Shropshire Live Gets the Word Out About the Bluebell Fundraiser!
A big thank you to Shropshire Live for their article today highlighting a wonderful upcoming event!
Their piece:
“Carpet of bluebells awaits in ‘As You Like It’ Wood for charity walk,”
effectively brings attention to the spring woodland walk at Soulton Hall on Saturday, April 26th, benefiting Macmillan Cancer Support in Shropshire.
AS YOU LIKE IT Blue Plaque at Soulton Hall
We appreciate Shropshire Live drawing attention to the opportunity to witness the “carpet of bluebells” in this North Shropshire wood, which has interesting links to Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’:
link[ed] to the much-loved Shakespeare play, ‘As You Like It’, Soulton Hall, near Wem is welcoming walkers at the perfect time to see the bluebell display…
purchased in 1556 by Sir Rowland Hill, the first protestant Lord Mayor of London, who remodelled and extended it into the Tudor building which is still occupied by his descendants. Sir Ro[w]land himself is thought to be mentioned in “As You Like It”, referred to as Sir Ro[w]land de Bois whose sons, Oliver, Jaques and Orlando, are three of the major characters in the play…
The play also features a dance, the intricacies of which are illustrated in a complex pattern laid out in a centuries-old courtyard pavement adjacent to the Soulton Hall. Visitors will be able to view it at the end of their walk.
Early BLuebells in Soulton Wood, the AS YOU LIKE IT wood
The piece also helpfully provides key details for potential attendees, including the welcome for “dogs… kept on leads” and the note that the route “is unsuitable for pushchairs, buggies or wheelchairs”. The information regarding pre-booked tickets (£7.50 for adults, £4 for children, £20 for families) via macmillan-org.enthuse.com/cf/bluebellwalk2025 and the staggered entry times (10-11am, 12 noon-1pm, 2-3pm) is also very useful.
The quote from Gillian Eleftheriou of the Shrewsbury Macmillan Fundraising Group, mentioning the current display of
a carpet of pure white anemones, with a blue haze of bluebell flowers just starting to show
builds anticipation for the walk.
Blue plaque on the cottage in the AS YOU LIKE IT wood
Thank you, Shropshire Live, for helping to spread the word about this lovely event that supports a crucial cause. We hope to see many people there!
Soulton Wood, a place steeped in Hill family history, is believed to be the wellspring for the enchanting Forest of Arden. Both Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Thomas Lodge’s Rosalynde (1590) have drawn their idyllic landscapes from this very locale.
