What’s going for it? As the isolated and only children know too well, when you have nobody else to talk to, you must make your own entertainment. Bishop’s Castle, all alone out near the Welsh border, has had centuries to perfect the art of entertaining yourself. This pretty town bursts with enthusiasm. There may be barely 2,000 souls here, but goodness they’re industrious. Bishop’s Castle hums with independent shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, B&Bs, two (two!) microbreweries, museums of rural life and railways, a weekly market, an eco-suburb, and I haven’t even got on to sports and recreation, let alone the walking festival. The town has long attracted alternative types, as my granny called them: artists, writers, the long-haired and crafty, the kind who can whittle the Cutty Sark from a twig. There was a horrifying spate of yarn bombing last autumn. If anyone asked them, I’m sure this lot could work out Brexit after a community meeting or five; but, keeping itself to itself, Bishop’s Castle instead makes a perfect spot to escape the world as it self-destructs, and indulge, perhaps, in a little macramé.
The case against No castle (well, a wall). No bishop. Say goodbye to metropolitan pleasures. Far, far from anything but Church Stretton.
Well connected? Hardly. Trains: you kidding? Buses: six or so a day to Shrewsbury (1hr). Driving: off a hardly main road, the A488, which trundles between Shrewsbury and mid-Wales; 30 mins to Ludlow, 45 to Shrewsbury, 50 to Telford/the M54.
Schools Primaries: Bishop’s Castle and nearby Lydbury North CofE are both “good”, says Ofsted, with Norbury “outstanding”. Secondaries: the town’s community college is “good”.
Hang out at… What a choice. The Castle Hotel, with log fires, beams, leather chairs and a lovely garden? The Three Tuns? The cheery Six Bells? Or coffee, cake and classical music at Yarborough House?
Where to buy The High Street – hefting its way uphill from the church, via the town hall, to the site of the castle – is a delight, a model of building types from half-timbered black and white, via pastel-painted Georgian and stone-walled 18th century to Victorian red brick. You can’t go wrong. The usual padding of suburbia. Detacheds and town houses, £250,000-£600,000. Semis, £170,000-£270,000. Terraces and cottages, £120,000-£200,000.
Bargain of the week Seven-bed listed town house (a former shop) on the High Street, £245,000 with Samuel Wood via rightmove.co.uk.
From the streets
Peter Keam “It’s all hill. You can bet that if you’re at the bottom, what you want is at the top, and vice versa.”
Carol Harvey “The town has a distinctly bohemian feel to it and attracts creative people.”
Jean Shirley “The SpArC theatre has performances I never dreamed I’d see so far from major venues.”
• Live in Bishop’s Castle? Join the debate below.
Do you live in Pulborough & Petworth, West Sussex? Do you have a favourite haunt or a pet hate? If so, email lets.move@theguardian.com by Tuesday 21 February.
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