Sept 22 - Travel to Much Wendock

 Ursula and Ross leave for Ireland and we begin our journey to Batheston to meet with Katrina and Alex. On the way we will make two stops - Much Wenlock and Stratford.

We chose Much Wenlock for its historical significance as the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games....More on that later....As we get closer to Much Wenlock we notice signs for Bethall Hall and the Priory Ruin.

Our first stop is the amazing Hawarden Farm shop just outside Chester for Yoghurt bowl and Avocado toast and Flat Whites

Benthall Hall is a historic 16th-century manor house located in Broseley, Shropshire, near the town of Much Wenlock and the Ironbridge Gorge. The house is famous for its Elizabethan architecture, particularly its fine oak interiors and elaborate 17th-century staircase. It has been continuously occupied by the Benthall family since its construction and is a significant site for its connection to the Benthall family's Catholic history and its role during the English Civil War. Read More about Benthall Hall

The Victorian tiled floor was covered with floor boards but this section reveals the amazing designs

The family's private kitchen still has the "Jackfield" tile floor - Read More

This is a gambling chair. When the evening turns to card games, you turn this chair away from the table, and put your legs thru the holes and then lean on the top bar to hold your cards.

Amazing and unique flowers growing in the Kitchen Garden

The ruins of Wenlock Priory are sited on the fringe of Much Wenlock. Its story began when an Anglo-Saxon monastery for both men and women was founded here in about AD 680 by King Merewalh of Magonsaete. 

Wenlock was the site of a monastery for almost 900 years. An abbey for both monks and nuns was founded here at the end of the 7th century and was the home of St Milburga, an Anglo-Saxon princess. It was refounded at the end of the 11th century as one of the first Cluniac monasteries in England. 

After monastic life ended at Wenlock in 1540 during Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, the church and other buildings were rapidly reduced to ruins.

In Edwardian times Wenlock Priory’s socialite owners created the topiary-filled gardens which remain such a distinctive feature of the priory today. Read More about Wenlock Priory