The Dingle, Quarry Park, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England

What now is a riverside public park once was where stone for Shrewsbury's buildings was quarried. There's scarcely any sign of that now apart from the depression in which you'll find The Dingle. It's all planted up with trees and shrubs these days, so it is hardly the type of sight that you'd associate with a quarry. There are ponds there and walkways around them. At one end, there even is a statue of the goddess Sabrina, a deity forever associated with the nearby Severn.

Young people had congregated there the crisp winter afternoon when I paid it a visit. Though it was not the sort of day for staying still, I suppose that they'd come on the coaches that I'd seen parked near St. Chad's Church earlier. Later, I later saw them full of young folk as they left for the day. It may be an attempt to put two and two together with many of those going wrong more often than not, but I am willing to take that risk in these musings.

In any case, no one was perturbing anyone else and I enjoyed my little trot around the narrow confines of The Dingle, which seems to have dawn until dusk opening times and is surrounded by a railing. One of its gates can be seen in the above photo among the mainly bare trees that are typical of midwinter. There's an evergreen example among them too along with a weeping willow that seems ever attractive in spite of the season. Including photo of St. Chad's taken from The Dingle was very tempting, but the long shadows cast by low winter sunshine directed me towards what I picked here. Thinking about it now, the appearance of foliage on surrounding trees must make this place feel very secluding, an oasis of surprising provenance not far from a town centre. These have their uses.