Sights and Sounds in Shropshire

So with tickets booked to see Show of Hands in Shrewsbury - one of my favourite folk groups on their (possibly) final tour - we decided to have a couple of days in the 'big' city (well 'town' if you want to be technical about it!).

After a leisurely drive through mid-Wales, stopping along the way a couple of times - we arrived in Shrewsbury mid-afternoon, with time for a wander round the museum and a few shops, before enjoying a few drinks and a very nice curry in the evening.

The next day we actually got a bit of sunshine in the morning - taking a walk down by the river, and through the gardens in all their autumn colours. 

Along the way visited St Chad's Church - a distinctive and really interesting round building - further distinguished by the presence of an 'Ebenezer Scrooge' gravestone in its churchyard (used in the 1984 George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol.)  

Apparently it isn't a prop, but rather a period gravestone where the original inscription was no longer visible - not sure if was quite ethical to allow a film production to reinscribe it, but it certainly makes a noteworthy addition to the churchyard!

After our musical evening, made our way home the next day via Oswestry, and the British Ironwork Centre - lots more to see than on our last visit - from the original 'spoon' Gorilla, to Marvel characters, and an ecological sculpture park.

The cakes were just as good as last time too - although Martin got a bit of a shock on visiting the Gents . . .

All in all it made for a nice couple of days away - plus we got a bit of Christmas shopping done, and stocked up the wine cupboard at 'English' prices! 😊

Friday Night In

Virtual concert attendance . . .

Show of Hands: Live at the Minack Theatre from 2018 streaming to the tv . . .

. . .  cider, candles and fancy lights - all aiming for that 'festival' atmosphere!

Living It Up, and Chopping It Down

After more years than I care to remember, finally got my act together to make a return trip to Cambridge Folk Festival. 





Met up with a couple of friends from university, pitched our tent (after much searching for enough space!), and settled in for three days of music, cider and (we hoped) sunshine.




Noticed that they'd expanded the site a little - extending the field in front of Stage 1 back further, and making room for more concession / food stalls.

(Probably at the expense of the camping - hence the extended search for a pitch!).

For the most part it all looked very familiar though, with the addition of some interesting artworks (including two large male and female wickerwork badgers, and giant knitted bluebells!).

All in all it was a great few days - very relaxing, time to read as well as enjoy the music (which espoused a rather wide definition of 'folk').

The weather was mostly dry (even sunny) during the day, but with a few downpours in the afternoons / evenings.

Luckily we were mostly inside the stage tents when it rained - although it was amusing to see how some people dealt with the wet - one elderly couple seemed to be nesting under a set of umbrellas!


While I was chilling out and enjoying myself, Martin was hard at work at home on the hedges - returning to his leylandii hedge project (last tackled in 2015) - taking it down another foot or so:

Which left him with some major surgery on the other side of the hedge, where it had all got very overgrown:

So, while I was living it up, he was chopping it down - think he's due a well-deserved pint of his own!