The Wrekin has been a local and tourist location for many decades and offers fabulous views, walks and exercise.

Unfortunately the business that ran the Halfway House from 2018-2021 has now ceased trading. However, we still hope the Halfway House will have a future as a community venture.

Past Events that took place in 2021

All run by the Halfway House on the Wrekin Community Interest Company (CIC) led by Jenny Joy – we thank everybody who helped us and made these events possible

Thursday 28th October Afternoon tea took place in our Pavilion. It included a tour of the house and a chance to look at our history display of the Halfway House (which includes items found within the grounds and information on its past inhabitants) put together by Amy Joy. 

Tuesday 26th October: Dog Photo Shoot.

Sunday 24th October: Afternoon tea in the Pavilion as above

Quiz Evening 15th August 2021 

Open House Evenings from 5pm-7pm  ‘drop ins’ from the 17th to the 21st August. 

Past 2020 Events

Mike Williams from Butterfly Conservation West Midlands  joined us for a spring tidy up on 11th March. It took place both in our pollinator garden and in our wider grounds to encourage more wild flowers to grow.

 

 

 

 

 

Supported through the AONB Conservation Fund, by the Shropshire Hills AONB Trust

Saturday and Sunday 22nd & 23rd February CPR and Defib training

Two drop in CPR and defibrillator training sessions were run at the Halfway House by Telford First Responders. Many people dropped in and gave it a go in our pavilion and some even tried it at the top of the Wrekin despite the changing weather conditions.

       

Our vegetarian and vegan food supplier Molly also ran her pop-up kitchen at the same time which was well appreciated by many who enjoyed her wonderful food.

 

 

 

Monday 17^th February Drop in Painting of Rocks and Geology session

This was jointly run by Caroline Freeman (Rock Painting) and Andrew Jenkinson (Geology) with lots of rocks being painted and some adults learning a lot more about the Geology of the Wrekin.

                                     

 

 

Supported through the AONB Conservation Fund, by the Shropshire Hills AONB Trust

2019 Past Events

On Saturday 7th December  Richard Thomason ran a Christmas Willow Workshop for us. This was very popular with positive feedback from all the participants.

   

On Sunday 1st December we held a Christmas lights switch on event – special food and drink were available and a number of the people were present who have helped to make the Halfway House what it is now. The Wellington Mayor Anthony Lowe  officiated and we had our very own Father Christmas present for the first time. Our tree (which we obtained from the local Raby Estate who were kind enough to deliver it to us) looked fantastic.

          

On Saturday 30th November a Children’s bird activity drop in session was run by the Halfway House team

Children had a chance to come and make their own bird feeder to hang in their garden, complete a bird focused treasure hunt and identify some of the birds we regularly see in our garden such as our regular robin visitors

   

Thursday 31st October – A Children’s Halloween activity session was run by the Halfway house Team. This was very successful and we plan to run more similar events in the future (see above).

        

Tuesday 29th October – Children’s Woodland Art Session was hosted by The Art Lady – The Wrekin is a great place for looking at all sorts of trees, which provide great inspiration for art. The autumn is a great time to focus on the leaves on the ground. The session was a great success and we are hoping to run similar events with the Art Lady in the future

 

Saturday 19th October – Halloween broomstick Willow Workshop was led by Richard Thomason  where participants enjoyed making mini witches besom brooms. We aim to repeat this next year.

        

6^th August – A drop in learning about pollinators session took place in the garden of the Halfway House with David Green together with a craft activity for children led by Amy Joy. During this event many pollinating insects were recorded in the garden including 14 hoverflies, 7 bees, 8 butterflies and 3 moths. A species list of what has been planted in the new part of the garden behind the information board is now available at the kiosk.

       

Supported through the AONB Conservation Fund, by the Shropshire Hills AONB Trust

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July 14^th – the Moth breakfast at the Halfway house followed by a walk to identify butterflies and moths on the Wrekin was led by Mike Williams from the West Midlands Branch of Butterfly Conservation. If you are interested in helping with any future moth trapping sessions at the Halfway House please let Jenny know. jenny@halfwayhouseonthewrekin.com

Supported through the AONB Conservation Fund, by the Shropshire Hills AONB Trust

 

 

 

July 6th – A willow craft session making flowers, fish and snails was led by Richard Thomason from Small Woods and enjoyed by all.

       

Supported through the AONB Conservation Fund, by the Shropshire Hills AONB Trust

 

 

 

On Sunday 17 February the Halfway House ran an information session on Shropshire Wildlife Trust’s ‘Feed the Birds’ project. This is a ground-breaking approach to helping people who are lonely and/or socially isolated to get closer to nature by feeding the birds in their garden with the help of a volunteer. This session was led by one of the project’s long term volunteers, Jenny Petch, who provided general advice about feeding birds and how you can become involved with this project in the Telford area.

CJ Wildlife has been sponsoring bird feeders at the Halfway House for the past 12 months. These can be seen at the back of the house and are proving to be very popular with local birds.

2018 Events on the Wrekin

Wrekin Relay Challenge

  Photos courtesy of the Wrekin Relay Challenge Team

 

Halloween Activities at the Halfway House

 

Christmas willow workshop at the Halfway House 

Participants were able to weave their own willow Christmas trees, reindeer, stars and wreaths at this workshop  led by willow crafter Richard Thomason.

The property has been a favourite resting place for generations of walkers visiting one of Shropshire’s most famous landmarks. Located roughly halfway up the steep trek to the summit of The Wrekin, over the years, this former Hunting Lodge has been a popular stopping off point for Wrekin ramblers with a café selling hot and cold drinks and snacks for those looking for a refuel and a stop to enjoy the views and re-energise.

The Georgian property sits on a plot that includes a former dance and dining Pavilion, an outdoor seating area and extensive grounds Over the years many walkers have called in for cups of tea and a former operator made the place famous for a delicious plate of ham & eggs. The Halfway House has also been the perfect place to get a bacon butty with ice cream for the children.

The renovation was a real passion project for owner Sean Saward who used to love stopping off at the house when he lived in Trench more than 40 years ago. The main photo of the Halfway House on this site was taken by John Hammond while he was staying with a relative in the area. Thank you to John for allowing us to use his photo.

We obtained planning permission to turn the old Pavilion back into an indoor seating area in 2018. The photo below shows the inside of the pavilion in its heyday.  This restoration work is now completed and we opened it up to the public for the first time at the end of October 2019 (see the refurbished room photo below) so our visitors had somewhere warm to sit whatever the weather. Unfortunately, the Pavilion has only occasionally been used since the Covid outbreak and the house subsequently went up for sale in May 2021.

The old pavilion in its heyday….

The pavilion early 2019…..

The pavilion December 2019……

With new chandeliers and windows that have a fantastic view…..

The Halfway House kiosk is now closed. The company that ran the business there from 2018-2021 (led by Jenny Joy) has now ceased trading.

The Halfway House on the Wrekin Community Interest Company still hope to acquire the Halfway House as a community asset and will be continuing to try to raise the funds in order to be able to do this.

As the company that ran the business at the Halfway House from 2018-2021 has ceased trading there is currently nobody to contact.

There are some fabulous walks around us.