Display is this week’s theme from Ann-Christine at Lens-Artists, so I thought I’d show you a few more views of Bishop’s Castle. It seems like a town that wants to party, or it might do, if it could stop feeling so sleepy. But then somnalent or not, it puts on a bright face.
And yes, the Six Bells inn truly is that vibrant shade of coral. It’s the first building you see as you enter the town.
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There’s also a welcoming sign on the wall to any passing elephant who might fancy a pint of this hostelry’s best brew:
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Across the street the houses cut quite a dash, colour-wise. This pair comes joined at the zip, so to speak:
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And then next door is a bit of a puzzle:
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Back up the hill into town there’s another coral-fronted tavern…
And three doors up, opposite the Town Hall, is Bishop’s Castle’s very own Poetry Pharmacy, an independent bookshop emporium wherein a carefully curated selection of poetry and fine prose works are on sale to heal whatever ails. It has a cafe too, and a physic garden with a writing cabin that may be reserved at no cost. The poetry pharmacist also offers personal consultations, with suitable verses prescribed. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about this nourishing alternative health service.
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And one last image: this from a cottage at the bottom of our street. I’ve posted it before, but it gives me a lift whenever I pass it. Up, up and away…
Lens-Artists: On display Please go and view Ann-Christine’s lovely images for this challenge. They’re a real treat.
This seems a very lively and cheerful, slightly off-beat community. I have the impression from you, and from friends who moved there a few years ago that Shropshire is the place to be.
There’s much to be said for it, Margaret. And off-beat definitely sums things up in BC 🙂
Tish, your displays made me smile – I would love walking there! The colourful houses displayed with humor and I fully understand your joy of up, up and away. The poetry pharmacy seems to have found a glorious medicine – worth trying!
Thanks, A-C. And yes the poetry pharmacy – lots and lots of healing words in there.
I wish we had one here as well.
Such a sense of fun in your new home, Tish! Love the ellie with the pint, and what a wonderful cure for sluggish blood. I don’t think it’ll be short of customers.
It’s such a cheery enterprise – fun but heartfelt too. As for sluggish blood, not a condition you’re likely to encounter, Jo 🙂
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Lively and cheerful it is!
Absolutely, Sue.
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Love this. In our pathetic town there was mumblings from council jobsworths when some one painted a mural celebrating a town born member of the Euro winning Lionesses football team on the gable of a modern cafe in a so-called conservation area!
Some people are such killjoys aren’t they. You can’t have too many opportunities to celebrate, and especially in shared spaces.
What a bright and cheerful town! We have to wait for fall colors because otherwise, it’s all brick, stone and sometimes, white painted cedar. It’s probably why Christmas lights on the common are so popular. For a month, we have actual color! Of course right now, very colorful and I hope it stays a long time.
You have picked an exceptionally pretty town. It reminds me of a lot of little towns in Ireland that were brightly painted.
I think/hope we’ve made a good choice. The only downside is the town’s a bit isolated and public transport thin on the ground (though there are now-and-then buses), should one need it.
My goodness. This is a very creative town you have landed in. Should be a happy place.
Tish, I love your new town. It has humor, color, peacefulness and joy. I love the zip up houses.
I think you summed it up beautifully, Anne.
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Great selections. A good pub should be the first thing when one enters a town! ‘Bit of a puzzle.’ I didn’t get it until I zoomed. Ha! Love the balloons window. Excellent.
Thanks, John. I agree about a good pub well placed. Nothing like starting off with a welcome-inn. We also have one at the top of the town and several in the middle. Apparently there were around 40 taverns at one time, which may have something to do with the fact BC was a key destination on the stock drovers paths out of Wales.
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must be a lively and cheerful town. love the bright colors, they’re fun! 🙂
Thanks, Lola. It’s certainly fun getting to know the place 🙂
Thanks for sharing
Nice story.Nice little town.
It is a nice little town, Pete. Thanks.
A small town with a big sense of humour and community. Thank you for the smiles this morning, Tish.
Happy to give you a smile this morning, Sofia.
What a fabulous village you live in . Always a quirky home to spark your imagination . The nearest talking point in my road was when my opposite neighbour painted their front porch bright turquoise!
Hello, Cora. Lovely to hear from you. And yes, lots to stir the imagination here. I’m thinking though that a bright turquoise porch might be a bit challenging to the eye.
Totally out of place! !
I love the quirkiness of some of these – the zip, the puzzle piece, the beer drinking elephant 😀 And such colourful buildings!
Lots of arty folks doing stuff 🙂
Absolutely wonderful!
Thanks, Jennie.
You’ve brought back happy memories, although I don’t remember the village being quite as colourful as this. My sweetheart and I once drove round looking for the castle.
Your pursuit of the castle made me smile, Susan. We went looking for it ourselves yesterday. All that remains is a rather nice garden area, beside the Castle Hotel grounds. It seems the keep was flattened in the 17th century, and otherwise recycled, including some used as hard core to create a bowling green at the top of the town – and that is still there – one of the oldest in the country. And yes, I think the colourful house frontages are a fairly recent addition.
I was enjoying your post very much Tish and then BANG, that last image was such a marvelous surprise! Terrific
It’s such fun, isn’t it. Thanks, Tina.
Such a beautiful place, You are lucky to live there. And that last image is so beautiful. Thank you.
Many thanks, Lakshmi. We are very lucky 🙂
This is so enticing; so much more enjoyable and interesting than all buildings being the same colour as in the past. Fun!
On another note – do you check your spam folder? Are you getting regular spam as usual? I’ve had my blog with WP for 11 years and have gotten spam comments every day. I always skim through them because occasionally I find a legit comment there. Now suddenly for about 3 weeks I’ve had NO spam comments. I’m checking with you (and a few others) to see if it’s the same for everyone. The Akismet people have not so far been able to help. Thanks so much.
Alison
Hi, Alison. I did reply to you yesterday but it didn’t come up as a ‘reply’ but is anyway on my post. However, following on from that, I’ve just looked again at the Akismet link from my admin. page and it seems they’ve decided to deal with the spam themselves unless you check the second of the following options:
1. Silently discard the worst and most pervasive spam so I never see it.
2. Always put spam in the Spam folder for review.
I discovered the first option had been checked on my site – presumably the default, as I didn’t decide this. I’m assuming if you check the second, you will get your folder back to view.
Hello Alison. I can never remember where to find the spam file so I only get there if I’m reinstating an accidentally deleted comment. However, checking just now, on an unfamiliar link on my admin page, my spam file is apparently empty. Then I happened on a spam stats page which I’ve not seen before either. It suggested I’d had 10,000 in September, and they’ve stopped some 70,000 in the last 6 months. And I still don’t know how to find the old page that used to have all the spam comments on it. Duh!!!
This apparent switch to “Silently discard spam” is the thing that really worries me. It was the same on my site and like you I certainly did not choose it.
Everyone I’ve asked has had no spam for weeks.
Those stats of yours 10,000 in Sept, and 70,000 in 6 months are 😳 and way more than me.
To find your spam page: go to your dashboard, click the little arrow that opens “At a glance” and it will show this sentence: “Akismet has protected your site from 197,241 spam comments already. There’s nothing in your spam queue at the moment.” Or will say there’s “number of spam comments” in your spam queue.
The words spam queue are a link to spam comments.
Anyway I’m going to get back to them. It’s the apparent default setting that worries me. I suspect it’s the same for everyone and was either someone’s mistake, or a really really bad decision.
Thanks for your input.
Alison
What a charming town. It would be so much fun to visit. Thanks for the trip, Tish!
My pleasure, Marsha 🙂
🙂