Author | Writer | Photographer
Hollywood came to Shrewsbury in 1984, to film an adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. My article in the December 2016 issue of Best of British magazine takes a tour of the exterior film locations, including St Chad’s Church where it’s possible to find a real gravestone for Ebeneezer Scrooge. Don’t believe me? Well, check this out:
Gummer’s How, at the southern end of Windermere, is one of those fantastic viewpoints in the Lake District that doesn’t require the ascension of Everest in order to see it. A steep road leads up from the A592, near Fell Foot Country Park, to a signed Forestry Commission car park on the right, from where a path opposite takes you the final climb to its top.
I was delighted to discover that my Out Of Place entry in the Senior Travel Expert website’s travel writing competition was placed as a runner up. And lovely to see some names I recognise in the runners-up list with me too!
“Is it true monkeys like bananas?” my nephew, Ashley, asks as we watch a gibbon swinging on a rope high above our heads. Thankfully, we have an expert to hand.
If you’re ever near the Scottish town of Comrie, talk a short stroll along the A85 (heading towards Lochearnhead), but then take the minor road signed to The Ross and …
STRICTLY COME LEKKING
Witness early morning dance contestants compete for the avian equivalent of the Glitter Ball Trophy in the black grouse lek, says Simon Whaley.
“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!