Will Priestley is well-known in the town for being the son of the town’s solicitor and then the town’s solicitor. He tells us about the characters who helped on the family farm and their unusual courting practices. Post-war life for young boys in Cardington and Marshbrook was full of motorbike racing and fishing.

If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us.

Find us online

https://thestrettonspod.com/

email us: [email protected] 

Support the podcast https://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspod

Producers

Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We drive over to Gatten at the foot of Stiperstones Nature Reserve to get a tour of The Hollies farm from Rhian and then a cooking session where we discover and create edgy recipes using the hedgerow bounty we picked last week. Connr Furnival talks about his new role as Church Stretton town clerk and then we drive over to Munslow village where we join conservation volunteers from Caring for God’s Acre preserving wildlife in the churchyard.

Timings 

The Hollies farm visit 1:09

Pick it, cook it, eat it7:10

Caring for God’s Acre15:00

Connor the town clerk 21:10

Soundscape28:11

Caring for God’s Acre https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk/

If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us.

Find us online

https://thestrettonspod.com/

email us: [email protected] 

Support the podcast https://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspod

Producers

Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re off to the other side of the Long Mynd, to a mystical area of the Shropshire Hills - Stiperstones. Here we find John Sproson, who owns the Stiperstones Inn and the shop attached to it. John tells us about village life, how the pub trade has changed and the lack of rich single women in Shropshire.

If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us.

Find us online

https://thestrettonspod.com/

email us: [email protected] 

Support the podcast https://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspod

Producers

Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Goodbye to the summer with Teas to Please at Little Stretton, All Stretton village show and we go foraging in the hedgerows and fields of the Shropshire Hills in search of free food. We visit a small specialist company doing well in Leebotwood and we head to The Bog to join a group of people studying moths and bats in one of the last warm evenings of 2025. 

Timings 

Bats and moths 1:00

Foraging 7:57

McMillan Holder 15:32

All Stretton village show 22:42

Soundscape - Teas to Please, Little Stretton 26:54

Moth Group and Bat Group https://www.facebook.com/goingwildinbc

If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us.

Find us online

https://thestrettonspod.com/

email us: [email protected] 

Support the podcast https://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspod

Producers

Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We chat to Anne Morris who brought up her young family in a derelict farm in Cardington and tells us about the struggles she and John had to grow the business. Working a job for the Milk Marketing Board, Anne also helped on the farm and brought up four children. We learn about all the people who sought shelter in her house when they had nobody to turn to.

If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us.

Find us online

https://thestrettonspod.com/

email us: [email protected] 

Support the podcast https://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspod

Producers

Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We visit Blakemoregate Cottages high up on the Stiperstones - an important part of the mining history of Snailbeach. Then we talk to Mary Carter, the new curate at St Laurence’s Church in Church Stretton, we visit New House Farm to see the cattle and then watch The Magpies beat Shrewsbury Junior 8-0.

Timings

Church Stretton Town FC 1:00

Blakemoregate Cottages 4:48

Mary Carter, curate 12:30

New House Farm 18:00

All Stretton TK Micro Museum 24:02

If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us.

Find us online

https://thestrettonspod.com/

email us: [email protected] 

Support the podcast https://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspod

Producers

Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have Steve Paige, known to everyone in All Stretton as their former postie and known to many more as the head honcho of our fire station. He’s a Stretton boy through and through and in this interview he tells us about getting his first ‘after school' job as a greengrocer’s boy. What was it like to grow up in Church Stretton in the 70’s and 80’s and what did he and his friends do for fun? Let’s listen and find out.

If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us.

Find us online

https://thestrettonspod.com/

email us: [email protected] 

Support the podcast https://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspod

Producers

Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're off to see the kids making bug hotels and also speaking to people at the antiques centre and in the arts festival. The ladies at the knit and natter do more nattering than knitting and Tom Norris from Cardington tells us a few stories of growing up in the area. Lastly, we catch up with the Church Stretton accordion band at Burwarton Show.

Timings 

Bug hotel 00:01:08

Tom Norris 00:06:12

Knit & Natter 00:12:12

Vox pop 00:16:00

Soundscape CS Accordion band 00:25:28

If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us.

Find us online

https://thestrettonspod.com/

email us: [email protected] 

Support the podcast https://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspod

Producers

Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Foulkes tells us what it’s like living in a farm which features heavily in the famous Malcolm Saville children’s books. He talks about the fans who come from across the world to stay in his cow sheds. He reminisces about growing up in a simpler time, when food was delivered by the local grocer, and the best fun was to be found with his friends playing in the fields and hills around his farm.

If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us.

Find us online

https://thestrettonspod.com/

email us: [email protected] 

Support the podcast https://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspod

Producers

Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summer is bringing archaeology to The Strettons and this time, we’re digging for dinosaur bones with The National Trust in Carding Mill Valley and then chatting to race horse breeder, Richard Wilding about how to breed and break horses. Hand me that helmet and head torch and we’re down the mines at Snailbeach with some volunteer guides and then just up the road, we stop for a piece of quiche and a cup of tea at the famous Bog Visitor Centre. We finish with a very traditional English scene - men in rags and bells, dancing in the Square. 

Timings

Race horse breeding at Ragdon 00:56

Snalibeach mines 07:23

The Bog Visitor Centre 12:56

Carding Mill archaeology 18:31

What’s On 24:08

Morris Dancing 27:11

If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us.

Find us online

https://thestrettonspod.com/

email us: [email protected] 

Support the podcast https://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspod

Producers

Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.