Author | Writer | Photographer
“We need more kangaroos,” the manageress said to her assistant as I stepped into the shop. Puzzled why a card shop in Ludlow would have any need for Antipodean animals, I paid for my postcard and left. I’d read the Mortimer Trail was a good walk for wildlife, but I didn’t think it included large marsupials.
“Uncle Simon, why is there a goat on top of that castle wall?” My nephew stares at the white adult goat fifteen feet above us. A series of frantic bleats fill the air and, suddenly, three sure-footed kids join their parent on the narrow, stony ridge. “And how did they get up there?”
It’s not difficult to see why Church Stretton is known as Shropshire’s Little Switzerland when there’s been a fresh dusting of snow overnight. If weather forecasters predict snow in Shropshire, you can guarantee Church Stretton will get some!
My photo of a misty South Shropshire, as seen from Ragleth Hill, appears in the February 2016 issue of Outdoor Photography, under the Viewpoints section.
‘Capability Brown was invited back to Weston Park in 1766 to undertake a second contract,’ says our guide, ‘for which he was paid £1,725.’ Scanning the beautiful one-thousand-acre parkland in front of us, I nod in approval. At that price I might ask him for a quote to landscape my front garden. Then again, at today’s prices that works out at over £216,000!
Revel in Ruskin’s favourite view, traditional pubs, cosy atmosphere and a corner of Cornwall in Cumbria, says Simon Whaley …
“I know New England is famous for it’s autumnal colour,” drawls the American tourist standing next to me in the grounds of Rydal’s St Mary’s Church, “but your Old England display is pretty spectacular too.”
Follow in the footsteps of the mysterious Black Vaughan, a shape-shifting spectre who may have inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, says Simon Whaley…
Look out for my piece in the September issue of BBC Countryfile magazine about the Heart of Wales Railway line.
Turn to the back page of the latest (August 2015) issue of Country Walking magazine to see my photo of the view from Shropshire’s Stiperstones, and why I like the …