Spring freeze takes its toll on Shropshire
The worst spring freeze in years continued to take its toll on Shropshire over the Easter weekend as events were called off and beauty spots were closed to the public.
The recent snow caused officials to shut Hawkstone Park and Follies, a popular tourist attraction in north Shropshire, on what would have been one of its busiest weekends of the year.
Despite the return of sunshine, this weekend was declared the coldest Easter ever, with a temperature of -12.5C (10F) recorded in Braemar, Scotland. In Shropshire, it limped to about 5C (41F).
A spokeswoman for Hawkstone Park said: "We have had to close the follies due to the snow. We have reviewed it each day but have decided to close them.
"It is a shame as it's usually our busiest weekend and we have had lots of phone calls about it, but you can't do anything about the weather."
Meanwhile, the organisers of Eyton Races were also forced to call off today's event – in its 90th anniversary year – due to the recent bad weather.
Last year's Grand National winning horse Neptune Collonges had been due to appear at the traditional race meeting on Eyton on Severn, near Shrewsbury.
Phil Jones, chairman of the Eyton Races Organising Committee, said he hoped the horse would return for the North Shropshire and South Shropshire Hunt members' race on May 6.
But the cold weather did not put off visitors to Attingham Park, near Shrewsbury which welcomed around 2,000 people on Good Friday.
Attingham Park's head warden Bob Thurston said: "The car park was full to the brim which is good given the weather.
"On the first sunny day after horrible weather you can be inundated with people and I'm sure this will have happened at attractions across Shropshire."
Meanwhile, Shropshire garden centres reported encouraging trade following a difficult start to the year.
Dorothy Clive Gardens in Willoughbridge, near Market Drayton, welcomed around 600 visitors to the first day of its bi-annual plant hunters fair yesterday.
Curator Marcus Chilton-Jones said the garden centre had suffered in recent weeks. "We didn't bother opening last week in the snow as it was a bit dangerous but this weekend has been reasonable promising for us."
