Away-day 2013

The away-day (actually away-days) for 2013 was a tour of Shropshire. Starting with the town of Shrewsbury Sue and I had a great day out visiting shops and taking photos of the wooden framed building so prominent in the historical town.

Photo One - Is an image of the market hall, all ready for the Shrewsbury Flower Show. (Taking place this weekend).

Photos Two - A leaning town house, there were a number of these.

Photo Three - Tucked away from prying eyes this wooden framed end wall showed construction techniques.

Photos Four to Eleven - Our Roman Banquet, 16 dishes of (traditional?) Roman food celebrating the twelve signs of the zodiac.

Beef Consume with Beef strips.

The first platter.

With edible dormice.

The fish courses.

The ribs in fish sauce.

Dessert. All washed down with white wine (watered down and served with honey) and red wine (again watered down).

The Banquet was preceded by a brief lecture giving details of the Roman invasion of Britain and then a history lesson about Wroxeter, the ancient Roman city. We stayed at the Wroxeter Hotel where this is a regular event.

The whole event was great fun and informative, while the couple who dressed in traditional Roman garb helped with the atmosphere.

Day two was a drive to Chester, another day photographing building and visiting shops. We used the park and ride which meant that we had a whole day to enjoy this historic city.

Photo Twelve - Just one of the many timber framed shops.

I called in to Modelzone, having heard about some of the closing down deals being offered but was disappointed, 20% off model kits and 50% off books, books that I felt were already damaged. I picked up some paint and Balsawood but actually found better bargains in the Oxfam book shop!

Photo Thirteen - The Roman experience, with a Celtic boar sign!

Photo Fourteen - The Chester city wall. Well part of it anyway.

Photos Fifteen to Seventeen - Some images of the Roman Museum at Wroxeter, including the reconstructed Barn/Villa that was the main attraction of a recent TV documentary.

Photos Eighteen and Nineteen - The Wroxeter Church (next to the hotel we stayed at) with obvious Roman influences.

Photos Twenty and Twenty-one. On out third and final day we drove to Bridgenorth and once more some images of wooden framed buildings.

On our journey back I stopped at The Severn Valley Railway, Kidderminster and searched through some old railway magazines for cheap (and informative) bargains. Three days and two nights away, plus a Roman Banquet. A great holiday treat and one of my best ever away-days. Thank you Sue for finding and booking it.

Tony