Locality
Bailey End is situated in Bishops Castle, a very small market town in the Shropshire hills (see the photograph above), 4 miles from the Welsh border.
You can walk directly into the surrounding country from the house. There are also many good walks nearby on the Long Mynd, Offa's Dyke, Stiperstones and the Corndon hills.
Although it is smaller than many villages, Bishops Castle provides all you need for a long or a short stay. It has a post office, bank, butcher, chemist, grocer, delicatessen, somewhere to buy clothes and walking equipment, second hand bookshops, and antique shops. It also has places to eat, and good pubs, including two which brew their own beer, and most of which also do meals. There is no main road running through the town so it is quiet, and safe for children.
Ludlow (18 miles to the South) and Shrewsbury (25 miles to the North) are the nearest larger towns, both of which have their own castles and other historic attractions. Ludlow, with its ancient streets, Michelin-starred restaurants, and food market, has become a centre of food tourism, and has a large local produce centre on the edge of the town. Shrewsbury has walks by the river, a mediaeval centre, and an abbey, which is the location of the "Caedfel" mystery novels by Ellis Peters.
There are other interesting smaller towns nearby, such as Clun (6 miles to the south), which has good pubs and an unusual ruined castle on a steep mound. Montgomery (9 miles to the west) is a pretty Welsh town with a spectacular ruined hill-top castle, with long views into Wales. Church Stretton, the town which serves the Long Mynd, has the feel of an Alpine resort. It is 10 miles away. The bravest drivers can approach it directly - and almost vertically - across the Long Mynd, on what is without doubt the scariest road in Britain! Much Wenlock (23 miles to the east) has an old centre of black-and-white half-timbered houses and a ruined priory.
About 30 miles to the east of Bishops Castle is the industrial archaeology centre of Ironbridge, the cradle of the industrial revolution, with many sites and activities including a reconstructed Victorian village.
If you want to go further afield, Lake Bala (50 miles to the north-west) is the largest natural lake in Wales, with fishing, horse-riding and watersports, including windsurfing, sailing and canoeing. It also has a narrow-guage railway. From Bishops Castle to Barmouth on the Welsh coast and the edge of Snowdonia is a journey of about 60 miles.