If only we had a Castle!

It's grossly unfair. Ludlow and Stone are both market towns with long pedigrees. Both are about the same size and both have a great sense of community. But I'm jealous - Ludlow has a castle and we haven't!

So that's how butter's made!
(Castle walls in background)

I've been going down to Ludlow for many years to attend their various festivals which are all held within the castle walls. The castle provides a fantastic backdrop and atmosphere to all their events. And the walls are still tall and strong enough to provide a secure site - no metal security fencing there!

We can do events in Stone as well as anywhere but a castle really would add that missing magic ingredient! Oh well, we'll just have to make do with Westbridge Park!

These thoughts were prompted by our visit to the Ludlow Spring Festival on Sunday - another great event where I was able to sample the renowned Butty Bach from Wye Valley Brewery with Dave Hicks in the Real Ale Tent. A great show with over 60 local food producers (many of whom will be at the Stone Food and Drink Festival this year), over 140 real ales and a couple of hundred classic cars looking superb in the warm sunshine.

Of course, the visit was purely a fact finding research trip for the Food and Drink Festival! It's a hard job but someone has to do it!