Twenty years ago, I spent a blissful week in a 13th-century mansion in southwest France with my friends around me to distract me from turning 40. Two decades later, with an even scarier birthday approaching, could I recreate the same thing?
The short answer was … not quite.
Those days of ridiculously cheap flights and car hire are long gone, and I realised I couldn’t ask my friends to fork out hundreds of pounds for a holiday they didn’t choose. Work schedules were tighter than ever, as was money.
But then the lukewarm reception to my original French idea changed dramatically when I told my friends I’d managed to find a beautiful Georgian townhouse in Ludlow, one of Shropshire’s – and Britain’s – loveliest market towns. Would they like to come? Cue a minor stampede towards the Shropshire Hills when I sent everyone the link to the Ludlow Townhouse, an exquisitely decorated six-bedroom 18th-century house on the town’s most celebrated street, Broad Street.
Over six days, my husband and I kept open house as friends (and a very cute dog) ebbed and flowed throughout the week, some coming for four nights, others for two, another able to stay the night on her way back from a wedding in Worcester. Friends from nearby Hereford hopped on the train and texted me from the Ludlow Brewing Company, which was holding its Octoberfest that weekend. “Fancy a pint?” “On our way!”
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Eventually, the entire party ended up there knocking back pints of Ludlow Gold before I remembered we had promised to feed these people, and we marshalled the lot home in time to cook an enormous pot of pasta alla Norma. Many bottles of wine later, and, for some, a few games on the antique pool table in the second of the two enormous lounges, I joyfully watched my friends, most of whom didn’t know each other, meld together and form a cohesive, jolly, convivial group.
When three friends had to leave because of work commitments, another five took their place. Each arrival got the grand tour of this delightfully idiosyncratic townhouse, with its wonky floors and steps, elegant rooms of antique furnishings and paintings, and an overwhelming sense of a house that would instantly become a home, even for an itinerant gang of strangers. There was a formal dining room at the front which we forgot to use, so content were we to hang out in the light-filled kitchen and the main lounge facing the garden (handy for the dog too). Most of us had a go at the all-weather table tennis in the garden, but plans to get the outdoor hot tub fired up in time to use it before midnight never quite got off the ground. Two friends had even brought their bicycles and set off on a 40km ride through the Shropshire Hills and came back raving about their gentle beauty and mellow landscapes.
As we got to know Ludlow, which was new to all of us, we fell for its medieval and Georgian architecture and enchanting riverside setting. “You’re so lucky to have an autumn birthday,” I was told several times as we wandered along the footpaths lined with trees of every shade of gold, red and orange running along the River Teme. It was a scene everyone wanted to see – the clifftop 11th-century Ludlow Castle perched above the weir, the Millennium Green picnic area and Thomas Telford’s Dinham Bridge that looks ancient but is a relatively young 201-year-old.
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The path hugging the hillside towards the castle eventually came into Castle Square, where Ludlow Market pitches up every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Stalls heaved with seasonal fruit and vegetables, farm eggs and, not surprisingly, considering the number of farms in Shropshire and neighbouring Wales, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, several cheesemongers. There were crafts stalls too that complemented Ludlow’s thriving independent retail scene. Yes, there were a few chains throughout the town, but Ludlow bore little resemblance to the generic high streets you see in much of the UK.
Few of my friends could resist buying one of the jumbo-sized chorizo sausage rolls at Harp Lane Deli on Church Street, which had more foodie delights at the Fruit Basket greengrocers and the Mousetrap Cheese Shop – not to mention deli treats at Broad Bean around the corner on Broad Street. The sight of a large roast pork in the window of Vaughans sandwich shop proved too tempting at lunchtime; luckily, three doors down was the Vine and Juniper wine shop, where you can bring your own food and choose one of their glasses of wine at prices that would make a Londoner whimper in envy.
So far, so good – superb food (including fabulous tapas at the Angel), compelling history (including the magnificent 12th-century St Laurence’s Church, which had a drop-in centre, play area and café right in the church), more pubs than I could count (particularly loved the homey Blood Bay which doesn’t allow mobile phones) and a welcome sense of individuality and quirkiness in Ludlow’s vintage shops and independent boutiques.
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I even found a tiny corner of France, specifically the Charlton Arms on the River Teme by Ludford Bridge. Its owner, Cedric Bosi, came to Britain from Lyon 25 years ago and, with his brother Claude, now the chef at two-Michelin-starred Bibendum in London, helped to create Ludlow’s Michelin-starred gastronomic scene in the Noughties. Although the Michelin stars are gone, in its place are the Charlton Arms, the Church Inn (also Bosi-owned) and other family-run restaurants that make the most of Shropshire’s natural bounty. Cedric mixes his French-Italian heritage with local ingredients to create magic on the plate – double-baked cheese soufflé and truffle and burrata tortelloni being just two of the delicious dishes I tried.
Much as I had wanted to hold my house party in France, I realised that Ludlow made an excellent substitute. For a start, my friends could come, and that was the most important thing. As we danced on my birthday, I thought of my friends who were no longer with us, including two who had been partying with me in France all those years ago. I had packed my party playlist with memories of so many good times with so many good people, and now I was adding more to the memory bank. As REM was singing, “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine” (another song dedicated to a late friend), I belted out: “It’s the end of my fifties as I know them, and I feel fine.” Not just fine – fantastic. And very, very lucky.
How to do it
The Ludlow Townhouse sleeps 12 and has rentals starting at £606 a night, with a two-night minimum rental. Go to Visit Shropshire for more information.
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