Blue Remembered Hills: the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

The Shropshire Hills are alive with stories, although all too few of these are known to the casual visitor or even to the interested long-term resident. But each year, a lucky few will hear these weird and wonderful tales as they accompany landscape detective Keith Pybus on his walks around this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Now, for the first time, these stories have been committed to print for all to enjoy. Follow in the footsteps of A.E. Housman, Mary Webb, Bruce Chatwin and John Osborne to rediscover this lovely part of England. Meet three local 'Grand Designers' and explore the mansions they built with the fortunes they made. Find out what brought Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, Lucien, to the Ludlow social scene. Read the hair-raising tale of Molly Morgan, twice sentenced to transportation. Ponder over the mysterious case of the wretched maid of Ferney Hall. Ache at the heart-wrenching stories of children banished to the New World on the Mayflower. Stories that will surprise and move you and make you want to find out more about the Shropshire Hills. Of course, explorations are not just into the past. Every year thousands of 'foodies' attend the Ludlow Food Festival, and its markets and restaurants could not exist without the unique and varied produce of local farms, moors and hedgerows. Church Stretton, Shropshire's very own spa town was once promoted as 'Switzerland without wolves and avalanches'. And Rectory Wood was recently voted the least stressful location in England. So join Keith Pybus on an unforgettable adventure through the Shropshire Hills in all their glory. Feel the breeze in your hair, just as you feel the history at your back...