Wednesday
We arrived late on Wednesday morning to be greeted by Lizzie who helped us unload and gave me a residents' parking pass for the local pay & display car parks. After parking the car and walking back, I found Sonia and Lizzie sat in the lounge with a pot of tea and slices of sponge cake waiting for me. Also waiting for me was Fizz the dog (who has her own page on the Library House website). Lizzie was very helpful, suggesting places to eat and drink, as well as "local's tips" about what to see and where to go.
Once we had unpacked, we headed out for a stroll to get our bearings. Sonia popped in to a local hairdressers (The Picasso's) for a trim while I wandered around near the bridge taking a few photos (for a change). Once Sonia was suitably shawn, we did a bit more wandering before sitting down to enjoy a pastie and can of pop at Eley's Pie Shop, overlooking the bridge. We bought ourselves a couple of Ironbridge Gorge Museum Passports. These gave us an entry into all 10 museums in the group at any point in the next year (so any we didn't get to this time round could be revisited later).
After lunch, we tried to follow the local guide map we had picked up from the helpful tourist information people in the Bridge's Toll House. We eventually ended up high on Lincoln Hill, looking down on the bridge and the gorge.
From here we had to climb down a lot of steps to find our way to Paradise...
Paradise of a sort was found at the Ironbridge Brewery, where we stopped off a refreshing pint straight from the brewer's own pump. After a walk back to The Library House, we rested before heading out to a local pub, The Golden Ball Inn for the evening. The directions we were given meant we headed up the hill via a park. This meant a lot of steps under frameworks that should have been supporting flowers but they were gone for the autumn. All those visits to the gym paid off as we reached the pub without collapsing in a heap. The beer was very good, Ludlow Gold, and the food tasted great. My only complaint was that there were too many chips for me. After the food we settled down in the main bar for a few games of dominoes (who says we don't know how to have fun) over another couple of drinks. After the landlady broke the handle off the beer pump serving me (to much laughter all round), we eventually decided that we would head back to the B&B but decided we would follow the road and street lights rather than try the path through the park in the dark. We made it back in one piece and settled into the large and comfortable bed.
Thursday
Thursday morning started with an attempt at a healthy breakfast (my eggs were poached rather than fried) but overcast skies. We headed out for the day in the car, leaving the gorge to visit Madeley to pick up some cash from an ATM and a copy of the Fortean Times for me. We then tried to visit the ruined Buildwas abbey but it closed on 30th Sept...so we headed down the gorge back through Ironbridge, over the Jackfield Bridge, and headed up the narrow winding road to the Maws Craft Centre. Most untis were closed as it was before 10 am, so we gave up and headed back down the track to the Jackfield Tile Museum. We used our Passports to get in and spent the rest of the morning wandering amongst some beautiful tiles.
On the way out we stopped off in Fusion, a new building in the grounds of the museum that houses Designers and Makers. We came away from Kinki Glass with a couple of samples of works from Nikki Williams.
From Fusion, we headed back over the Jackfield Bridge and headed up to Blists Hill Victorian Town. Again, we used our passports to get in and headed straight to the pub for lunch. As the skies were still overcast, I decided to make of the photos of the Victorian Town in black and white. We did a lot of walking, stopping off at the various shops and workshops. We stopped off for a cup of tea in the Forest Glen Refreshment Pavilion before heading into the woods to find the Hay Inclined Plane (a two track railway that linked a canal at the top of the hill with the River Severn in the valley below. We eventually made it back to the entrance after a ride on a clay mine train into the hill side.
We made it back to middle of Ironbridge late in the afternoon and booked a table at Restaurant Severn, based on Lizzie's previous recommendation. As we headed out for the evening, we met up with two other sets of guests who were staying overnight. Lizzie had poured them each a large glass of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc and invited us to join them. After a bit of polite chat about their experiences of the UK, we left the Aussie visitors to plan their evenings. The maitre d' at the restaurant was surprised to see us arrive on time as "guests from the Library House usually have a drink before they get to us" and arrive a little later than planned. The aperitifs were gorgeous little sausages served with mash dip. We carried on with wine for our meal and I can heartily recommend the restaurant if you are visiting Ironbridge. I had the pork followed by raspberry parfait while Sonia had the beef wellington followed by the belgian chocolate and coffee torte. We eventually headed back to the Library House raving about how wonderful the food had been.
Friday
Friday was a sunny day so we filled up with the cooked breakfasts and headed out in the car to Coalport. Parking at the China Museum, we put on our walking boots and set out for stroll along the banks of the Severn. We crossed over the Memorial Footbridge and found our way onto the Severn Valley Way. A slight detour down to the river bank meant we came across some beautiful flowers on our way to the Coalport Bridge.
From there we walked back along Coalport High Street to the China Museum. Yet again the passports allowed us entry and we wandered around looking at how china was made.
Walking back to the car we stopped off to visit the tar tunnel, a brick-lined tunnel where the bitumen still oozes through the walls.
We finished the morning with a visit to the Museum of Steel Sculpture at the top of Coalbrookdale. This wasn't covered by the passport. From here we headed down the dale to the Museum of Iron where we had a late lunch. I found the museum interesting but didn't take many pictures. We heade across the road to visit Enginuity, an interactive Design & Technology Centre. The good thing about visiting a "hands on" museum like this after 3.30 on a Friday afternoon in October is that there were no kids to get in the way of the adults playing with the water and levers etc. Again, no photos because I was too busy "learning"...
After all that excitement, we headed back into Ironbridge and stopped off at the Brewery to pick up some bottles to take home. When we got back to the centre of the village we ended up driving down to the Jackfield bridge and then back up to the car park on the other side of the Ironbridge itself. This gave us great views of the village lit in the early evening sun as we headed back to the Library House.
Before heading out for the evening, I waited for the sun to go down to take some night shots of the bridge using my gorillapod, the wide angle lens and the cable release.
We took Lizzie's advice about which was the better of the two Indian restaurants in Ironbridge and tried our luck at Pondicherry in the old Police Station. We were shown upstairs to the former courtroom. The food was not your standard meat in a sauce served on a bed of rice. The menu emphasised locally sourced ingredients, and the rice came in a small pyramid on the side of the plate. Sonia really enjoyed her mutton curry and my lamb was cooked to perfection, with a well flavoured sauce to complement it. All this was washed down with a bottle of wine. We were too full for a dessert, although we were tempted. As we staggered back to the Library house, we stopped briefly to look up at the stars in the clear sky.
Saturday
It was difficult to leave on Saturday morning as our stay had been so enjoyable and we still had some museums to visit. A quick stop off in the local newsagents to pick up some biscuits for the folks back in the office, and I walked over the bridge to collect the car. I then had to drive away from Ironbridge to get to the Jackfield Bridge before I could drive back to pick Sonia up outside the Library House. All in all, I really enjoyed our short break. The museums, pubs and restaurants make for a great stay...and we still have some places left to visit on our passports so we might just make it back within the next 12 months.
The finished photos are available on Flickr.com in my Ironbridge break October 09 set
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