A look around Ludlow

As we headed towards Powys for youngest niece’s wedding we realised we were almost through our nearly three hour journey with no lunch stop. Some hasty googling by MOH in the passenger seat showed that Ludlow looked to be our best option, even better we hadn’t passed it yet and it was just thirty minutes or so to our final destination.

Car park found, ticket bought (for just a £1 - bargain) and we headed to where we thought was the centre of town by following the age old phenomenon of seeing where most of the people were heading and coming from. We weren’t wrong, and found ourselves walking past the fantastically ornate Feathers Hotel along the way.

Originally built in 1619 and converted into a hotel fifty years later it’s been welcoming guests since then. It’s famous for its half-timbered Tuda facade which includes carved wooden motifs of the Prince of Wales’ three feathers emblem, hence its name.

It was listed as a Grade 1 building in 1954 and many of the 17th century features remain, though we didn’t venture inside choosing to admire it only from the outside - and what an outside that was.

With lunch ordered and eaten not too far away we were back on our way to the AirBnB which was our base for the wedding. We had an extra day to gather ourselves after the wedding and so after a leisurely breakfast, a visit from some departing family we made our plans for the day, which turned out to be a return visit to Ludlow.

We weren’t disappointed to see more of the town, though on this visit the weather was decidedly chillier than the balmy two days we’d had previously and so our visit was perhaps shorter than it might have been, but a there was still plenty to see as we wandered its streets admiring the half-timbered buildings.

Our impromptu route took us under that sheltered walkway as it looked as if it would start to rain, so it wasn’t until we crossed the road that we could really admire the building’s grandeur, and those two oriel windows on the first floor.

We also had another unplanned discovery, and that was the local wool shop at the end of the sheltered walkway, now wasn’t that fortuitous (and totally unplanned) - I think I must be able to sniff them out!

After a quick visit to the wool shop and leaving with only a couple of Fat Quarters - both green, and both to add to my green collection for leaves on my Floral Fancy - we headed back towards the Buttercross, a market hall dating from 1746 and as you can see below with a vintage style van parked outside, and now very blue skies.

The van was causing a bit of a stir where it’d parked, as the local busses couldn’t get past - eventually it was moved and we very much enjoyed the eye roll from the bus driver as he could resume his route!

It’s easy to see why Sir John Betjeman described Ludlow as “probably the loveliest town in England” for me I think it’s definitely up there, and one that at some stage we’ll most likely be back to visit again.

My garden in March

This past month there’s been actual gardening, and our garden bin has been full enough to empty twice - isn’t spring great?! Though after cutting the buddleia down the bin also had more than its fair share of ladybirds so while the lid is up while I’m working, I always wedge it open with a small stone so they can crawl out of their own accord when the fancy takes them.

There was a few immediate things for my to do list, including taming the buddleia as I know it’ll need a couple more trims over the summer, and trimming the spike in the bush below. We can see this from the house and it’s the only one that’s peaked above the top of the wall, so it had to go.

BEFORE

AFTER

Ah, that’s better!

It’s been great to see things spring back into life this month, and to see so many insects too. I got lucky photographing this bee in the creamy green hellebores, and I’m glad it was enjoying them even more than me.

It’s also been a month for trying to get on top of the weeds, some of them have been huge.

But thankfully as the ground is still pretty wet they’ve come out easily. Though with weeds being weeds they’ve managed to grow in the awkwardest of places, which includes under the prickly mahonias so I’ve ended up with quite a few scratches getting to them, and getting them out.

A single hyacinth appeared in the side of the large plastic rhubarb pot, which then flowered and fell over - but looked very photogenic all the way through!

The wallflowers too have sprung to life. I’d noticed last month that they’d ‘bushed out’ quite a lot, this month flower heads started to form and gradually opened sharing their yellow, orange and pink flowers - these are such a favourite of mine and it’s good to see the plant doing so well. My plan is to keep some seed once they’ve flowered so I can grow more to use elsewhere in the garden. Last year I scattered some seeds, but I haven’t seen any new plants yet - though I could have ‘weeded’ them in all honesty.

The grass has had its first cut thanks to MOH. He’s also started to clean the patio, which will be a long job. Though after his success with the trial Monty Miracle we’ve bought some more to use on the rest of the patio.

BEFORE

AFTER

The crab apple tree, which was still laden with mostly rotten crab apples and much visited by the local blackbirds, also got a trim. I left some of the rotting fruit as I know the black birds have been feeding on these, but it had grown so much it needed a trim. My plan is to prune this alternate years, so hopefully that will work out fruit-wise too.

It’s already got green shoots on it following its prune, so that’s a relief!

We’ve had all the weather this month, but the wind and the rain was tough for the new olive tree. It started the month still wrapped in its winter bubble wrap, and I knew that it wouldn’t last this day. I wasn’t wrong and once it was off the pot - thanks to the wind - there was nothing else for it, but to go out and remove it entirely. I was concerned that otherwise the bubble wrap would act as a sail and the olive tree would be really up against it.

The acer by the back door has gone from just about showing leaves to unfurling its new growth in about a week and a half, and I’m sure it won’t be too long before it’s in full leaf.

I’ve had less success with my daffodils, managing a whole three flowers in total. I definitely need to show those bulbs some love once they’ve died back and I’ve decided to go more traditional and plant them in the flower beds. I’m probably also going to follow some advice shared in one of our local garden visits, which is to buy a pack of bulbs each time we got to a garden centre and shove them in the ground too. Thankfully we don’t go to a garden centre that often, but you know what I mean.

That way I shouldn’t have such a daffodil free spring next year!

It’s been great to enjoy some sunny days in the garden too, and managing to get our gardening time to coincide with at least a couple of those. And I’m so pleased that the rosemary outside the lounge window has also bulked out over winter, and it’s in flower too which I’m not sure I ever really saw from our previous rosemary bush - maybe it just wasn’t that type of rosemary.

I’ve still plenty to do in the garden, but that’s how life is for the next few months - and it’s going to be great!

Walking East Stoke's lanes: March 2026

With only one walk through the lanes in our village this month I didn’t think I’d have many photos to share, but seems I was wrong. It was a lovely spring morning when we headed out, and well after a long wet winter a spring walk was just what we needed.

And the blossom was very much welcome too.

There’s definitely something about seeing the first blossom starting to bloom and a direct link to feeling more uplifted isn’t there?

This month we headed down School Lane and then into Church Lane, and it was my first glimpse of the long and winding stone wall for quite a while. Even that has its seasons though, and we’ve already got to the flowering nettles stage of the year, but it wasn’t just the nettles that caught my eye. Look at that ivy.

I was fascinated about how it’s pushed the mortar out between the bricks and taken its place. I knew ivy was strong and forceful - and it’s why I won’t be having any ivy in this garden - but this shows just how much, doesn’t it.

I rather optimistically thought the track that leads to the River Trent would be as dry as the pavements around the village, but that was far from the case. And as I’d opted for the wrong shoes I was at first tiptoeing around the puddles, before calling it a day completely.

Lesson learnt, it’s most likely always going to be wetter in this section - dress accordingly, especially footwear!

It’s not often that I’ll stop and take a picture of Cleaver (or Sticky Willy as we used to call it), but I recently learnt that it can be foraged, with the tips tasting similar to pea shoots. I’ve not tried it as I can’t stand it sticking to me, but let me know if you.

On the way back we just had to stop and look at the sheep - no lambs at this point - but their interest was clearly piqued as we walked past, no doubt wondering if we had any food for them! It’s great to see the sheep back in the fields around us, and no doubt it won’t be too long before our village Facebook group is reporting the antics of escaped lambs!

I can’t wait.

Thanks for joining me for this update, if you enjoyed this post you may also like to see all of the posts in this series.