Shropshire Hills Archives

Farmer Phil’s Festival 2019

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Merinda Essex

Farmer Phil’s Festival is over the weekend 9th and 11th August 2019. In the heart of the Shropshire Hills at Ratlinghope.

If you love music there will be something for you at Farmer Phil’s Festival. Whether it be folk, blues, dance or rock, there will be something to get your foot tapping.

Lindesfarne, Slim Chance and 3Daft Monkeys are among fifty artists confirmed for this year’s event.

This family run festival is in its 21st year. They want to maintain a family atmosphere and keep it small, welcoming around 2000 music lovers each year.

There is children’s entertainment meaning you relax while someone else keeps them busy and tires them out, bliss.

There are two stages, one of which rotates cutting down on set up times between acts. There are three bars, food stalls selling food for all tastes.

There is an on site shop run by Wentnor Stores, which is apparently very good.

Farmer Phil’s Festival is set on a farm over looking a fishing lake and woodland. Sounds lovely.

If you would like to camp for the week camping is available from August 5th until August 12th with a weekend festival ticket. Toilets and showers are available during this time.

Fires and barbeques are allowed but must be off the ground.

Weekend tickets are from £90 per adult.

Day tickets are £55.

Parking is £10 for the week or £5 for the weekend.

Farmer Phil’s Music Festival Singer

The images in this blog post are used with kind permission of the festival organisers and were taken by Chris Rollason.

Ramble, Scramble, or Amble 2019

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Merinda Essex

Ramble, Scramble, Amble is on Saturday 11th May 2019 starting from Bishops Castle with all proceeds going to Bloodwise.

With the start in Bishops Castle the Ramble Scramble Amble takes the walkers through some beautiful South Shropshire countryside.

View From Bury Ditches Hill Fort

The Ramble is a 22.5 mile circular walk.

The Scramble is 13 miles and the Amble is 9.5 miles.

The Ramble, Scramble, Amble entry fee is £19 until April 1st when it will be £20. It includes instructions, refreshments, lunch (hot and vegetarian), transport as needed and a certificate. Closing date is 6th May.

The Ramble and Scramble start in Bishops Castle, lunch is provided in Clun where the Amblers are transported to to start their walk, with everyone finishing back in Bishops Castle.

The Scramble and Amble follow a shortened route of the Ramble. Some of the paths used are not usually open to the public.

The Ramble Scramble Amble take in Bury Ditches, The Walcott Estate, part of the Shropshire Way and some stunning views of the Shropshire Hills.

The routes are well signed and there are helpful marshalls and the route instructions are clear.

Bloodwise supports people with leukaemia, which is the fifth most common cancer in the UK. It also helps providing ground breaking research into leukaemia.

The photograph used in this post shows the view from Bury Ditches Hill Fort, South Shropshire. This image is taken from Wikimedia Commons and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Stokesay Castle Tea Rooms

Posted on October 2, 2017 by Merinda Essex

Stokesay Castle is one of the best-preserved fortified medieval manor houses in England. English Heritage who have restored Stokesay Castle, and who manage the property, have recently completed the conversion of nearby Stokesay Cottage – which stands beside the public entrance to the castle grounds – into a tea-room – the Stokesay Castle Tea Rooms.

Stokesay Castle Tea Rooms Tables

An outside seating area is just visible in the photograph above – and offers visitors picturesque views across rolling fields to Long Mynd and the Shropshire Hills.

As well as the outdoor spaces the Tea Rooms feature a log burner to provide winter warmth for the anticipated visits from walkers and cyclists. The menu relies on locally-sourced ingredients and fresh foods including local specialities like Shropshire Fidget Pie, Shrewsbury Biscuits and Shropshire Blue. The focus on local food includes rosewater distilled from the roses in the castle courtyard used in the lavendar shortbread.

Serving Counter in Stokesay Castle Tea Rooms

Farmer Phil’s Festival

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Merinda Essex

Farmer Phil’s is an established Music Festival which is in it’s nineteenth year.

The Festival starts on the 11th August and finishes on the 13th August 2017. If you would like, you can camp from the 7th August until the 14th August 2017 at no extra cost. Giving you an opportunity to explore the beautiful Shropshire Hills.

Tickets include camping and at £80 per person are great value.

Farmer Phils Festival Flyer

There are over fifty bands to enjoy, with music from lots of different genres including the Quire Boys and Dr and the Medics.

There is plenty to keep the children busy with arts and crafts, farm animals and children entertainments.

Farmer Phils Music Festival Audience

Best of all for me, when camping, is clean toilets and hot showers.

There are three bars from which to purchase your drinks and there will be gluten free beer available and plenty of food vendors.

Farmer Phil’s will be supporting and raising money for local causes. The Shrewsbury Ark and Telford Crisis Support have benefited in the last year.

Parking is charged at £10 and £5.

Farmer Phil’s Music Festival Singer

The images in this blog post are used with kind permission of the festival organisers and were taken by Chris Rollason.

Hill Bagging

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Merinda Essex

Long Mynd

I knew about Munro bagging but had not realised there was other classifications for hills and mountains.

A Munro is a mountain over 3,000 feet. If haven’t you heard of Munro bagging, it is where some people who like climbing, climb all the mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet? Their aim being to climb all the Munros.

I was looking up some information on Titterstone Clee and Brown Clee and kept wondering what the little bit saying Marilyn meant. When I looked it up I found this whole world of other classification for hills and mountains.

I am not going to explain them all here but there are names like Wainwrights, Donalds and Tumps. Tumps in Shropshire are burial mounds, and probably in other parts of the country as well.

These classifications are said to give climbers something to aim for, others say it devalues climbing.

However you feel towards these classifications it is still interesting subject.

In future look for the hill classifications in blogs about Shropshire Hills.

The image above is a view of Church Stretton and Long Mynd taken near the summit of Caer Caradoc, Shropshire by Copsewood from Wikimedia Commons and used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.