Making a trunk call.

 I remembered from my one and only visit to Bishop's Castle how much I enjoyed the place. It's alternative without trying too hard and has lots of independent shops to poke about in. The castle bit dates back to a motte and bailey one from 1085 [or 1087 depending on the source you read] which was upgraded by one of the Bishops of Hereford at some point further down the line to a more substantial affair to keep the Welsh at bay. Its history though stretches back beyond its Medieval roots as it's sited on the Kerry Ridgeway, a Bronze Age route. The settlement grew up around a junction of old drovers's roads which must have brought a great variety of travellers to stay and at times it's been partly in Wales. One of its claims to fame is that it has the oldest brewery [The Three Tuns established in 1642] and maybe one it's no longer so proud to claim is that Robert Clive [Clive of India] represented the town when it was a rotten borough. Part of Clive's coat of arms is an Indian elephant and this theme is now celebrated in the fairly new March of the Elephants trail. It should be noted that the scheme is a celebration of all things pachyderm not the man. Aside from the connection to Clive we weren't aware of this at the time and were simply enjoying the elephant related artwork as we wandered about. More by luck than design we did actually see a fair few of them🐘

This elephant is on the outside of the Six Bells pub and is by Nancy Farrington. We did patronise this establishment, but weirdly for gelato which they sell alongside beer on the premises!

Entwined elephants is by Chris Groombridge.

Marching elephants by Bamber Hawes

Another one by Bamber Hawes.

This final one is by Grace Jandrell and is on the Elephant Gate. It's in memory of the stable which once stood here and housed a live elephant during WWII!

With a son, who in his younger years, had a much loved and treasured collection of elephants which saw him through many upsets I remain incredibly fond of them.

Arilx