00:00The facilities that the village has got. I mean, Ponspey has always been a big village.
00:05I was told that at one time it was the biggest village in England.
00:08Not sure if that's true or not, but it's a big area.
00:11Ponspey Parish is a particularly large parish, especially for a rural area.
00:16But Ponspey and the surrounding areas has got all the facilities you want.
00:19We've still got a police office in the village. We've got a library.
00:22We've got a community hub called the Pavilion, which has all sorts of things going on.
00:28We've got Public Hall and other halls in the village, which have lots of yoga, exercise classes and that sort of thing going on.
00:35There's an active drama group. As regards shops, we've got three food shops in the village.
00:42We've got a cafe. We've got two Chinese restaurants.
00:46There's all sorts of things going on. The U3A group is very active in this village as well.
00:52The University of the Third Age. You don't know what U3A is.
00:55And there were just lots and lots of classes, so nobody could ever come to Ponspey and say,
01:00Oh, there isn't much to do, because there was lots going on.
01:02We could do with a bit more youth commission, perhaps.
01:05I'm on the parish council and, of course, I'm the local Shropshire councillor for this area as well.
01:09So, ideally, we could do with more things for youth activities.
01:14But we're working on that and hoping to do more soon.
01:17Amazing. Thriving little village, then. Or big village.
01:21Yes. Big village, yeah. And the surrounding hamlets as well.
01:24Asterley, Haberley, Pleerley.
01:27They're all quite active, but they centre around Ponspey because Ponspey has got the facilities.
01:32Amazing. And the people who live here?
01:35People who live here? Well, I've lived here all my life.
01:38Of course, I always say to newcomers that have moved into the village.
01:42It's very nice when you chose Ponspey.
01:44It is expanding fast. We've had a lot of estates built.
01:47Some people think Ponspey is a little bit too big now, but it's, in a way, it's more like a mini town.
01:52We have a very active parish council.
01:54And I say to people, why did you choose Ponspey?
01:57And they would always say, because it's still got all the facilities.
02:00It's not lost its shops.
02:03We've got less pubs now, admittedly, than we used to have.
02:06I remember when there were seven in the village, which is a lot.
02:09Now we're down to, well, too many active ones.
02:12But there's just so much going on in Ponspey, and that's why people like Ponspey,
02:16because you don't necessarily have to travel.
02:19It's not too far up to Frewsbury, and there's a good regular bus route.
02:23But unfortunately, the trains don't run anymore, because Ponspey did have a railway station,
02:28which I don't remember. I'm not old enough.
02:30And you're obviously surrounded by a beautiful countryside as well.
02:35Yeah, that's a big thing about Ponspey.
02:37My daughter and I like going for walks almost every Sunday, if we can do.
02:41And there are so many walks around here.
02:43We've got a disused railway line, which goes for a couple of miles,
02:48and we're trying to get that extensive to go further.
02:51But we're right on the edge of the Shropshire Hills area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,
02:58called Natural Landscapes now, I believe.
03:00But there are just so many different types of walks.
03:02And if your mobility isn't that good, and you don't want to do the steep slopes,
03:07there are lots of places.
03:08There's also a place called Happy Valley, which is really nice,
03:11but we're heavily brought ones down through the gorge, the far side of the hill.
03:16And there are just so many different types of walks that you can do.
03:19And how long have you lived in Ponspey?
03:2127 years.
03:23Amazing. What brought you here?
03:25My husband retired. We lived near Western Supermare.
03:29My mother had died. We had no one to keep us down there.
03:32We said, we'll see where our four children end up.
03:34One is in North Wales. You can see snow.
03:37The other is in the north of the Lake District.
03:40One at the time was down in the South, but I didn't want to stay there.
03:44And the fourth one is over near Wellington.
03:46So we tried to put ourselves in the centre of them all.
03:48And I used to love them. I used to cycle up and down the borders a lot.
03:52And I always felt very safe, and it was a lovely area.
03:55People would say, aren't you afraid going off on your own?
03:57I'd say, no, I love Shropshire and Holyfordshire.
04:00We came here and they had everything.
04:02They had all the things on our list.
04:03We had a bus route.
04:04We had a local shop.
04:05We had churches.
04:06We had clubs.
04:08Just everything.
04:09Amazing.
04:10And it's lived up to all of your expectations.
04:12Definitely. More than that.
04:13Yes.
04:14Wicked.
04:15And how do you find the people, your neighbours?
04:17Oh, very nice.
04:18Yes.
04:19Especially nice, the ones who have lived there all their lives.
04:21You hear about the history of the village.
04:23Because of lots of newcomers.
04:24But where I live, it's mostly the older people.
04:26Yeah.
04:27Amazing.
04:28And you're still enjoying living in the marshes, South Shropshire-ish.
04:31Oh, definitely wouldn't live anywhere else, no.
04:33Tell us now.
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