Peel Cottage

27/08/2023

We were at Peel Cottage yesterday giving it a full on top to bottom clean. We also had a bit of company...this is Sooty. She lives with two other black cats, Salem and Eclipse, at No 14. However, she (or possibly her sisters) have been making themselves very much at home with holiday makers at the cottage.
Scanning the visitors book, there are several references to a visiting black cat...and she often appears when we are down to do the garden or clean the cottage.
Rather nice to have a bit of feline company 🐈‍⬛

05/12/2022

14/04/2022

Brand new cycle route

07/09/2021

Always great for a drink and a bite to eat...and morris dancing 🙂

Thanks to everyone who participated, visited, helped, and everything else involved in our Big Weekend. We had a great time (although it was too much for one of our bar skittles - if found please send back this way!) and the weather was brilliant. Loads of great musicians, singers and dancers. There are plans for another one, but we will recover from this one first!

06/06/2021

Early Summer garden clean up completed... looking good if I say so myself - and the bird song just encapsulates the total rural idyl that is Dilwyn.

08/09/2020

Just over the road...

07/08/2020

Information for guests.

23/07/2020

The TIC's A-Z of Leominster - R

Ryeland Sheep

The Ryeland is one of the oldest breeds of English sheep and originated in South Herefordshire in the 12th century. It is believed the breed was derived from the Spanish Merino. It is a heavily wooled sheep and traditionally a white breed, however a coloured variant is now recognised. They are characterised by a teardrop marking in the corner of their eyes.

Its association with Leominster comes later when the monks of the town bred and kept flocks of Ryeland sheep and grazed them on the Rye pastures in the local area.

The breed is known for producing high quality meat and excellent fleece. The wool was highly sought after in Europe as well as England. During the 16th Century the Ryeland increased in popularity, thanks to its fleece and it's association with Queen Elizabeth I.

It was during this period the wool began to be known as "Lemster Ore". So called because the wool sold from Leominster earned large amounts of gold. An extra fair was granted by King James I to Leominster in the 17th century. This was due to the popularity of the wool. In 1783 Ryeland wool was selling at 2 shillings a pound, where other wool was selling for only 4 pence.

The original Ryeland sheep was a slow growing sheep, but during the 18th century the necessity of feeding an ever-growing urban population prompted breeders to develop "improved" breeds, which would be bigger and grow more quickly. The quality of the fleece now became of secondary importance.

Farmers soon began to cross the Ryeland with other breeds such as Dorsets, Southdowns and the Leicester to increase the carcass weight. By the middle of the 19th century most Ryelands were no longer fine woolled sheep but mutton producing crossbreeds.

By 1903 only fifteen pure bred flocks remained in Britain. The Ryeland Flock Book Society was formed in Hereford in an attempt to halt the decline in numbers. The first Flock Book listed fourteen pure-bred flocks in Herefordshire, Breconshire, Monmouthshire and Worcestershire.

In 1918 the Flock Book was closed to foundation stock. The enthusiasm of the society and its members helped counteract the decline in numbers, and by 1920 there were 80 registered Ryeland flocks and Ryelands were being exported to Australia and New Zealand. By 1924 New Zealand had 4,000 Ryelands in 35 flocks.

Back in Britain, the breed saw a decline in numbers during the 50s and 60s and by the early 1970s, the breed had almost died out. The foundation of the the Rare Breed Survival Trust in 1973 marked a turnaround for the breed. If this wasn't established it was likely the Ryeland would've died out in the UK. However since then the breed has grown in numbers and is no longer at risk.

The Ryeland is once again one of the most sought after breeds in the UK thanks to being easy to look after, its high fertility, meat and of course fleece.

Leominster still highly regards our association with the Ryelands breed. A statue of the breed, lovingly called Lady Baa Baa, stands in the Broad Street carpark as a symbol of the towns association with the breed at the site of the towns former wool trade.

19/07/2020

Peel Cottage is all clean and sparkling again and awaiting its first guests following three months in lockdown. The cottage has been cleaned and sanitised from top to bottom and the garden has had a mini make-over too!

12/07/2020

Welcome to Leominster

Great to spot our first new Welcome to Leominster signs. These will be replacing the old signs on the outskirts of the town.

In April 2019 Leominster Town Council was successful in securing grant funding to support a project to improve and enhance signage and interpretation materials in Leominster. The grant, part of the European Union LEADER funding initiative, aims to encourage investment in recreation infrastructure, tourist information and small scale tourism infrastructure.

The funding was provided to help us develop:
• improved pedestrian finger post signage throughout the town
• a trail of 10 heritage interpretation boards, located around the town centre
• replacement welcome signs located on town entrances
• updated visitor information signs in the town car parks, bus station and railway station.
We have been working with heritage groups and historic sites from across Leominster to identify the best content for each of the signs and to ensure that we make the most of this opportunity to draw attention to our town’s fantastic heritage and attractions.

23/06/2020

From 4 July we can again welcome guests to our cottage for UK 'staycations'. See https://www.peelcottagedilwyn.co.uk/

How will social and work life be different after the easing of some restrictions around the UK?

11/10/2019

Weird wonders from Leominster history...

**FOLKLORE FRIDAY**

Our tale this week takes us back to 1809 to the bustling town of Leominster, alive with gossip, where 'bad speech' was frowned upon and dealt with in very harsh ways.

You may or may not have heard the term 'common scold'. In the 19th century it referred to a public nuisance, an angry and troublesome person who breached the peace by arguing and quarrelling with their neighbours. In common law a 'common scold' was usually dealt with by way of a fine. If you were unlucky and depending on how the magistrate was feeling that day your punishment could be so much worse than this.

Jenny Pipes (also known as Jane Corran) a young woman living in a poor community in Leominster, fell foul of this law. Unhappy with her lot and her husband John she made some very public derogatory comments about him and was reported to the local magistrates. As you can imagine dealing with the kind of nonsense was tedious for the magistrate and he decided to make an example of her. He sentenced Jenny to be humiliated and paraded through the streets secured on a ducking stool. Embarrassingly the route chosen went right past her home and she was taken down to the banks of the Kenwater river. Her journey to the river was not a nice one, people were enthralled to see this amazing contraption, it had been years since it had last been used. The crowd mocked and jeered her, shouting gleefully "Duck the Scold" and she was duly dunked in the icy water twice. Ducking the scold was seen as a way of calming the angry offender down, demoralising them, cooling the tongue, tiring them out or simply rendering them unconscious.

Little did they know that Jenny Pipes was made of stern stuff and no amount of ducking was going to dampen her fighting spirit. As she rose from the water she was still complaining and hurling abuse at the representatives of the judiciary who were present, so much so that the crowds lost interest, began to disperse and the punishment which was having no obvious affect was terminated.

Jenny Pipes was the last woman in England to be punished in this way, although it wasn't from lack of trying. In 1817 Sarah Leeke, also from Leominster was sentenced to be ducked but the water in the river was so low that the authorities merely wheeled her round the town in the ducking stool. Amazingly this form of punishment remained on the statute books in England and Wales until 1967.

The Priory in Leominster houses one of England’s last surviving ducking stools, so why not pop by and see it in all its glory!

www.eatsleepliveherefordshire.co.uk/leominster

04/09/2019

**THE BEST OF BROMYARD FOLK**

The best folk cultural event in the Welsh Border area returns to Bromyard this Thursday and we just can't wait. Bromyard Folk Festival weekend brings together some of the most outstanding local, national and international traditional folk musicians under one roof for your delectation.

It's always a fantastic festival and one for those of you who enjoy music, culture and having some fun.

www.eatsleepliveherefordshire.co.uk/event-pro/bromyard-folk-festival

Durstone Cottages NT Brockhampton Leominster Tourist Information Centre Local to Leominster Beautifully Bromyard - Whats On

29/08/2019

Revisit an old friend this autumn - https://mailchi.mp/3ca54216c52e/revisit-an-old-friend-this-autumn

29/08/2019

It turned out to be a busy little weekend - a rare opportunity for us to visit Peel Cottage and enjoy a lovely bank holiday with visit to Brobury House & Gardens, fun at the beer and cider festival The Crown Inn and the Eardisley Show.

23/08/2019

https://www.facebook.com/933925649985933/posts/2602408683137613/

Worth clicking through to the Pathe news reel.

**FOLKLORE FRIDAY**

Have you ever strolled down High Town and noticed a very cute 17th century Black and White Building nearby to New Look that looks untouched and possibly out of place with all the other newer buildings? Some may recognise it as the old Apothecary and others as the building that went for a walk down High Town.

This amazing little house had been part of Marchants Grocers and in 1965 was moved on rollers into High Town to allow a new Littlewoods store to be built and was then returned to the existing row of shops.

It was quite a spectacle at the time and drew large crowds who were keen to see this incredible feat of engineering in action. Some had thought that it wasn't possible and that the little house would not be able to stay up, but it was all so well planned by civil engineer John Pryke, all went perfectly.

This move didn't seem to upset the ghost reputed to haunt the building either. The ghost believed to be that of an apothecary who accidentally killed one of his apprentices by mixing him the wrong medicine who then killed himself out of remorse in the attic of the building, did not make a guest appearance.

So when you head up High Town have a look for this marvel of a little house which took a stroll down High Town in the 1960's, it must have been quite a site to see!

There's a fantastic Pathe clip of the event here https://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-house-that-moved-aka-moving-of-17th-century-ho/query/hereford