Jubilee Fun!

 

Last week was packed full of fun when Mike and me took ourselves off on a mini road trip. 

Our first stop was to Powis Castle in Welshpool. Owned by the National Trust, you can meander through the castle and grounds at your own leisure. Having visited a fair few NT properties recently (since taking out a membership), and being disappointed by the houses not being open, we were pleasantly surprised by what was on offer and kept ourselves amused for a good hour or two. 

From here we stopped for lunch at The Raven Inn (also in Welshpool), which I can thoroughly recommend. We chowed down on homemade nachos and chips, and it was pure filth!

After refueling our tumtums, we set off North for Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall in Oswestry, which is the tallest single-drop waterfall in Britain. An impressive sight from the bottom, we duly set off up the hillside to the top of the waterfall. Faced with two paths, Mike of course chose the most direct and stupidly steep option and I think my spleen ruptured on the way up (needless to say I grumbled the whole way). It was definitely worth the effort, although Mike is terrified of heights so enjoyed it slightly less than I did. Side note - it's a good place to do away with someone you don't like and claim they 'tripped and fell' to their death. 

From the waterfalls we made our way to Hawkstone Park Hotel, our accommodation for the evening. Mike had booked us into a suite, which was bigger than most flats in Londinium. We wasted no time in cracking open the fizzy pop and headed straight for our private balcony to smoke fags, while watching the golfists on the pitch below us. 

The food at the hotel was fairly unremarkable, and the breakfast was an utter shambles, however the room more than made up for it and we would definitely stay there again.

The next morning we drove a short distance down to Hawkstone Park Follies and were delighted to find we had the whole place all to ourselves. Being a Tuesday, and with the threat of rain looming overhead, I think a lot of people had decided to stay away. Apart from the occasional shower (during which there was plenty of shelter available), we had glorious weather and frolicked around the park at our own blissful pace. A great place for kids, there are caves, follies, bridges and towers to explore - but there is a lot of walking involved. By the time we returned to the car we'd walked 4.2 miles. Despite Mike being afeared of heights, he still wanted to climb the 100ft monument.

We set off from the follies to Attingham Park in Shrewsbury, another National Trust property. We were again pleased to find the house was open, albeit only the ground floor and cellars. We did, however, encounter a massive rain storm while we were there so our adventure got rained off and we returned to the car slightly soggy. 

We made our way to our second hotel on our journey, The Hopton Crown at Cleobury Mortimer, where I had booked us into the best room in the house. Sadly, it was nowhere near as impressive as our previous night's accommodation, and we again had a shambolic breakfast, so we won't be returning there for another stay. We did, however, have a lovely dinner at The Spice Empire, which unfortunately my tumtum didn't take kindly to (because of the spice, not food poisoning I hasten to add) and Mike had to endure the vile stench of death from my arse for the rest of the night. I think he thought something evil had taken possession of me. 

And so came the end of our two day mini-break. We managed to cram a lot into our short trip and it's hard to pick a highlight. I would recommend visiting the waterfalls, although brace yourselves for an extortionate £5 charge for parking in the ramshackle car park. And the follies are great fun (with or without kids).

Check out Instagram to see more photos of my adventures