Stokesay Castle is about half way between Ironbridge and Malvern, so it was an ideal place to stop for lunch on the way home from my short holiday. It was one of Christopher’s favourite English Heritage sites, and we used to go there at least annually to look at the wonky gatehouse and solidly-built tower, great hall and solar block in the castle courtyard. It must be over ten years now since I last visited, and I enjoyed seeing it again.
Previously, I remember that there was a small tea-shop in one corner of the courtyard which sold cold drinks, ice-creams and little else. There was hardly any seating, but you were encouraged to eat your ice-cream on one of the benches in the castle grounds. That was missing a clear retail opportunity to extract more cash from the punters, but there was no space for anything more. However, English Heritage have clearly been thinking about how better to monetise their visitors, and have recently converted a cottage at the end of the car-park into a good sized cafe / tea-rooms. I had a delicious, but rather enthusiastically-priced, ploughman’s lunch there, before reacquainting myself with the castle.