and on to Chirk

 

Chirk dates back to 1324 but little of that remains. The village grew in the 17 centaury and by 1826 the main road London to Holyhead had been built and the Hand hotel became the post office for mail Oswestry to Llangollen. The railway soon followed but this remained as the main route into Wales until the A5 was built.

 

Nowadays it is a small town, set alongside the canal and the railway, with a sweet centre at its heart as its home to Cadburys factory and the smell of chocolate occasionally wafts by

There are a few shops on the high street, an excellent cafe set in a wool and teddy bear shop along with a quilting shop, butchers and the other essentials.

An easy walk out of town brings you down to the canal where I stopped by the coffee boat for a drink and had a long and interesting conversation with a gentleman carrying a barn owl on his bike.

The local church was open and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of information boards about the towns development.

Also the needlepoint/tapestry hassocks

The roof bosses were repainted in the 1970's and add a splash of colour amongst the wooden beams.

Almost forgot the beautiful castle gates just past the campsite entrance.

and the railings in the town

along with this wooden bench.

I suspect that we will return to this campsite as a stop over on the way into Wales.