Babley Babble: From coast to canal and iron-a-plenty – the first few days in England still…

Leaving slightly later than we anticipated (yes we may have had to go home to retrieve some ‘overlooked’ bits and bobs) we headed off towards Worcestershire and our first overnight stop. Because the British Ironworks sculpture park, on our itinerary of places to visit this trip, is closed on Sundays and Mondays, leaving on a Sunday meant we were able to take a leisurely drive on day one…

Except, it wasn’t really that leisurely, as it’s mainly motorway and some of it along ‘smart’ sections with no hard shoulder with what we now know to be reliant on safety and monitoring systems that have more down time than you could shake a stick at. This meant that we were ever vigilant about quick escape routes should we break down, leaving just enough time to don our fluo safety vests as we run for cover. Luckily, Mr B’s propensity to plan for all eventualities, including imminent disaster, wasn’t put into action, and we arrived at our first stop after only four hours.

You might just spot the roofline behind Evie in the first photo – a bit of a giveaway that we might not be that far from civilisation…

Indeed, in the next photo, some of you may recognise the building behind Mrs B… Yup – ever faithful to roughing it on our travels we treated ourselves to a night at one of our favourite hotels in England – Corse Lawn, just north of Gloucester, where earlier this year in January we had enjoyed a couple of nights as part of a mini adventure along (and across) the Welsh borders after we became Civil Partners!

After yet another fabulous dinner and a restful night, we set off in the rain to get close to the sculpture park the next day. Mrs B had spotted a possible place on the Park4Night App just outside Oswestry and with plenty of time, we decided we’d just drive and see what might take our fancy en route. About halfway there, and just near Leominster, Mrs B spotted a National Trust sign for Croft Castle, and so, ready for a walk, we turned off and went exploring.

Home of the Croft family for almost 1000 years (on and off) the building that you can wander around is more a confection of 19^th and 20^th Century modifications than much to do with the 1000 year legacy. However, whilst the family tree diagrams (interestingly called pedigrees) showed the usual story of landed gentry benefitting from the gifts of one or another conquering monarch or baron, this family did at least have a 170 year gap where they were so down on their uppers that they had to sell, and then buy back after a period of intensive whip-rounds, before the inevitable inheritance tax swerve and the ‘gift to the nation’ and the NT! Still, at least it means us plebs have a chance to look, ‘admire’ and in our case, make use of the 1500 acres of parkland.

The weather may have been a bit dull, but the walk around the ‘ghost trees’ art trail was well worth it and an inspiration of both the majesty of nature, even in death, as well as the imagination of the artists who had been commissioned to describe and write about each of the trees.

As is often the case, the photos don’t do justice to the incredible sense of awe when up close and personal with these dead or dying specimens. Some of the Chestnut trees had died from infection by phytophthora, or 'ink disease'...

All impressive in their own way, Mr B’s most liked was the ‘grounded’ ancient oak of some 500 years vintage, under which Sir William Croft is rumoured to have died after being fatally wounded after the nearby battle of Stokesay, having been shot whilst hiding in the tree, almost home. Mr B’s reason for it being his favourite though, was the incredible amount of wild garlic that was growing on and around it. A fan of foraging it when on his mountain bike rides, he was chastened that he hadn’t packed his forage bag!

Mrs B’s favourite was this ancient oak with its incredible tactile trunk.

After leaving the castle grounds just as the rain reached us, it was a short hop up the A49 to Oswestry to check out the spot we had found on Park4Night. Arriving at the parking area with a good few hours to pass before dark, we found it, sandwiched between a fuel station and a Travelodge and although it felt safe enough, it was all a bit bleak, so we decided to head a little bit south and explore around the Montgomery canal to seek out somewhere a little more picturesque. Mr B had tried to book at a little site right by the canal (Canal Central), but we’d not heard back from the owners, not were they answering the phone…

Having seen on Google Maps satellite view that there may be somewhere close by the campsite that we could do a sneaky overnighter, we ended up in the car park for the adjacent tea-rooms, and with no sign of life from there, or from the campsite, which had something of an abandoned air, we settled in for a free and wonderfully peaceful night after a little canal-side stroll to nearby Maesbury, admiring the narrowboats and the mix of those passing through, and the more permanent live-aboards.

The night turned out to be one of the quietest, and darkest spots we had stopped in for a good while, and after enough sleep for a small child, we set off the next morning for the nearby British Ironworks sculpture park – not really sure what awaited us but pleased to see the sun starting to peek out from behind some light clouds – hurrah!

Mrs B had read an article about the sculpture park a while back and added it to our list of ‘if we are in the area’ places to visit. And how glad were we that she had!

Set in the expansive grounds of Whitehall farm near Oswestry, (owned by the current Chair of the British Ironwork Centre, Clive Knowles, an entrepreneur with decades of experience in the metalworking business), the Ironbridge Sculpture Park joined forces with him to create the British Ironwork Centre and its amazing sculpture park, with pieces from across the world.

The Centre has an obvious social conscience and the pieces on view range across national issues such as gun and knife crime, and international ones such as war and endangered animal species. Plus, there is a very enjoyable and eclectic range of characters from history, mythology, comic books and films. Missing only the iconic ‘Knife Angel’ made of 100,000 knives from weapons handed in to 200 knife banks and those seized by police (on tour since 2018 and currently in Taunton) the sculpture park amazed, inspired and educated us as we spent a good few hours wandering about the site. The theme of ironwork art was even continued into the café and toilets!

The photos below capture the range of pieces on display – and we will definitely be back to explore further!

National issues such as gun culture...