Dilly dally in the Welsh Borders

Heading home from Shropshire, we had a little time to kill before Stokesay Castle opened for the day.  What else to do but dilly dally?  I’m not entirely certain where the Welsh borders begin and end, but heading west from Church Stretton we can’t have been far away.  I was delighted with colourful and quirky Bishop’s Castle, a centre for arts and crafts, and just one and a half miles from the border.  I did go looking for the castle, built in 1087, but discovered afterwards that when it deteriorated in the 1700s it was flattened to make a bowling green!

I was luckier in tiny Clun where the ruins of a Norman castle still linger soulfully on a hill, only disturbed from slumber when the May fair comes to town.  Clun was on the site of the historic drove road, where flocks and herds were driven from Wales to the markets of the Midlands and London. It amused me to find that at the time of the Norman Conquest, Clun formed part of the lands of Eadric the Wild.  His wildness did him no good because his lands were confiscated when he led a revolt against King William 1.

To reach the castle we crossed over the 14th century packhorse bridge, and then on to lovely Stokesay.  The ochre-coloured buildings are joyful, aren’t they?  I hope you have a happy weekend, full of warmth and colour, but first, steer clear of troubled waters with Debbie.  Share six words?