Moving into summer at Hope Bagot

As we have all seen on the News, lockdown has been eased a little this week and we have taken advantage of this by taking a walk up the Titterstone Clee Hill to admire the view.  The path passes close to the Civil Aviation Radar Station, with the “golf ball” domes that are such a local landmark. 

From the top you can see for many miles in almost all directions, only blocked to the north by the slightly higher Brown Clee Hill (highest in Shropshire).

This doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty to see and do close at home, though.  Our Whitsuntide Boss, or Snowball Tree as it is also known, has been a magnificent sight this year, grown to a great height and absolutely covered in blossoms.  We have also seen something rare – a whole family of stoats.  We do occasionally see a single stoat darting around the garden, but have never seen a family with youngsters out and about before.  Sadly, you will have to take our word for the stoats – while the Whitsuntide Boss is happy to keep still and pose for pictures, stoats move like greased lightening and you would have to be faster on the trigger than Billy the Kid to shoot a picture of them!