What I Packed for Spending a Week in Shropshire *

As you will have seen, we’ve recently spent just over a week in the lush Shropshire Hills and with it being our fifth visit there, I’m gradually getting better with what to pack for the two of us with the ever-changing weather. This year we took a far better amount of bags; I think it was just a large suitcase for clothes, two hand luggage cases for shoes, computer bits and photography props, a bag of wine and foodie bits and the camera and drone bags!

Ok, it sounds like a hell of a lot but for the nine days we were there we had a lot of fun stuff planned which needed to be packed for! So what exactly did I pack that was a little out of the norm for some time away in the UK for late January, early February?!

I think my photography props were a little out of the ordinary as I had a few crazy ideas of shoots I wanted to do whilst we had some time together! I packed a box of smoke grenades, a crystal ball, a box of fairy lights, plenty of batteries, a box of powder paint, two white jumpers and a time-lapse egg timer! We love to use our time when we stay at Bishop’s Castle Barn to be as creative as we can hence the crazy amount of props packed!

So packing a swimming costume to use outdoors may seem like a crazy idea for the time of year but when there’s a hot tub in the middle of nowhere with views of the rolling mountains it’s not such a crazy idea! It also makes even more sense when I tell you that there’s no light pollution in the area so jumping in the hot tub after dinner to watch the most amazing amount of stars you’ll ever see is well worth packing your costume for!

As we also spent a day in Snowdonia we had to pack for the hikes we had planned. We had no idea how the weather would pan out as it changes within seconds when you’re up a mountain! We did keep checking a weather site that would give you the most up to date conditions but we still had to be very prepared. We had to pack walking boots, thermal socks, plenty of layers, raincoats and our gloves and scarves! Mike had his ever trusty River Island jumper on! We even had a couple of rain ponchos in our camera bags in case we got caught out and with the wind levels, umbrellas weren’t an option!

We also take a bag of condiments and spices with us as we stay in self-catered accommodation where we get a Tesco delivery for the week’s food. I don’t want to have to spend extra by buying the spices and sauces we cook with that we already have at home! I use a lot of spices when I cook so it’d cost me a small fortune to replace them all for a week!

Do you ever go overboard when packing?!