Peckish Travels

Onward through the walkabout. The next stop was the very unusual St. Chad’s Church. It’s circular, inspired by the Tour Magne mausoleum in Nimes, France. It was built by George Steurt and opened in 1792. Also, although I’ve never heard of St. Chad, he was apparently a prominent 7th century Anglo-Saxon monk.

Directly across from St. Chad’s Church is Quarry Park, a 29 acre parkland which has been Shrewsbury’s most important site for recreation since the 16th century. The most beautiful part of the park is the hedge-encircled Dingle Garden designed by Percy Thrower. The following are photos from the Dingle Garden.

From the park, we headed towards the Porthill Footbridge over the river.

One big difference between Wrexham and Shrewsbury (besides the country of course) is that it is easy to find useful maps of Shrewsbury to help plan your visit. We used the map today to plan our walkabout to see the local sites.

It was an easy two hour walk as everything is very close, but it means lots of photos over what will be at least two posts. Technical issues with some photos, not currently understood by Bob or me, will determine whether a third post is completed or not.

The first stop was a Tribute to Local Heroes sculpture in a pocket park almost directly across from our hotel.

Next, we were off to see the impressive Castle Gate Library with a statue of Charles Darwin out front. The structure was originally Shrewsbury School, founded by King Edward VI in 1552. Charles Darwin, among many others, was educated here.

We attempted to find Laura’s Tower by the castle but went up the Castle Gate path by mistake. This didn’t get us to the Castle Grounds, but we did get a good view and saw the prison, which hadn’t been on the original plan.

We then walked across the English Bridge (where our boat tour had ended yesterday) to reach the Abbey.

We crossed back over the English Bridge on the other sign and saw this stone marker depicting the former geographical division between local parishes.

Then we headed along the old town walls towards Shrewsbury Cathedral.

The building of the Catholic Cathedral was funded by Bertram Talbot and was opened with a mass on November 29, 1856.

Directly up the road from the Shrewsbury Cathedral is the

First, all good on the car front. Our car has not been towed, and we’re in coordination with the manager of the parking lot as to how to fix the license snafu. Good people exist in the US despite what our current leadership may indicate.

Now on to the vibrant Shrewsbury. We arrived about 11:15 this morning and were able to check into our Premier Inn as Bob had paid for an early check in. We had a bit of a walkabout in the city center and bought tickets for a boat tour at 3:00 pm. The city was hopping. Lots of foot traffic.

Things to know about Shrewsbury. It is a market town in Shropshire, England, sited along the River Severn (the longest River in the UK). It has a population of about 77,000 and is located 9 miles east of the England-Wales border. It is also the birthplace of Charles Darwin.

Some photos of the historic city center.

We also checked out Shrewsbury’s Market Hall with its range of local vendors.

And then we have photos from our boat ride.

Of course, we could not come to Wrexham without visiting the Turf, as it is as close to being in the stadium as we can get, and we feel like we know it from the show. Unfortunately, no sighting of Ryan, Rob, Wayne (the owner of The Turf), or anyone else that we recognized, at least not in person. Still, an enjoyable visit with mostly locals, including a couple of families with children. It must be nicer for the locals to have a relaxing night at the pub when there is not all the game day hoopla or bus loads of tourists.

Now, we’re on our way to Shrewsbury for the next leg of our break between sits. It’s a short, direct 39 minute ride.

Bob and I are having a bit of a lazy day amid a little bit of traveling drama, more on the last bit later. The weather was clear this morning for my run but started raining before we headed out and promises to continue for most of the day. It’s not a bad or blowing rain just steady enough that you seem to get wet even with the rain gear.

As mentioned yesterday, we had to get over to see what we could of the football stadium, given that the season is over so no games nor stadium tours. While our interest in the Wrexham football began with its purchase by the American actors and subsequent documentary, the history of this club is much more impressive than that.

Per their website, Wrexham AFC was founded in 1864, making it Wales’ oldest football club and the third oldest in the world. It was founded by members of the Wrexham Cricket Club at a meeting at the Turf Hotel (a pub of the same name is now next to the stadium) to find a sport to fill the winter months and also in part by a local social club wanting to increase the enrichment opportunities for Wrexham’s young men.

The club has been promoted three times under the current ownership. We have watched the three seasons of “We are Wrexham” and are awaiting access to the fourth.

There is, of course, more to Wrexham than football, so we snapped a photo of St. Mary’s Cathedral on our walk back into the city center.

The Wrexham Museum will be significantly enhanced and a Football Museum for Wales is either being created or being moved here.

I have been needing new running shoes, a regular rain jacket, and a rain jacket for running. We had spotted a store yesterday which looked as if it might carry all three, and it did. We caught some good sales, and I am now completely rekitted.

Finally, for some really unwanted drama. When we started this leg of our travels, we parked our car in the bus lot in my hometown, which we have successfully done before. The only change this time is instead of paying ahead of time for the number of days needed, everything was to be done online.

You enter your license, which they have a photo of from when you entered, and pay for a maximum of 19 days. If you need longer than that, you add money as you go. Bob noted that our payments (2 so far — the initial and the next installment) have been pending but the expiration date has moved out. He was confused by this and upon further inspection noticed that he had entered our license plate with the incorrect last digit. So now we are waiting word as to whether or car has been towed and/or how best to resolve this issue. More to follow when we know more.

Wrexham is a city of about 45,000 in the northeast of Wales. It is the 3rd city in Wales that we’ve visited after Hawarden and Cardiff. Our interest in visiting is mostly due to our following of the documentary on the Wrexham football team after the purchase of the team by the US actors, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The team has improved (moved up a league) over the past few years and the team is now in the Championship League, but more on the football team tomorrow after we see the stadium and visit the next door pub.

Today, we walked around the city center, visited a local National Trust site, and viewed the parish church. First, some photos of the city center, which was not busy due to it being a bank holiday here, as in US but more stores seem closed.

We walked about 45 minutes to Erddig, a large estate, home, and garden, which is a National Trust site. These sites tend to be historical heritage sites or other places of interest or natural beauty which are cared for by the National Trust, a UK conservation charity.

The grounds of Erddig are open to the public daily for no charge. You can pay to see either both the house and gardens or just the gardens. We chose to just go into the gardens, although we ended up seeing the exterior of the house as well as a bit of the 1,200 acre estate.

The following photos are from the gardens that we paid to enter.

Finally, we headed to St. Giles Parish Church back near the city center. There has been a church on the current site since the 11th century, but the current structure dates to the late 15th and early 16th century. The impressive tower, completed in 1525, is a well known landmark. Two other fun facts, Elihu Yale, founder of Yale University is buried in the churchyard. Also, St. Giles’ steeple is one of the 7 wonders of Wales listed in a children’s rhyme, where it’s referred to as Wrexham steeple.

Bob and I farewelled the sweet dog Jojo and her mom upon her return from California yesterday afternoon. It took Jojo a bit to warm up to us and show her real personality, so we were a bit sad it was such a short housesit.

Because of the weather, we Ubered to the train station for a 4:21 train towards Wrexham, Wales. This will be our 4th country on this visit out of country, and it is the first of our “extra” stops to fill in the shorter Plan B housesit after our Scottish one cancelled.

Our train journey entailed a 30 minute leg to Crewe, England, followed by a 40 minute layover, then a 20 minute trip to Chester (remind me to sing my Chester song for you, Bob loves it), then a 30 minute layover, and finally the 15 minute trip to Wrexham.

We don’t have many photos from the journey, but we did nab a couple.

Bob got us reservations for 3 nights at the cute Lemon Tree Inn, which is just outside the city center and an easy 10 minute walk from the train station.

In looking up sites to visit in our current area, I had found Bramall Hall and Park, about a 40 minute walk from the house. The grounds are always open, but the house can only be toured Thursday through Sunday (6.5 pound/person entry). We decided to visit the house today.

We were able to take our usual neighborhood trail, continue onto the bridle trail we walked the other day, and then continue a bit further on the trail to reach the park and house. It was a good day for a walk, as the temps were in the low 60s F, and it may be the last non-rainy day for about a week.

Bramhall Park (for some reason the name of the park has an h but the hall/house does not) is 51 acres and has a range of habitats, including formal parkland, woodland, and open grassland, through all of which runs Lady Brook, flanked by several ponds.

Bramall Hall is described as one of England’s finest timber framed buildings. It was built around 1370 as a single story medieval hall by Alice and John de Davenport, and by the 1600s it had become one of the largest homes in the area. It remained in the family for over 500 years. In 1883, Charles and Mary Nevill moved into the house when it was given to them as a wedding present by Charles’ father, the wealthy owner of Strines Print Works in nearby Stockport.

Happily for the good of the house, the roof is being refurbished. Unhappily for us, we didn’t get the best outside view of the house.

Our current housesit is officially in Cheadle Hulme, which is a suburb of the large village of Cheadle in the metropolitan bureau of Stockport in Greater Manchester. In 2016, we did a housesit in the Levenshulme area of Manchester, one of the few we have done without a pet, as the bird had died a week or so before we arrived. Our current housesit is a little over 5 miles south of the prior sit.

Yesterday and today we have done some exploring of both Cheadle Hulme and the High Street of Cheadle, each are about a 25 minute walk from the house. When going to Cheadle Hulme, we can take the nearby walking path all the way to a busy street, which we can then cross to pick up another trail that takes us to the Cheadle Hulme train station. There is no train stop in Cheadle at this time.

That is the route we took yesterday to start our short walkabout in the business district of Cheadle Hulme.

While we didn’t take a photo of it, our favorite find in Cheadle Hulme might be the Waitrose grocery store, where we picked up supplies for last night’s dinner.

Closer to home (about a 10 minute walk and near a Lidl grocery store), Bob and I stopped at the restaurant below for a pre-dinner wine. The bar area was cute, and Bob enjoyed watching the diners partake of the carvery station, with 3 different meat options and then lots of veggies. The full option was only 13 pounds, so I’m not sure how good any of it was.

Today, we headed in the other direction to explore the Cheadle High Street. I’ll be back there tomorrow for a much needed hair color and cut at a salon recommended by our home owner. Cheadle seemed to be hopping and has lots of dining options, charity shops, and hair salons and barbers, and one Scotch Bob.

Reading about this beloved local reminded us of our recent stay in Thornhill, Scotland. James Telford came to Cheadle from Dumfriesshire Scotland (where Thornhill is located) in 1871. He drove the red horse-drawn buses of the Manchester Carriage Company for 35 years, often reciting from the works of Robert Burns while he drove! In 1908, he set a British record for driving over 60,000 miles on the route between Manchester and Cheadle! A well-earned statue and happily nothing to do with war!

Friday was a travel day with Bob and I as we left our lovely Scotland hosts to drive back (north) to the Edinburgh airport to return our rental car and then catch a tram to the Haymarket station in Edinburgh to travel 3 hours south to Manchester, England, and then change trains for a short 20 minute ride to Cheadle Hulme.

We originally bought tickets into Edinburgh (rather than Glasgow) as we were to be doing a housesit just northwest of Edinburgh after our visit in Thornhill. As previously reported, that sit was cancelled and we were able to find this sit in Cheadle Hulme. Anyway, Friday was a long day with us getting up about 5:30 and getting to our Cheadle Hulme housesit about 3:45 (an hour later than anticipated as the train to Manchester was delayed). The trip was made a bit easier by some helpful advice from our friends in Thornhill after attempts to drop the car off in Carlisle in Northern England rather than Edinburgh were unsuccessful.

Upon arrival at the housesit, we had a great meet-up with our homeowner, who is now in California for work, including a thorough run through of care needs for Jojo (dog) and home, a couple of walks with Jojo to introduce us to the great paths near the house, and some great homemade pastries and dinner. We have definitely been spoiled food-wise on this trip.

Jojo (short for Jodi) is a very calm dog that was rescued by the family 14 years ago when they were living in the Netherlands. She is a breeze to walk, as she’s very non-reactive to other dogs, of which there are always some out on the trail with us.

Usually we have turned around on our walks once we hit a main road, but today we crossed to walk a bit on a bridle way that goes under the railroad and into some fields.