A Home from Home
Family visits are not often seen as travel opportunities, even when they live more than an hour’s drive away. ‘You’re just visiting the parents’. Even if they haven’t stayed in the family home and live somewhere completely new, you still see it as ‘Mum and Dad’s place’.
Shropshire has never been my home. Sure, it was somewhere I would often visit when I lived on the Welsh border, but we’re talking childhood years, and it’s very rare the beauty of the UK hits you when you’re seven years’ old.
The Weir on the River Teme
My parents have settled in Ludlow for the past six years; a beautifully-presented two -bedroom flat on Broad Street – one of the most photographed streets in the country – home to the Angel where Lord Nelson famously made a speech from the balcony to the crowds below. Having hardcore military and naval history enthusiasts for parents, this is naturally a topic that often comes up in conversation…even now six years’ later.
Ludlow itself is quite the charming market town. Steeped in history from the Wars of the Roses to Tudor England, scattered with pubs and restaurants filled with culinary delights from local ciders to hearty pies and sweet treats, Ludlow has something to offer everyone. The market in the central square on Saturday mornings attracts tourists from all around, with people from as far as Birmingham making a day trip for a quick escape to the country. The car parks and shops are filled with hundreds of people every weekend, even in the winter, and the town’s narrow pavements are barely able to contain the people who have flocked to the Welsh border. The locals – my parents – often roll their eyes and grumble about tourists making it difficult to get on with their day, but I can see they don’t mean it. There’s a sense of pride as the corner of my mother’s lips breaks into a smile as she complains. Secretly, she loves the obsession people have for her town. I live here, she thinks, and everyone wants to come and see how wonderful my town is.
The House Tucked Beneath Ludlow Castle
As regular visitors to the town, we’ve naturally seen everything there is to see. The walks, the wonderful dinner at the Charlton Arms perched on the riverside, St Laurence’s Church tucked behind the main street, the market, the famous breakfast baps from the waggon jam-packed with salty bacon, herby sausages, fried egg and buttery mushrooms…well, we thought we’d seen everything…
2024 was a year for celebrating big milestones in the family – my 30th and my elder sister’s 40th. My father wanted to do something special for us and as we both lived so far from our parents and our other sister living in Worcestershire, my father felt time together was the best way to celebrate. It didn’t take long for him to settle on Dinham Weir House. Despite the times I had spent in Ludlow, I couldn’t think where this house was, let alone somewhere big enough to suit nine people and two dogs. But tucked away down a little side-street overlooking the bridge and the Weir on the River Teme was the most beautiful of homes; cream-coloured stone with duck-egg blue windows overlooking a gravel courtyard filled with grasses and daffodils. The left-wing of the house stretches right down to the river bed, its windows from floor to ceiling letting in the brilliant day’s light and the sights of the swans floating down the Weir. Lined with plush velvet sofas ready to embrace you for the start of your relaxing country break, the wing leads on to a giant dining table topped with green leather, making way for its very own bar at the far corner ready for my father to entertain his guests with red wine and prosecco.
Dinham Weir House’s Private Bar
Turn to the right, a sparkling, professional kitchen – professional kitchen – designed specifically for Dinham Weir house’s very own chef to come in and create the meal of your dreams. We ogle at the gadgets, the worktop space, and gleaming surfaces whilst the dog sticks his snout on the first counter hoping for a stray treat. A wine cellar tucked away at the back – not that we would need to store our wine for very long – leading down to a downstairs bathroom with a proud signed photograph of Dame Judi Dench perched on the wall. Walking the rooms of Dinham Weir House and you soon realise you’re in the footsteps of some real A-Listers.
A Whole New Dining Experience
The bedrooms and bathrooms are spread over a further two floors, the bedrooms vast and filled with built-in storage leading on to the luxurious ensuites, the tiles warm beneath your feet as you scrunch your toes in your fluffy winter socks. The softest linen, the cosiest of rooms that achieves the balance perfectly of comfort and luxury design. And the pièce de résistance? The self-contained annexe at the far end of the courtyard, directly overlooking the bridge and the river flowing by beneath. A huge wide-open space finished with loungers at the foot of the bed overlooking the breath-taking views, finished off with the mandatory ensuite for your own private space away from the hustle and bustle of the main house. This was our spot for the weekend; the best place to guarantee the Saturday morning lie-in with nothing to disturb you but the sound of trickling water just the other side of the window. Dinham Weir House may be in the centre of a town, but it’s in the centre of Ludlow; a town always charming and peaceful beyond 11pm once all the pubs have called last orders. The perfect harmony of isolation and civilisation.
One Of The Many Beautiful Bedrooms
Needless to say, the weekend was perfect. Dinham Weir House provided the ideal location for family to come together, relax, and spend quality time with each other whilst also having enough space to ensure guests weren’t living on top of each other for the weekend. Starting with a relaxed evening to start the celebrations on Friday, accompanied by music family favourites such as Tina Turner and Michael Bolton, and finishing with the peak of the celebrations on Saturday night defined by a beautiful home-cooked meal at the house’s large banquet table. The house accommodated for large groups perfectly; chairs, crockery, utensils – all the small things that are so crucial when it comes to going self-catered for such a short amount of time. Shropshire can be such a hidden gem on the Welsh border, and Dinham Weir House is the perfect way to ensure you make the most of this incredible town on the River Teme. We didn’t need to explore Ludlow – we had done that hundreds of times already – but we did need to explore Dinham Weir House and experience the luxury this fantastic country home brings to all its guests, no matter how famous.
Ready to book your stay at Dinham Weir House? Visit their website below for more information: https://www.dinhamweirhouse.co.uk/
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