Whistle stop trip

It's been a hectic few days away. I think I must be about two inches shorter as I have walked myself into the ground around parts of Shropshire and parted with my savings in a few too many galleries and bookshops than is healthy for a girl. I have also eaten too many cakes in stops along the way. If you read my musings on any sort of regular basis then you will know that I have been fascinated by the work of textile artist Mandy Pattullo this year and the story of maidens garlands - funerary tributes to virginal spinsters who died in the same parish they were born and brought up in. I remembered that one of the churches where these are hung is in a village called Minsterley so we headed there for a look. I was more taken with the skull and crossbones imagery above the doorway and the usual poignant pull of the headstones. One of the saddest marked the grave of a young 21 year old soldier who was gassed in action at Ypres and died of his injuries in January 1919.At least he is acknowledged. I could not find the names of the girls to whom the garlands were dedicated. They hang very high in the roof of the church interior and it is hard to see them so one has been brought down and encased in perspex for closer inspection.

Minsterley lies close to some beautiful scenery, near the Long Mynd and the Stiperstones which Shropshire are well known for. We went to a place called The Bog, an abandoned mining village where the local school, the only property left standing, is now a visitor centre. We had a fascinating time in there and there was more tea and cake but not until we'd walked miles in a howling gale. It was a very blustery day and I looked like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards - not an attractive look - but it felt great to be alive, even though my legs ached! It was very obvious that schools have gone back as we were in the minority on the hills. We walked for about three hours and never saw another soul.

I got my shopping fix in Much Wenlock on Monday and Bishops Castle on Tuesday, both great little towns with unusual galleries and shops.... and tea rooms. I did not want to 'do' Ludlow shopping as well so we waited until Tuesday evening and then went into town when hardly anyone was around and the tempting shops were closed! I have been before and it is an architectural highlight if you love half timbered building and carvings on the fascias of them. This is the Feathers Hotel, adorned with carvings of strange characters. Ludlow is full of places like this and it is having it's annual food festival this weekend. This has become a major national event for foodies so the place will be heaving. I hope a good time will be had by all.

So, Wednesday was the day we planned to come home via a circuitous route which took in that visit to Compton Verney. In contrast to everywhere else we'd been this week, this was packed with visitors. We were jostling for space with coach parties. At one point someone told me to 'keep up' and then realised I wasn't in their party! They apologised and I laughed about it.... and then realised they were touring with a group of septagenarians...

The setting of the house is in landscaped grounds, quite fitting then that one of the current exhibitions is about the life and times of Capability Brown. The other main event is an exhibition of the garden paintings of Sir Stanley Spencer, someone who I have a liking for, although I found these wonderfully executed paintings too precise and too 'green' for my taste. Perhaps it was because the galleries were overflowing with visitors. I am never great with crowds, preferring to look and ponder at my own pace rather than someone else's.

What I had really come to see were the folk art galleries and the Enid Marx/Margaret Lambert collections. These did not disappoint. I could have taken so many things home with me if I had been allowed to do so. There were wonderful wooden models and signs, little dioramas and naive paintings. The best treat of all was the sight of seeing an Alfred Wallis original, painted on an old tin tray. Naive yes, but masterful at the same time.

To accompany the folk art display this year Compton Verney put out a request to the public to send in items that they considered to be contemporary folk art. There are some quirky and adorable submissions like the amateur, yet completely recognisable, painting of Bob Dylan picked up in a car boot sale and a storm at sea depicted in a matchbox. Best thing for me was a display in the small cafe. Running the length of the perimeter at eye level are framed drawings made by factory worker Albert Barnett in the 1970's. He drew every single day on the back of envelopes, on order pads, on receipts etc. He drew in ballpoint and the subjects were whatever he saw around him or intrigued him from the daily paper like the obituaries. Once completed, at the end of the working day he gave them to a fellow worker to take home for his wife. Some of them are clearly addressed to her. There must have been about 70 of them on display and this request has brought them to light from the family he gave them to. Some of them show his grasp of the written language was not perfect but that just makes them all the more special.Besides, his grasp of the visual language was spot on. It was worth the entrance fee for these alone.

We're heading off again next week to Devon for a few days but I foolishly booked a weekend workshop which starts tomorrow so we've had to break our holiday up into two parts. The workshop is organised by Abersytwyth University and it is learning how to take outdoor pictures with a digital camera. I have never fully understood what all the buttons are for on a camera so I am hoping for great things.... but with my grasp of technology I won't be holding my breath!