Ludlow...before a town awakes

8.30am on a pleasant summer Sunday morning and circumstances had found us on the outskirts of Ludlow, a picturesque market town in South Shropshire close to the Welsh border. We had visited the town many years ago and had recollections of the beautiful old buildings so we decided to take a break and have a stroll round the town centre.

The town is set at the top of a hill high above the River Teme and as you climb up to the town centre itself, you are greeted by the most marvellous buildings. The historical Black and White decorative timber facades just ooze with character. Ludlow reportably has over 500 listed buildings within its boundaries and as you look around the architecture is breathtaking. The most eye catching place on the main thoroughfare is the fabulous hotel called "The Feathers" which dates back to 17th Century when it was originally an old Coaching Inn. One can’t do anything other than stand back and admire the frontage, particularly with the attention to detail on the decorative engravings carved into the wooden facade. A peak through the window showed the character of the building continues inside with the low beamed ceilings and open fire place creating an atmospheric scene.

Across the street there were other examples although some now housed shops with the more modern glass frontages which obviously has detracted some of the splendour of the architecture. However, there are still a large amount of unspoilt examples such as "Ye Old Bull Ring Tavern", a fine old hostelry just round the corner from The Feathers Hotel. Just staring at the magnificent building sets your imagination racing of some of the tales and stories that must have been witnessed there over the years.

 

Wandering off one of the many side streets the area seemed deserted and there was a eerie silence to the streets despite the ringing of the church bells close by. Although the majority of the shops were shut, they were unusual and interesting enough to spend time window shopping at the many varied items being sold. Many catered for a specialist clientele such as arts and crafts whilst refreshingly, most being exclusive, locally owned, independent retailers and not the multi-national chains that British towns always seem so full of. This was extremely evident in the number of family named Bakers, Butchers and delicatessens all promoting locally sourced products. Although saying this, we did come across a Costa Coffee which was open and in order to help us recover from our early car journey, we entered to obtain a sufficient caffeine burst to see us through the rest of our excursion. Inside we found an abundance of people, relaxing with their Lattes whilst reading the Sunday newspapers, obviously the place to be on an early Sunday morning in Ludlow.

With our renewed energy levels we walked on towards the Market Square and found an Antiques Market taking place, quite different to the normal Farmers Markets that Ludlow regularly holds. It was wonderful, like a car boot sale for the wealthy, none of your old VHS videotapes for sale here, it was top quality items only. We spent an age just wandering round from stall to stall looking at the most varied selection of goods from statues to vases, to ceremonial weapons. It was like visiting a museum where you could actually purchase the exhibits with such an array of the old and unusual all in excellent condition despite their age. Ear wigging in on the conversation between stallholders and their potential buyers was fascinating, like a living history lesson with both parties reminiscing about the past, conversation such as “i'm not sure what it is but my grandmother used to have one of those". I found the books stalls particularly enthralling with all manners of strange, obscure and weird titles, their leather bound covers making it look like they have been took straight off the shelves of the National Library, certainly no signs here of any dog eared copies of “Fifty Shades of Grey” being sold for 50p.

   

Just across from the square was the gates to Ludlow Castle , although not open at this time of the morning, it was impressive and the ruins looked majestic in the bright morning sunshine. The Castle is around 900 years old and again features fine architecture from the Norman, Medieval and Tudor periods. The Castle grounds together with the Castle Square are also used regularly throughout the year to host various events and festivals such as Shakespeare Plays, Food events and Family Fun days amongst others.  

As we walked back through the town as the clock struck 11am it was if someone had flicked a switch as the town suddenly burst into life at an instant. Shop doors were opened, the small streets around the centre began to get clogged up with lines of cars and a stream of people were appearing from the Car Park areas to the focus points of the town. A total transformation from the peace and quiet we had encountered when we first arrived early on the morning, but evidence that Ludlow is a popular place to visit and understandably so.  

Visiting Ludlow is a history lesson in itself and one can see exactly why Sir John Betjeman described it as "the loveliest town in England".