Weston Park

If you are a lover of England's Heritage then Stokesay Castle near Craven Arms is one place you must visit. Stokesay nestles in peaceful South Shropshire countryside near the Welsh Border.

Actually Stokesay Castle, which dates back to 1281, is not really a castle at all, but it is the finest and best preserved 13th century fortified manor house in England. It's so beautiful that there is even a copy in the USA.

The castle has two towers joined by a buttressed Great Banquetting Hall, with long, gothic, gabled windows. Massive roof timbers, made from whole trees dominate the Great Hall, standing alonside an elaboratively decorated Flemish overmantal, brought from Flanders by the Baldwyn family and fitted over a medieval fireplace.

Stokesay Castle began its life as a stark Norman stronghold, but was transformed sometime between 1285 and 1305 into a grand manor house. The Elizabethans added the timber-framed jacobean gatehouse in the 17th Century. The ornate carved timbers over the gatehouse entrance, depict Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Stokesay is one of more than a dozen English Heritage properties in the county.