The Strettons Podcast
by Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson
Sian's new business
About this podcast
This podcast features the lives of the people who live in Church Stretton and villages in the Shropshire Hills.
It's a tourist area and we welcome visitors from all over the world to enjoy the Shropshire Hills National Landscape. You'll find our guests not only on top of the Long Mynd, but nursing a craft beer in a snug country pub or having coffee and cake in one of the tea rooms in town. Countless fell-runners, mountain-bikers, walkers, hikers, campers and dog-walkers flock to the Church Stretton area every year.
Agriculture is an important part of the economy here and we talk to farmers and others born and raised in the area, not just about farming but what it was like to grow up here. We collect stories of the people who made this area what it is today, the characters who inhabited the village pubs, stories of terrible winters and childhood activities in the fields and streams around the Long Mynd. This is an important archive project for this tiny corner of South Shropshire.
We are the first village podcast in the world and would like to hear from listeners across the world who enjoy hearing voices from The Strettons. We are village people and we want to give a voice to the villages of the Shropshire Hills.
We're independent of any organisation and publish episodes every Tuesday.
We have a website http://thestrettonspod.com/.
Producers
Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 84 episodes
- Sian's new business · 3 minHi everyone, it's Sian here. I have a new business in Church Stretton called Sandford Studio. The business runs heritage craft workshops including stained glass, printmaking…
- Podcast final episode · 12 minit's been a long 18 months of producing an episode every Tuesday and we're feeling worn out from the effort. Sian and Pete look back over their time producing The Strettons…
- Tony Madeley of Eaton Manor · 19 minTony Madeley reflects on three generations of farming history, from his grandfather’s struggles in the 1930s to the gradual building of a livelihood at Eaton Manor. What emerges…
- Jim Davies of Blackhurst Farm · 25 minJim Davies reflects on a lifetime in farming, from rebuilding Blackhurst Farm from dereliction to adapting through decades of change. With humour and honesty, he shares stories…
- Mark Morris of Church Stretton · 22 minMark shares a life shaped by farming roots, family, and hard work, from milking cows by hand as a child to running a rural taxi business. He reflects on loss, including a fire…
- Nigel Morris of Picklescott · 26 minThis week we’ve been back up the hill to Picklescott where we’ve caught up with Nigel Morris, a third generation farmer at Wilrack Farm. Nigel tells us what it was like to grow…
- Long Mynd Zebras · 30 minWe have a bit of a laugh with the kids who will eventually become the custodians of this land we love. We’re back at the food bank in the Parish Centre to learn how the situation…
- Stuart Wright of Church Stretton · 20 minStuart Wright is known to everyone in town as the owner of Wrights Estate Agency. He talks to Sian about how the family ended up in Church Stretton, the shops and people who were…
- Maypoles and Muckspreading · 22 minWe have been back to see Matt Johnson at Hazler Farm to hear how lambing has gone this year and what’s next in the farming calendar. And there’s some Victorian farming going on…
- Keith Morris of Church Stretton · 19 minKeith Morris is well-known in the area as the undertaker. He tells us about growing up in Church Stretton, memorable moments with a burning hearse and the brotherhood of…
- Beef, burning houses and the butty van · 23 minThis week we go up onto the Long Mynd to speak to Sioned Morris who's practicing for the stock judging competition at the local Young Farmers Club and then we join the Much…
- Ron Cox of Soudley · 20 minRon Cox looks back on his life in Bucknell and then Ticklerton and Soudley where he still lives today. He tells us about his sporting life, his dancing days, his courting days…
- Courting King Charles: Tips from the Lord Lt of Salop · 27 minAnna Turner, the Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire talks about how she tries to get members of the royal family to come to the county. There’s also an offer of help to give your…
- Malcolm Probert of Leebotwood · 25 minMalcolm shares memories of growing up in rural Shropshire, attending school in Smethcott and joining the army at sixteen. He and his brother both served in Northern Ireland…
- Pulling lambs · 24 minWe catch up with lambing at Hazler Farm and watch as two lambs arrive in the world. The hills are alive with the sound of walking poles and we chat to a couple of visitors…
- Mick Boulton of Cardington · 22 minWe’ve all sat on one of Mick Boulton’s coaches at some time, many of us in our school days. In this chat, he tells us how he loves driving the school bus, the joy he gets from…
- Dominoes Pizza Delivery · 27 minWe’ve been to our local livestock market at Bishops Castle to speak to some Church Stretton farmers and the auctioneer to see what trade’s like for store cattle. Then we catch up…
- Robin Lloyd of Church Stretton · 21 minRobin Lloyd is a familiar face to those who use the Ring and Ride service but how much does anyone know of his life? In this interview we learn what it was like to go away to…
- Roots, repairs and new beginnings · 28 minWe're back at the repair cafe with volunteers from Stretton Climate Care so save households appliances from going into the skip. Then it's Acton Scott with Alex from Caring for…
- David Cooke of Ratlinghope · 26 minDavid Cooke talks to us about his life growing up in Ratlinghope and the fun that was had there in his youth. He shared his childhood with an inspiring German prisoner of war who…
