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Visit Church Stretton and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:
Church Stretton, Shropshire. It is the surrounding hills and the famous golf course, rather than the little town itself, which draw visitors to Church Stretton, 13 miles South of Shrewsbury. This is Mary Webb country: she spent her honeymoon here and the Shepwardine of her novels is Church Stretton.
The bleak, heathery Long Mynd to the West is 10 miles long, from 2 to 4 miles wide, and reaches almost 1,700 ft. Some of it is accessible to cars, but most of it demands that the visitor walks. The views reward the effort. One of the most noted beauty-spots is the Carding Mill valley. Further South are the less well-known valleys of Ashes Hollow and Callow Hollow, each with its stream, and the latter with a small waterfall, too.
The 18-hole golf course, set among some of the Long Mynd hills, contests with Kington, in Herefordshire, the claim to be England's highest. Much of it is around or above 1,200 ft and few courses can offer such views: from the 3rd tee the town itself: from the 11th the steep-sided Carding Mill valley that leads up to Robin Hood's Butts; and on the 14th green, on Bodbury Hill near the site of a clearly marked Iron Age camp, the golfer reaches the highest point of the course. Besides the Bodbury Ring camp, there are many ancient barrows hereabouts and along the whole length of the Long Mynd runs the Portway, a track which must be centuries old. All of this makes good walking across sheep pasture, sometimes with sailplanes from the Midland Gliding Club overhead.
Fine walks are also to be had among the seven hills of the Caradoc range. Caer Caradoc, the highest, rises to 1,500 ft. Some say Caractacus (an earlier form of Caradoc Latinized) fortified this hill and the cave below bears his name.
Church Stretton became a fashionable resort towards the end of the 19th century and much of its architecture, including the half-timbered buildings, dates from then. The Parish Church of St Lawrence is the outstanding exception, a fine building with much of its Norman work remaining. The nave is pure Norman, with the carving peculiar to that period, and the crossing-tower dates from the 12th century. There is a Sheila-na-gig, a fertility figure, over the north doorway and the raftered roof of the nave is believed to be 700 years old.
North and South of the town lie the adjoining villages of All Stretton and Little Stretton. The latter boasts one of the few thatched churches in England, but the black-and-white building, though pretty, is not old, dating from 1903. About 2 miles South West of Church Stretton, still in the lee of the Mynd, is the tiny village of Minton: cottages clustered round a small green, with a manor house beside a large Anglo-Saxon mound.
Nearby towns: Bishop's castle, Bridgnorth, Craven Arms, Much Wenlock, Shrewsbury, Welshpool
Nearby villages: Acton Burnell, Acton Scott, All Stretton, Church Pulverbatch, Clee St. Margaret, Cound, Culmington, Diddlebury, Easthope, Eaton, Edgton, Frodesley, Habberley, Halford, Harton, Hatton, Hope Bowdler, Hopesay, Horderley, Hughley, Kenley, Leebotwood, Linley, Little Stretton, Longville in the Dal, Lydbury North, Marshbrook, Minsterley, More, Munslow, Newington, Picklescott, Pitchford, Plowden, Ratlinghope, Rushbury, Shipton, Sibdon Carwood, Stanton Long, Stoke St. Milborough, Stokesay, Ticklerton, Tugford, Wentnor, Willstone, Wistanstow, Woolstaston
Have you decided to visit Church Stretton or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:
- a Church Stretton bed and breakfast (a Church Stretton B&B or Church Stretton b and b)
- a Church Stretton guesthouse
- a Church Stretton hotel (or motel)
- a Church Stretton self-catering establishment, or
- other Church Stretton accommodation
Accommodation in Church Stretton:
Find availability in a Church Stretton bed and breakfast, also known as B&B or b and b, guesthouse, small hotel, self-catering or other accommodation.