Landscape that inspired novelist Mary Webb

Early evening on Lyth Hill, near Shrewsbury - this was my view looking towards the Stretton Hills.

Landscape that inspired novelist Mary Webb

Beyond the patchwork of fields on the right is Caer Caradoc, with the unmistakeable ridgeback shape of the Lawley to the left.

Earlier, the heavens had opened and I had to take shelter under a tree, but it was worth the half-hour wait to be confronted with this wonderful sight.

This was the landscape that inspired Shropshire-born novelist Mary Webb.

Mary loved Lyth Hill, and it was while she was living here at Spring Cottage that she wrote The House in Dormer Forest as well as many of her poems.

A bronze bust of her now stands outside Shrewsbury Library to commemorate the centenary of the publication of her first book, The Golden Arrow, in 1916.

Published by Shropshire and Beyond on

2023