Under the Sun at Clun

Clun is enfolded by enticing green hills on all sides. It may have been settled as early as the Bronze Age; certainly by the Iron Age there was some sort of community there. But it was the Saxons who first settled in any numbers. Later, the Norman Picot de Say built a castle here around 1099 and laid out a new town in a regular grid pattern, which still survives. Clun was granted its town charter in the 14th century and is still, strictly speaking, a town, but it looks and feels more like a village. There is lots to see, including the substantial castle ruins, 12th-century church, 15th-century packhorse bridge, 17th-century almshouses, 18th-century town hall and any number of charming cottages.

Equally interesting, but not so well known, are the literary connections that abound in Clun. E M Forster visited the town, which subsequently featured as Oniton in his novel Howard's Way, published in 1910. One of his key characters, Margaret Schlegel, is totally captivated by the romance and magic of this corner of the Marches, and it's not hard to see why. Clun is easily recognisable from Forster's descriptions and it's clear that he spent some time here.

The castle, with its great keep and commanding site, is said to have been the inspiration for Garde Doleureuse in Sir Walter Scott's novel The Betrothed, published jointly with The Talisman as Tales of the Crusaders in 1825. Scott is believed to have stayed at the Buffalo Inn while working on the book. More recently, playwright John Osborne lived near Clun and now lies buried in the churchyard. The best known literary link is with A E Housman, the author of a timeless collection of poems called A Shropshire Lad. Housman famously described Clunton and Clunbury, Clungunford and Clun as 'the quietest places under the sun', though it seems he was only appropriating a traditional rhyme, in which the adjective was infinitely variable.

Clun also featured in Valley With a Bright Cloud, a ghost story written by Gareth Lovatt Jones in 1980, while nearby Clunbury became the adopted home of Ida Gandy in 1930. A writer and the wife of a country doctor, Gandy set out in an old Baby Austin to see rural England. On arriving in Clunbury she was so captivated that she decided to stay. The family settled in the village and Ida continued to write, and to broadcast too, with most of her work inspired by Shropshire. Her most famous book is An Idler on the Shropshire Borders, written in 1970, around 25 years after the Gandys had left Shropshire for retirement in Dorset.

Where to eat and drink

The 15th-century Sun Inn (also known as the Sun at Clun) is inviting, but so are the Buffalo Inn (where Sir Walter Scott stayed) and the White Horse. All three welcome children, are highly thought of by people who know about beer, and have gardens, so dogs should be no problem. There are tea shops too - Clun Bridge Tea Room is in several guide books, but The Maltings and Bridge Crafts and Coffee Shop are just as good.

While you're there

Take a peek into the beautiful gardens of Trinity Hospital, in Hospital Lane, which are open to the public, but do respect the residents' privacy. The hospital comprises almshouses founded in 1614 by Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, for 12 poor men, who were summoned to prayer by a bell and subject to a curfew. Today, the almshouses accommodate 15 residents of both sexes, under more liberal conditions.

What to look for

The wood on Black Hill has a ground cover of whinberry, or bilberry as it is called elsewhere. It produces delicious summer fruits which used to be picked on a large scale by Shropshire people, who would sell them to traders for a few pennies a pound. Some pubs and restaurants in south west Shropshire still offer the local speciality, whinberry pie.