Category Archives: Travel Words

Ludlow Walks

I haven’t actually been writing much about Ludlow here, even though it’s where I currently live. However, Jude has been doing her bit to plug that particular gap in her travel-oriented blog TRAVEL WORDS. After responding to a challenge by the Daily Post in this piece, she’s developed the theme in some further articles:

And here’s a view of Ludlow I’m rather fond of, combining the castle and St. Laurence’s Church (an imposing building sometimes known as the Cathedral of the Marches and visible for miles around), with Titterstone Clee in the background.

Taken from Whitcliffe Common.

David Harley
Small Blue-Green World
ESET Senior Research Fellow

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An afternoon on the Clun

In ‘In Valleys of Springs and Rivers’, Housman (quoting a local rhyme) tells us that

“Clunton and Clunbury,
Clungunford and Clun,
Are the quietest places
Under the sun.”

(Don’t worry, this isn’t one I’ve put to music!)

In Shropshire at least, it’s not unknown to hear a variant version in which they’re described as “the drunkenest places under the sun.” If Housman had used that version, it would have put a whole new spin on the next verse, describing that part of Shropshire as ‘the country for easy livers’ I suppose.

I can’t answer for the drinking habits of the current inhabitants of those delightful villages, but I can certainly vouch for their being both quiet and picturesque, having been in those parts with Jude a few weeks ago.

Here’s Clun’s Packhorse Bridge, and part of the castle (complete with swifts):

Jude’s take on that afternoon, with more photographs and description, is here: Just Back From… crossing the border.

David Harley
Small Blue-Green World
ESET Senior Research Fellow

An introduction to Ludlow

Travel Words is not actually one of my blogs – I’m not the only writer in the family – and covers a lot more than Shropshire or even the UK. 🙂

The photograph is Old Bell House, just across the Ludford Bridge.

David Harley