We returned for a second visit this weekend to Cranberry Moss Camping & Caravanning Club Site which is located just off the busy A5 between Oswestry (8 miles) and Shrewsbury (10 miles). It’s a beautifully maintained site with an open layout, and we received a warm welcome from the warden who showed us around the site and allowed us to choose our own pitch. We didn’t use the onsite facilities during our stay but they looked clean and what you’d expect from a club site.
As with our last visit here, our journey involved several hold-ups and general heavy Friday traffic. We reached the site mid-afternoon and pitched up just before some heavy rain arrived. It rained non-stop for the rest of the afternoon so we stuck the kettle on and had a relaxing few hours on Jolly before heading out for a meal in the evening.
We knew from our last visit that there’s a lovely pub a couple of miles away in Nesscliffe, called The Old Three Pigeons. So, after realising the rain wasn’t for stopping, we got togged up and cycled through the downpours into Nesscliffe. We were rewarded with a delicious meal there so it was well worth the effort! By the time we returned to camp the rain had ceased and it was still light so it was quite a pleasant ride back.
Cheers to a good evening at the Old Three Pigeons
There’s a Country Park in Nesscliffe where you’ll find an iron age hill fort, quarries which supplied stone for some of Shropshire’s’ castles and churches, and a cave hewn into the sandstone, which it is claimed was the hideout of a medieval outlaw called Humphrey Kynaston – Shropshire’s answer to Robin Hood. It’s claimed that the Old Three Pigeons is haunted by Humphrey.
A handy Arriva bus service runs past the site entrance and can take you to Shrewsbury (opposite side of road) or Oswestry (just outside site entrance). The warden told us to avoid any bus with an ‘X’ by the number when returning to site as this was an express service which would not pass the site and would leave us a good 2 miles away. On our last visit, we had visited Shrewsbury so this time we jumped on the number 70 bus to explore the market town of Oswestry.
The name ‘Oswestry’, is derived from King Oswald of Northumbria (died in AD641). He was apparently nailed to a tree – hence the name “Oswald’s Tree“. Probably the most famous person to have hailed from Oswestry is the First World War Poet, Wilfred Owen (1893-1918). We visited the tourist information, which is housed in an old school building by St Oswald’s Church, to pick up a map of the Wilfred Owen Trail which takes you through the town and to places of note including his place of birth and early childhood home at ‘Plas Wilmot’.
We had a good walk around the town on the trail and later enjoyed an early evening pizza and prosecco at Prezzo before returning to camp.
Our journey back home the next morning was fortunately without any of the hold-ups we’d experienced on our way down. The sun was shining too which made a difference.
Summer’s marching on. Still plenty of Jolly adventures lined up though 🙂
ONWARD!>>>>
Suzie & Bri
THE JOLLY MAJESTIC 