take a chunck of letters from the alphabet ...don't use many vowels...and that seems to be a Welsh word. The signs are dual posted in Englich and Welsh. Hay-On-Wye is a book town ....I mean every second shop is a book shop literally....what a great place! One shop is the only shop in the UK dedicated to poetry books...and yes its a haven for book festivals.

 Steph on the street

 A Welsh greengrocer

 The butcher

Noah checking his lunch menu

and they all seem to have a castle...and even the castle sells books thru and honesty box.

Stratford Upon Avon

There was plenty of traffic here and narrow streets with old towering buildings but we weren't very prepared with the camera.

Caynham, Ludlow UK

First impressions - mist, cloud, damp and biting cold on the face......but I liked it. Fantasticly appointed 2 storey barn conversion with underfloor heating and fireplace. Our village is a good size....about 3 or 4 times the size of Beechworth but riddled with medieval lanes and dedicated smallgoods shops with "Circa 1327" above the pub door. The castle dates back to 1086 and there are street markets most days. The variety of food here is amazing....and cheap....all of a sudden a trip to the store is an adventure as I pile up the Norweigan cheese, and choose between French or Dutch veal....the English bacon is thin and soft like smoked salmon. The grog is very cheap. The beer about a quarter of the price back home, ....the Irish Stout in the 440mL cans about $1.20 each complete with nitrogen widget.

Our house is above and the red people mover is our transport ....purchased a couple of days ago....and it seems to go fine. The view I was in an old store yesterday and simply could not stand up!

 Our yard

 The local hamlet

Heathrow - UK

This being our first trip outside Australia has come with the expected WOW factor. We arrived at Heathrow without a Satnav or a street directory as I committed our first 2 mile trip to memory....or so I thought. Google Earth made it look so simple, but then there were round-abouts and multiple lanes commiting you to who knows where. But I knew the general direction and we managed to get there in about 15 min. But its not like me to ever do it that way....I generally over prepare but this time part of the idea of the holiday is to stretch myself, ....my taste buds, who knows what else....I'm here for the ride.

So as an added bonus, AVIS rent a car had managed to freeze our remaining Visa funds and we could only withdraw 20 pound at the ATM at Heathrow ..... just enough to pay for the car parking so we could leave with our newly purchased car. So there we were thrust into English traffic with no cash and a vague idea to drive east along the M4 for a couple of miles.....if we could find it. Having taken 6 and a half months off work....at least we'll be doing it slowly.