Hanley Castle

Just a mile or so north of Upton is the little village of Hanley Castle. We went for a another walk on the Ham in the morning and then decided to visit the Three Kings Inn that afternoon. 

There is a school in Hanley Castle and we passed quite a few school children walking to Upton from the school since it was after 3 pm. The schools in England stay open until mid July.

We arrived at the pub only to find that it was not open. I had forgotten that some pubs in England do not stay open in the afternoon and close from 3 pm to 6 or 7 pm. It is supposed to be a very good but somewhat quirky pub according to a review I read.

This huge Cedar of Lebanon tree is reputedly over 900 years old. Consider that Magna Carta was signed in 1215 and add 900.

Miss Marple lived here as well. Actually the school and nearby stately home were used by PG Wodehouse in his Bertie Worcester books which you can read about in the Wiki article.

We decided to take a peek at the church.

Presumably to stop them stealing the lead.

This sign at the entrance to the church made me wonder if there was a web feet issue in the village.

It was a pleasant old church inside.

This window was surprisingly bright.

Evidently this church was also a meeting place.

And no doubt the main item on the agenda was the cleaning up schedule of the cups and saucers after the meetings. Agreement had not been reached and it has been this way ever since they planted that tree outside 900 years ago.

A very solid looking door.

It looks like a nice quiet place to be buried.

It is wonderful the way the English look after their dogs.

There was a covered entrance to the church where you could sit and relax. Or where you could put up your umbrella before stepping out into the English rain.

It is a lovely tiny village. We will try to turn up at the right time of day when we visit again.

On our way home we detoured to Clive's Fruit Farm where Marianne bought some strawberries. It was also a U-pick place and several people walked past with baskets of raspberries and strawberries.

You could also walk over and feed the pigs and chooks.

The local dog came over to inspect us. We passed muster.

Look at the lovely wavy hair on his neck.

By the way, the strawberries were delicious.