48 HOURS IN…Ludlow

When your streets are as lauded as Ludlow’s, it’s hard living up to the hype, but the south Shropshire market town rises smoothly to the challenge. Described by John Betjeman as ‘probably the loveliest town in England, with its hill of Georgian houses ascending from the River Teme to the great tower of the cross-shaped church’, it’s also home to an imposing (ruined) castle, built when the town was a seat of government, presiding over Wales and the Marches between the 15th and 17th centuries.

The town’s rich Georgian heritage is a testament to another glory period in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Although Ludlow’s prominence