Anglophile Friday - Favorite Photos of England

Monkeying around with effects in my ancient PaintShopPro image program

LUDLOW, SHROPSHIRE

From The Feathers Hotel website:


"The Feathers Hotel is internationally recognised for its beautiful Jacobean architecture and medieval heritage. The world famous frontage of the building is the gateway to a warm and inviting welcome to be experienced within this celebrated and charming hotel, restaurant and café bar.

Situated at the heart of the ancient market town of Ludlow in South Shropshire, there are excellent craft and antique shops and a wealth of historic buildings all within easy walking distance. Being so central in the town, The Feathers Hotel has, for centuries, been an important meeting point for the local community, and visitors enjoy its lively atmosphere all year round. During the busy summer months the quiet café terrace is a peaceful haven away from the bustle of the town, yet in the dark cold winter months an equal attraction is the atmospheric public lounge where many visitors can be found enjoying a coffee or meal in front of a roaring log fire."

History of The Feathers:

"The oldest part of the Feathers, including the world-famous timber façade, was built in 1619 (during the reign of King James I) by Rees Jones, a successful attorney in the town, who had frequently appeared before the Council of the Marches, which from 1536 until 1689 was situated in Ludlow, making the town in effect the capital of Wales.

The name of the hotel springs from the motifs of ostrich feathers forming part of the timber framed façade. They can still be seen by the discerning eye on the collars of the three street gables, although now weathered by the centuries. Ostrich feathers (traditionally the badge of the Prince of Wales) were still very much in vogue in the town at the time that the timber façade was being constructed following celebrations in 1616 for the investiture of Charles (the future King Charles I) as Prince of Wales.

From The Feathers Website

"Ludlow was a town with Royalist sympathies and remained loyal throughout the English Civil War, during which it is thought that Royalist soldiers were billeted at the Feathers. Indeed Rees Jones' son Thomas Jones fought as a Captain in the King's Army and well after the Civil War he converted the Feathers to an inn, around 1670.

The Feathers remained an inn for the next 200 years during which time, as well as providing sleeping accommodation, food and much beer, the inn was occasionally used as a venue for cock-fighting and prize-fighting. It was also at the centre of politics in the town when candidates for parliamentary elections would make speeches from the hotel balcony then invite voters inside for a drink to help secure their votes.

From The Feathers Website

"From 1863 the Feathers became known as a hotel and since then has gradually evolved and expanded through the acquisition of properties on either side of the original house to become established as Ludlow's leading hotel with a fine international reputation. Now back in private ownership the Feathers Hotel has been sympathetically refurbished throughout to further improve the fabric yet retaining the character of this historic building."

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So if you're traveling to England and looking at staying in Ludlow, the tariff on a Double Twin Room at The Feathers starts at $169. Just so you know.

I promise this is the last colorized, grainy, and horrid photo. The other two are not colorized, but grainy and horrid:

 Ludlow Castle

From that most reliable of sources, Wikipedia:

" In 1501 Prince Arthur,  (son of Henry VII  and brother to Henry VIII) with his bride Catherine of Aragon, lived here for a short time before his early death of an infection from which his wife recovered. Mary Tudor, daughter of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, heir to the throne of England as the couple's only issue, spent three winters at Ludlow between 1525 and 1528, along with her entourage of servants, advisors, and guardians."

Catherine did not have a fun life.

 Ludlow Flower Shop

 Yes, we did get a better camera after this.

It's pretty pathetic, I know...but I wanted you to see one of the

Black and White villages in the Marches region of England.

(Marches being the borderlands of England - Wales)

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Have a great weekend, everyone!