Stokesay – Dexter

The review of 2025

My yearly review of what happened to both Lenny and I, usually doing stuff together. Sometimes we undertook shenanigans and adventures separately as, apparently, we behave better when we are apart. Who knew, beagles getting together causes fun and games. Anyway, here goes.

JANUARY

The year started (and almost ended) with yours truly in the Cone of Shame. My ears were playing me up something rotten and it would take a long time to get to the bottom of the problem. We did manage to snooze an awful lot as well as have a lovely walk along toward Lady Halton from Bromfield.

FEBRUARY

We reacquainted ourselves with Ludlow in early February, followed by a trip to the Elan Valley and then topped it off with a stroll along Carding Mill Valley. In between times we snoozed and (allegedly) got under the feet of our staff. We were very lucky that the weather was kind to us in February and we enjoyed some days out and about, despite it being a bit chilly.

MARCH

As the days became longer we decided to do some adventures separately so Lenny went for wander around Wart Hill followed by a joint return visit to Carding Mill Valley. This time however we trekked along to a place called Light Spout Waterfall which was more of a trickle thanks to the lack of appreciable rain. The path was still slippery enough for some uneven footing on the part of the assistants.

APRIL

As the year stretched before us, we decided that our helpers should take us further afield so we followed our noses on a little excursion to Croft Castle which was fun. We snoozed as you would expect in between the bouts of shenanigans and exploration. Lenny decided to take his allocated human on a trip around Stokesay Wood, Sallow Coppice and back to the house. Both were somewhat tired once they reached home.

MAY

It was my birthday so I took Lenny along to Wirral Country Park to meet with Sasha and her mum. We had a great time of course. We followed that journey up with a trip to a warm and rather verdant Attingham Park near Shrewsbury. Again it was great to get out and scent somewhere. Sadly May was also a thoughtful month Curfew took her final stroll to meet all those who have passed before, over the Rainbow Bridge. There was so much sadness among the BeagleBugClub members, which was tinged with love for having known Curfew.

JUNE

Summer was here and the thermometer was rising. We slowed down, wandered about the garden, walked earlier in the morning and generally tried to be careful in the heat and humidity. Lenny did manage to get some hay bale leaping done though, in honour of Charley, Boot and Griff.

JULY

As June melted into July the temperature remained high, the walks continued to be early and snoozing was practised quite regularly. The assistants were kept busy making sure the vegetables and fruit in our garden were growing well enough to be enjoyed once they were ready. We did manage trips to Carding Mill Valley and Mortimer Forest near Ludlow. Not that Lenny looked like he enjoyed himself much.

AUGUST

The summer seemed endless. The temperature rarely dropped and the snoozing rarely stopped. Our days out were dictated by early morning shenanigans and wooded walks to avoid the heat of the midday sun. I did get a snazzy new cooling mat to keep my body temperature at a reasonable level. We also made it back to Attingham for an early morning stroll. Both Lenny and I had numerous visits to the v-e-t in August so we couldn’t really go out too often.

SEPTEMBER

The temperature cooled and the days started to shorten. Fruit and vegetables from the garden were being harvested and we started to have later walks during the day. Lenny strolled up the hill to Dinchope, I was trussed up in the Cone of Shame and we wandered around the town all the while thinking we live somewhere with nice scenery right on our doorstep.

OCTOBER

Chillier evenings were coming back into fashion, albeit with warm days allowing for us to continue our wanderings both near and far. The trees of Mortimer Forest held many scents, we managed a 10k circuit around one of the local hills and even a return trip to Carding Mill Valley. In between all of these adventures, I was at the vet more times than I care to remember.

NOVEMBER

As the clocks went back, the evenings started earlier and our log burner was lit more frequently. Lenny and I decided to surprise Sasha and her mum, who had arranged a meet-up with our friends Smudgey & Ted at Royden Park on The Wirral. The heavens opened for a few days and the field to the front of the house became the biggest duck pond. Attingham Park called to our senses once more and the mornings became misty and ethereal.

DECEMBER

The year was rounded off in some style. I was allowed out of the Cone of Shame as my ears were beginning to feel better after numerous visits to my second home, aka the vet. I must say that the vets are very nice, even though I appear to complain about them. We went for a walk up to the gliding station on top of the Long Mynd, on the recommendation of our friend Griff that we would be able to see all the way into Wales. Sadly it was so foggy that we hardly saw the paw in front of our noses. Christmas Day saw us on to of the Long Mynd via Carding Mill Valley. for the second year running it was a lovely day although somewhat breezy. We finished December with a trip to Erddig National Trust near Wrexham with five of our friends for company. It was a lovely walk, just right to round off the year.

What does 2026 hold? Don’t ask me. Lenny and I have had an excellent year, met up with so many friends, travelled quite widely and explored more locally. Hopefully we will get out and about more often in 2026 albeit with the caveat that it’s not too strenuous for an older beagle like myself. I have to be careful not to overdo stuff now that I will be 16 in May. We have again lost far too many pals over the year so we remain mindful of our mortality. Our grief over their loss is tempered by contentment that they have been friends and we are honoured to know them.

Whatever 2026 holds for you, please make sure you try to get out and about to enjoy yourselves. Be more beagle.

Lenny’s lazy wander

A short blog to celebrate Lenny going on longer and more interesting walks. We often don’t get walked together as we tend to try and outdo each other in the idiot stakes. Same scent, same bit of field food, bashing into one another whilst dragging our respective parental along, that sort of thing.

So it was last week that Lenny decided he would take a path less travelled and drag dad along for the fun of it. Along the lane and cross the road, through the Discovery centre and then traverse the big road to find themselves on the lane leading to Stokesay Castle. Lenny walked straight past the castle and continued to the railway level crossing. He waited patiently for dad to check for trains and then open the gate to cross the tracks (very carefully people!!). Along the dirt track and uphill to the edge of Stokesay Wood where the forestry operations were underway. I think they are removing the non native trees and replacing them with broad leaf native varieties.

As the turned right and hugged the lower tree line, Lenny was forging ahead and making sure that dad didn’t slack behind him. Under fallen trees, over fallen trees, through muddy swamp puddles and all the while following the path as it curved away through the cool shaded woodland. They arrived at a stile which Lenny couldn’t get over ( or under) so it was decided that they would follow the path for a while longer. Only after another mile or so did they see a sign that said “Private, no public access” but they didn’t have much of a choice as they were most of the way along the lane. Continuing to the end of the gravel track they appeared on a road much less travelled and turned right back towards home. Lenny was flagging at this point and they found a small stream so he could have some water to renew his vigour. On they marched, over the hill and down past the smaller wood called Sallow Coppice. Across the next busy road and they found themselves on the back roads through the town and onto the common in front of our house. Arriving home it was as much as Lenny could do to have another drink and eat his breakfast. He retired to the sofa to sleep off his exertions before he could recount his tale to me.

I was very impressed at his 7 mile walk. I think he will do it again. I am also pleased that he is getting to find his paws on walks that he enjoys, despite it being without me to “guide” him.

I never realised

Until I blogged yesterday I hadn’t realised what we had done between our adventures on the train to Ludlow in late March and our sojourn to Wart Hill last Sunday. Here is a precis of our shenanigans, sorry I meant to say our adventures. 😀

Firstly Lenny discovered Sallow Coppice, a small wood close by Stokesay Wood. He said it was so quiet and pretty that he needed to explore every leaf, twig and fallen branch. Our dad however had different ideas.

We welcomed another beagle parent to our house, this time one from Houston Texas who was visiting the UK. We got chew toys which we played with quite nicely.

The field in front of our house dried out significantly and I could stroll down by the river, taking in all the sights and scents that accompany a meadow.

Sometimes Lenny and I are walked separately as avid readers will remember. We tend to drag our respective parent around after the same scent so they think its calming for us to walk separately to discover new things. In this regard Lenny found the back road to the next little hamlet of Lower Dinchope which he eagerly explored.

In the meantime I was discovering Stokesay Castle and all its interesting features. We swapped stories and then adventures at a later date.

In early May we accepted the offer of a guided tour from our good friend Griff to go and explore the bluebells at Hope Bowlder. Griff is a rescue like Lenny and me, so we always try to look out for his wisdom.

Lenny and I then swapped routes and he discovered Stokesay Castle, whilst I strolled up to Dinchope to see what all the fuss was about.

The route toward a place called Sibdon Cawood was next to be crossed off our list of places to explore. This walk involved traversing fields of wheat or barley as well as strolls down very quiet lanes. I must admit that there is a welcome dearth of traffic here.

At the end of May we had a visitor from Yorkshire, another beagle called Hector. We couldn’t play as he had a poorly paw and I was very overexcitable so we were banned from exploring the garden without supervision. Actually we were banned from the garden, full stop.

Then we took on the challenge of a 10 km circuit around Wart Hill via Cheney Longville which is a village named in the Domesday Book. Our exertions caused us to feel rather tired for a few days after our walk, which cheered our parents up for some reason. 🙄

Lenny decided to take dad to a place called Flounders Folly as a precursor to all four of us making the trip some weeks later.

The road past Stokesay Castle and the path through the lower part of the wood was the next assault on Lenny’s visual and nasal senses, with him doing the precursory legwork for a future visit.

In early July we made sure that everyone who went to vote was behaving themselves.

This was followed by our combined trip to Flounders Folly for a lovely view over the surrounding countryside.

Finally we welcomed another beagle visitor to our area. River was visiting Griff and we were so happy to show her around the meadow.

In between all these excursions we have been making sure that the fields and side roads, especially those leading to the Discovery Centre have been regularly pounded.

Phew, I never knew we packed so much into our first 4.5 months. I think I need to go and lie down.