Claim OwnershipThe Strettons Podcast
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© Sian Lovegrove, Pete Johnson
Description
This podcast features the lives of the people who live in Church Stretton, Little Stretton, All Stretton and surrounding 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 reasonably priced coffee and cake in one of the handful of tea rooms in town. Millions of fell-runners, walkers, hikers, campers, dog-walkers flock to the Church Stretton area every year.
We are the first village podcast and the first hyper-local community podcast in the world. We are fun, entertaining and informative without ranting, rudeness or intolerance. We're non-political, non-religious and self-funded. We prioritise the quirky, unusual, interesting, funny and curious. We only cover important things if they are also interesting.
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.
51 Episodes
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Robert Brain grew up in and around Minton where he still lives today. He tells us about riding ponies on the Long Mynd as a young boy, about hurtling down the hill on a piece of tin sheeting,and what it was like living next door to Hollywood actor, Pete Posthlethwaite. He tells us how Pete gave him his first experience of air travel when he took him away on a film shoot to Ireland, and lets us into the secret of what he wore in bed! Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The kids are getting excited about Halloween and the veterans are contemplating past action and those who are no longer here. In Picklescott village there’s a special nature reserve which demonstrates a sustainable way of living and the Bucks Head in Church Stretton is under new management. We finish with fireworks night at Acton Scott village where they burn an effigy of a traitorous catholic on a bonfire. Timings Karuna 00:51Halloween kids 07:15Remembrance Day 14:43The Bucks Head 21:52Acton Scott bonfire night 27:58Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dorothy used to play on the A49 as a child and keep an eye out for any cars. She talks about what life was like growing up in Church Stretton and the fields where she would play with her friends. Listen to the sort of small pleasures she enjoyed and the changes she has seen in the town since the 1930’s. Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It’s time to order your Christmas turkey and my word they’re looking beautiful and plump on Harton Farm. We speak to some people organising a secret adventure run and we learn about the wildlife that’s been in our gardens this summer from the local wildlife group. The women on the Ring and Ride bus keep us amused on their weekly shopping trip and then the Church Stretton Ukulele band play us out. Timings Christmas turkeys 1:23Wildlife Group 7:17Ring Ride bus 11:50Expendable pensioners 19:00Secret adventure 20:28Ukulele band 24:00Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We had a chat with Brian Pope who lives with his brother David, at Whittingslow Farm. Apart from a Young Farmers trip to Smithfield in London and a day trip to the Welsh coast when he was at school, Brian has stayed on his farm his entire life. He talks about the characters of his youth, Wistanstow Village Hall and contentment with his relatively simple life in Marshbrook.Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
There’s a new art gallery in The Square where you can buy and sell investment art, the mobile library comes to service the good people of All Stretton and we talk to the Police Community Support Officer about his role. We chat to some visitors from South Wales and Pete’s put a long list of things to do in the area in the next few months. We finish with turkeys singing to us.Timings Roger Bebb 1:45PCSO 10:40Flicks in the Sticks 15:50 435 bus stop chats 24:10All Stretton library bus 20:05What’s On 27:18Turkey soundscape 31:00 Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Maureen Pountney grew up in Gogbatch near All Stretton and tells us about life on a small farm with her family. At the age of 6 Maureen would walk to school in Smethcott with her cousin and friends, a journey which took about an hour through fields and along lanes. Simple pleasures were playing hide and seek in the tall bracken and caring for caid lambs in the kitchen. She left Gogbatch and married a professional footballer and they later opened a sports shop on Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury. Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A packed events calendar in the run up to Christmas. There’s flicks in the sticks, pop-up pubs, carols in the square, the remembrance parade, coffee stops, fairs, pantos and fun for all. A lot of voluntary effort goes into putting on interesting events for our rural communities so why not go along to support them. If you’re new to the area, this is a great opportunity for you to meet your neighbours. TimingsRushbury 1:00Cardington 6:23All Stretton 11:52Church Stretton Town Council 16:00Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Will Priestley is well-known in the town for being the son of the town’s solicitor and then the town’s solicitor. He tells us about the characters who helped on the family farm and their unusual courting practices. Post-war life for young boys in Cardington and Marshbrook was full of motorbike racing and fishing. Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We drive over to Gatten at the foot of Stiperstones Nature Reserve to get a tour of The Hollies farm from Rhian and then a cooking session where we discover and create edgy recipes using the hedgerow bounty we picked last week. Connr Furnival talks about his new role as Church Stretton town clerk and then we drive over to Munslow village where we join conservation volunteers from Caring for God’s Acre preserving wildlife in the churchyard.Timings The Hollies farm visit 1:09Pick it, cook it, eat it7:10Caring for God’s Acre15:00Connor the town clerk 21:10Soundscape28:11Caring for God’s Acre https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk/Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We’re off to the other side of the Long Mynd, to a mystical area of the Shropshire Hills - Stiperstones. Here we find John Sproson, who owns the Stiperstones Inn and the shop attached to it. John tells us about village life, how the pub trade has changed and the lack of rich single women in Shropshire. Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Goodbye to the summer with Teas to Please at Little Stretton, All Stretton village show and we go foraging in the hedgerows and fields of the Shropshire Hills in search of free food. We visit a small specialist company doing well in Leebotwood and we head to The Bog to join a group of people studying moths and bats in one of the last warm evenings of 2025. Timings Bats and moths 1:00Foraging 7:57McMillan Holder 15:32All Stretton village show 22:42Soundscape - Teas to Please, Little Stretton 26:54Moth Group and Bat Group https://www.facebook.com/goingwildinbcFind us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We chat to Anne Morris who brought up her young family in a derelict farm in Cardington and tells us about the struggles she and John had to grow the business. Working a job for the Milk Marketing Board, Anne also helped on the farm and brought up four children. We learn about all the people who sought shelter in her house when they had nobody to turn to. The Memoir Service https://thememoirservice.com/Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We visit Blakemoregate Cottages high up on the Stiperstones - an important part of the mining history of Snailbeach. Then we talk to Mary Carter, the new curate at St Laurence’s Church in Church Stretton, we visit New House Farm to see the cattle and then watch The Magpies beat Shrewsbury Junior 8-0.TimingsChurch Stretton Town FC 1:00Blakemoregate Cottages 4:48Mary Carter, curate 12:30New House Farm 18:00All Stretton TK Micro Museum 24:02Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week we have Steve Paige, known to everyone in All Stretton as their former postie and known to many more as the head honcho of our fire station. He’s a Stretton boy through and through and in this interview he tells us about getting his first ‘after school' job as a greengrocer’s boy. What was it like to grow up in Church Stretton in the 70’s and 80’s and what did he and his friends do for fun? Let’s listen and find out. Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We're off to see the kids making bug hotels and also speaking to people at the antiques centre and in the arts festival. The ladies at the knit and natter do more nattering than knitting and Tom Norris from Cardington tells us a few stories of growing up in the area. Lastly, we catch up with the Church Stretton accordion band at Burwarton Show.Timings Bug hotel 00:01:08Tom Norris 00:06:12Knit & Natter 00:12:12Vox pop 00:16:00Soundscape CS Accordion band 00:25:28Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chris Foulkes tells us what it’s like living in a farm which features heavily in the famous Malcolm Saville children’s books. He talks about the fans who come from across the world to stay in his cow sheds. He reminisces about growing up in a simpler time, when food was delivered by the local grocer, and the best fun was to be found with his friends playing in the fields and hills around his farm.The Memoir Service https://thememoirservice.com/Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Summer is bringing archaeology to The Strettons and this time, we’re digging for dinosaur bones with The National Trust in Carding Mill Valley and then chatting to race horse breeder, Richard Wilding about how to breed and break horses. Hand me that helmet and head torch and we’re down the mines at Snailbeach with some volunteer guides and then just up the road, we stop for a piece of quiche and a cup of tea at the famous Bog Visitor Centre. We finish with a very traditional English scene - men in rags and bells, dancing in the Square. Timings Race horse breeding at Ragdon 00:56Snalibeach mines 07:23The Bog Visitor Centre 12:56Carding Mill archaeology 18:31What’s On 24:08Morris Dancing 27:11Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nick Churton is known to many people as a haulage man but there's more to him than moving stuff around the country. He tells us about growing up on Wenlock Edge and moving to Wall Bank and the mischief he used to get up to with his mates. If you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
There’s a lot of fun to be had at the Brooksbury Fundraising in Church Stretton and then at Acton Scott, it’s a village cricket match. We speak to a couple of tourists who have fallen in love with the area, the ponies and the sheep and for those who want to dabble in decentralised finance, we’ve got a how-to guide to starting in cryptocurrency trading. If you’d like to donate 10-15kg of clay to Halima Cassell’s installation, check out the missing countried here https://www.virtuesofunity.com/virtues-of-unity-required-locations Timings Brookbury Fundraiser Dog Show 00:56Village cricket at Acton Scott 04:09Cryptocurrency trading for beginners 09:28Vox pop 15:44Glyn’s Garden 18:37Scrappies 22:40Brooksbury soundscape29:24Find us onlinehttps://thestrettonspod.com/email us: thestrettonspod@gmail.com Support the podcasthttps://buymeacoffee.com/thestrettonspodProducersSian Lovegrove, Pete JohnsonIf you know someone we should speak to for the podcast, please get in touch with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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