Despite growing up in a small village in mid-Wales myself, just 50 miles to the north west, I had never heard of The Black and White Villages trail. (for more information on the trail visit this page). On this cold and blustery April day, Terry, Wendy and I decided to set off in the car and follow part of the 40 mile trail to find out what the fuss was about. We drove to Eardesley for our first taste, and found an archetypally quaint English village, complete with Church, pub and an old stone bridge over a churning river.

Pics of eardesley - telephone box, etc, river over bridge

A few miles on we found ourselves in Pembridge and decided to take up Ian’s suggestion to call on Dawn, one of his childhood friends. Dawn welcomed us in and was very pleased to show us around. The cottage has been in her family for … generations,. A family of cobblers. She no longer lives there, but rents it out as a holiday let. And it was crossover day which is why she was there, getting it ready for the next guests. The cottage is delightful with its authentic … and quirky features such as the tiny doorway connecting the landing to one of the bedrooms.

Pic: Here’s Wendy, ducking down to enter through it.

Pic of Dawn’s cottage, tiny doorway

Thanking Dawn and bidding her farewell, we continued on to Weobley. We parked on the main street and after a cup of tea and a scone in one of the local teashops to warm up, we walked up to the old covered market place. This is where the farmers would gather from miles around to show their wares and sell their sheep under cover from the wild weather…some of which we were sampling today!

PIc of market place and blustery weather

Close by we found the Norman St. Peter and St. Paul church, featuring its steeple on the ground in the churchyard. The history behind that is that the steeple was feared to be too heavy for the supporting girders, so it was constructed at floor level instead. It certainly made it easier to toll the bells on a Sunday, beckoning one and all to the Church service.

Pic of the church and the steeple house

We could have spent the entire day touring the villages of the black and white trail, and certainly an electric bike and a warmer day would have enticed us to do so. However, with the wind howling, we decided to succumb to the call of history and to finish the afternoon with a visit to Stokesay Castle. (link to your page on that). Give a brief History of that. The rental of headphones to get the audio-guided tour is a must, since the wealth of stories that are associated with Stokesey Castle are to be heard to be believed. IT was easy to imagine the elaborate banquets that took place in the main dining hall, observable by the ladies in waiting from the chambers above through from peekaboo windows. As easy to imagine as the clans of marauding welsh warriors teeming over one of the surrounding hills to lay siege to the castle, only to be fired upon with bows and arrows from the battlements on high.

Pics of us at Stokesay, the dining hall, the battlements and surrounding hills.

We spent a couple of hours at Stokesay, and would have spent longer if he hunger pangs were not so strong. Setting off for home, we made the mistake of talking about our favorite comfort foods and so could not resist pulling into a passing pub and hastening to peruse the menu.

The Mortimer Arms pub itself has a rich historical background….. Fill in here ….Terry was entranced by that,

Pic of mortimer arms

My interest was ambushed by the aromas coming from the kitchen and I put my order in pronto.

Pic of baked potato and cheese etc.

The most delicious baked potato topped with cheddar cheese and baked beans.