Travelling Diary: A day trekking to Carding Mill Valley and Shropshire Hills-Part 1

My friend and her daughter decided to join us to go trekking on Saturday. None of my children can go that day. So we woke up at 6.00 a.m. and the weather was freezing cold. Unfortunately, my friend and her daughter were still asleep. We have to wait about another hour for them to get ready. Around 8.a.m., we are able to start our journey to Shropshire. It take us about 1 hour drive to Church Stretton. When we reached Much Wenlock. We stop at this little town and had a little coffee break.

Amazing, this little town is so beautiful with some ancient buildings surrounding it. We came across the Priory Hall.

Walking into the town and find a cafe for a cup of coffee. Beautiful old buildings are dotted everywhere in this town.

About 100 yards away from the cafe, There is the the sign pointing the direction to Wenlock Priory. Wenlock Priory is a impressive ruins of the 13th Century church which still stand high. From the ruins can see some of the former cluniac monks love of decorations. Unfortunately, the Wenlock Priory is closed. They only open during February and we can't go in and have a good look.

We proceed our journey again to Church Stretton where the Carding Mill Valley situated. On the way to there, the plains and valleys of the Much Wenlock are so gorgeous that we stopped to take some photos of the scenery.

Finally we reached Church Stretton, unable to stop in the town centre to browse due to we were running out of times. From Church Stretton, there is a sign showing the direction to Carding Mill Valley. Follow this direction straight on, we came upon the car park where you can park the car for the whole day at £2.40. We parked our car and had our sandwiches for lunch before we start trekking into the hills and mountains of the Carding Mill Valley.

Church Stretton was nicknamed "Little Switzerland" during the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. Many houses hugged the hillside and the surrounding mountainous landscape with Long Mynd situated the Western side of town. Carding Mill Valley is a town known for textiles. Carding Mill Valley is built in the 18th Century and named in making cloth, such as carding, spinning and weaving. The Carding Mill closed during 20th Century. The mill is still in the valley and has converted into luxury flats. The valley is named "Carding Mill Valley". It's a tourist attraction owned by the National Trust. There is a cafe and a visitors centre at the foot of the valley. Follow the streams, leading to the hills.