Day two of our trip found us heading to Bridgnorth to the Severn Valley Railway to board a steam train for the 16 mile trip to Kidderminster. Bridgnorth is a lovely little station with it's own pub
and it even has a station cat called Puddles.
Of course MWM, being a steam train fanatic, took lots of photos of the engines at the station but I'll just show you a few.
The train journey was very pleasant along the banks of the River Severn and, as we had a coach allocated to our party, it gave us the chance to get to know some of our fellow travellers.
When we arrived in Kidderminster we had about an hour there to get something to eat and explore. We chose a lovely pub called The Swan, where we had a very nice sandwich and a pint of local ale, then had a quick look round before heading back to the coach for our next excursion.
The Swan, Kidderminster
inside The Swan, Kidderminster
Kidderminster Town Hall is a lovely building and was right opposite The Swan.
Our next stop, after lunch, was to the Red House Glass Cone at Stourbridge, where the famous Stuart Crystal was made. In the heart of the glass making industry, the 18th century Cone was used for the making of glass until 1936. Reaching 100 feet into the sky it is one of only four remaining in the country. A brick making factory was built specifically to make the bricks to build the cone. It is now a heritage site with exhibitions, live glassmaking and craft studios and there are fine examples of Stuart Crystal, past and present, in the museum.
This is the view of the top of the cone from inside.
Inside the Cone
Some of the items made there
Glass Curtains
We also watched a demonstration of Glass Blowing shown on the short video below, look out for the popcorn at the end.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Glass Cone and would have loved to have spent more time there but unfortunately our coach was waiting to take us back to the hotel for dinner.
I hope you enjoyed todays excursions and will join me next time for the RAF Museum at Cosford and Blist's Hill Victorian Town.
