Not exactly tourists in Ludlow
Aug. 1st, 2024 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustPart of the attraction of Ironbridge as a venue for our family gathering is that it would be very easy to combine with a visit to Ludlow. We'd been contemplating that anyway, not because of the undoubted attractions of the town, but because it's where my friend K. lives. We had travelled to Shropshire in the autumn of 2021 for her partner's funeral; and she had visited us the following spring: time for us to pay her a return visit...
Rather than impose ourselves on K. as house guests, we booked ourselves a bolt-hole,
Despite the cute Welsh name, (it means 'hug' or 'cuddle' and it is indeed quite snug) The Cwtch is not a picturesque little cottage, but the conversion of the ground floor of a house on an estate: we had worked this out, and were quite happy about it, since it put us on the same side of town as K.'s house. The estate spills down the hillside below the imposing twentieth century Byzantine fortress that is Ludlow's Catholic church; the Cwtch is shaped by that same downhill slope, since it allows the creation of a downstairs space with an open view over the garden. The price for this, and for the "private entrance" of which the description boasts, is that you have to negotiate a flight of external steps with no handrail, to reach the door. If I had read the user comments on the site, I would have been warned of this, so it serves me right, but isn't this the sort of accessibility issue that should be pointed out in advance?
Luckily, this was nothing I couldn't handle, and a phone call to the owner produced the key code (which they had e-mailed to me, together with the wifi password, at nine o' clock tha morning - no, I had not checked my e-mail before setting off). Inside, the layout of our cosy home reminded me of the glamping pod where we stayed in Falkirk in a lull between lockdowns - which made me irrationally fond of it, from the start! Time for a cup of tea, and I had packed the tea bags, but where was the teapot? There wasn't one, nor a coffee pot neither, and I used a measuring jug for both. I was amused at what another user described as "a lovely welcome basket":
I had been hoping for bread, and had to senddurham_rambler out to the corner shop - but thankfully, there was also a (small) bottle of milk in the fridge. We searched without success for instructions for the various high-tech devices. durham_rambler wrestled the television into submission, we didn't have occasion to use the hob, the remote switch for the bedside lights was revealed by accident (I wonder what this is... oh! the lights have one out!) but we never did learn what we were supposed to do with our recycling: in the end we brought it home with us.
tl:dr; version: A pleasant bolt-hole which could be much improved by attention to some details.
A parting shot - the photo I took of the patio, as we were leaving:
K. joined us on Friday evening, and we ate excellent pizza at the George. A grey and rainy Saturday morning was almost over by the time the two of us were ready to go out again, and perhaps that's why we never really hit our stride as tourists. I'd planned to start my exploration of the town at the market (every day is market day in Ludlow) but we opted instead for the longer-term parking that was less central, and on our way up to Castle Street 9the square where the market happens) we were distracted, more than once. A print gallery here, a charity shop there, lunch - one way and another, by the time we reached the square, the stallholders were packing up, and our parking was about to expire.durham_rambler left me to explore the wine shop, and went to collect the car. Which is why, although I did photograph some of Ludlow's magnificent half-timbered buildings, the picture I like best is a detail of the war memorial, which just happened to be on the corner where I was waiting, in the rain, to be collected:
These unexpected doves of peace are the work of Walenty Pytel, and if you like metal animals, the internet has plenty more.
At this point, we had every intention of spending Sunday visiting Ludlow Castle. In the end we did something else instead, not because we didn't want to see Ludlow Castle, but because we wanted to do this more. So Ludlow has plenty more to entertain us, next time we can get down that way...
Rather than impose ourselves on K. as house guests, we booked ourselves a bolt-hole,
Despite the cute Welsh name, (it means 'hug' or 'cuddle' and it is indeed quite snug) The Cwtch is not a picturesque little cottage, but the conversion of the ground floor of a house on an estate: we had worked this out, and were quite happy about it, since it put us on the same side of town as K.'s house. The estate spills down the hillside below the imposing twentieth century Byzantine fortress that is Ludlow's Catholic church; the Cwtch is shaped by that same downhill slope, since it allows the creation of a downstairs space with an open view over the garden. The price for this, and for the "private entrance" of which the description boasts, is that you have to negotiate a flight of external steps with no handrail, to reach the door. If I had read the user comments on the site, I would have been warned of this, so it serves me right, but isn't this the sort of accessibility issue that should be pointed out in advance?
Luckily, this was nothing I couldn't handle, and a phone call to the owner produced the key code (which they had e-mailed to me, together with the wifi password, at nine o' clock tha morning - no, I had not checked my e-mail before setting off). Inside, the layout of our cosy home reminded me of the glamping pod where we stayed in Falkirk in a lull between lockdowns - which made me irrationally fond of it, from the start! Time for a cup of tea, and I had packed the tea bags, but where was the teapot? There wasn't one, nor a coffee pot neither, and I used a measuring jug for both. I was amused at what another user described as "a lovely welcome basket":
I had been hoping for bread, and had to send
durham_rambler out to the corner shop - but thankfully, there was also a (small) bottle of milk in the fridge. We searched without success for instructions for the various high-tech devices. durham_rambler wrestled the television into submission, we didn't have occasion to use the hob, the remote switch for the bedside lights was revealed by accident (I wonder what this is... oh! the lights have one out!) but we never did learn what we were supposed to do with our recycling: in the end we brought it home with us.tl:dr; version: A pleasant bolt-hole which could be much improved by attention to some details.
A parting shot - the photo I took of the patio, as we were leaving:
K. joined us on Friday evening, and we ate excellent pizza at the George. A grey and rainy Saturday morning was almost over by the time the two of us were ready to go out again, and perhaps that's why we never really hit our stride as tourists. I'd planned to start my exploration of the town at the market (every day is market day in Ludlow) but we opted instead for the longer-term parking that was less central, and on our way up to Castle Street 9the square where the market happens) we were distracted, more than once. A print gallery here, a charity shop there, lunch - one way and another, by the time we reached the square, the stallholders were packing up, and our parking was about to expire.
durham_rambler left me to explore the wine shop, and went to collect the car. Which is why, although I did photograph some of Ludlow's magnificent half-timbered buildings, the picture I like best is a detail of the war memorial, which just happened to be on the corner where I was waiting, in the rain, to be collected:These unexpected doves of peace are the work of Walenty Pytel, and if you like metal animals, the internet has plenty more.
At this point, we had every intention of spending Sunday visiting Ludlow Castle. In the end we did something else instead, not because we didn't want to see Ludlow Castle, but because we wanted to do this more. So Ludlow has plenty more to entertain us, next time we can get down that way...
