Nine rooms on Dinham
A Georgian house three minutes from the castle gate, with a walled garden and a casino in the coach house at the end of it.
Built in 1768 and lived in ever since
Dinham runs from the castle gate down to the river, and we are the third house along. It has three bays, a fanlight still holding its original glass, and a walled garden behind that is longer than the house is tall.
It belonged to a wool merchant first, then to a doctor for most of the nineteenth century, then to a single family from 1911 to 1998. Guests have stayed since 2001, and nine rooms is as many as it will hold without butchering it.
Rooms
Nine
Built
1768
Castle gate
Three minutes
Breakfast
7:30 to 9:30
Four kinds, nine rooms
Fanlight
Over the front door, with the two sash windows that look straight down Dinham towards the castle gate.
It is the best room in the house, and its floor is the worst: it slopes two centimetres towards the window and always has.
Garden
Back of the house over the garden, with the walnut outside the window and the wall beyond it.
Quieter than the front, which matters on a Saturday in food festival week.
Walnut
The one ground-floor room, with its own door onto the garden path and a step-free bathroom.
It was the morning room until 1974 and has the better fireplace of the two that still work.
Attic
Two rooms under the roof with dormers and ceilings that nobody over six foot should stand up suddenly under.
The cheapest beds in the house and the only ones with a view over the rooftops to the Clee hills.
- Every room has a kettle and good tea, and from October there is a hot water bottle in the wardrobe.
- There is no television in the rooms; the one in the snug is usually off.
- The floors are the originals and most of them slope. The house dates from 1768 and has never been levelled.
- Walnut, on the ground floor, has level access from the garden path and a step-free bathroom.
Breakfast, and supper four nights a week
Breakfast
Half past seven to half past nine in the dining room, at one table of ten. The bacon is from Ludlow, the eggs from the farm at Bromfield and the bread from the baker on Castle Street.
Supper
Thursday to Sunday at half past seven: three courses, with no choice of dish. There are ten places, and house guests are offered them first.
The snug
The small room off the hall, with the other working fireplace. A decanter of something sits on the sideboard, with an honesty book beside it.
A casino at the end of the garden
The coach house stands at the bottom of the walled garden and is part of the house. The casino shares the house's Ludlow address and has five tables and a bar, open three evenings a week.
From the front door it is about sixty paces down the garden path, which is lit and gritted in winter. Guests must be 18 or over, and photo ID is checked at the door on every visit, house guests included.
A castle, a market, and hills in three directions
The castle gate is three minutes up the road and the market square is six. The market runs four days a week, and the food festival in September fills every bed in town, ours included.
The riding stables on the Bromfield road take guests out along the river for a morning. We will book it for you, and they are good with beginners. Walks start at the end of the street, on the Teme path and Whitcliffe Common, with the Mortimer Forest beyond.
Three minutes from the castle gate
Address
6 Dinham
Ludlow SY8 1EJ
Shropshire, United Kingdom
Telephone
+44 1584 872 240
Email
[email protected]
The door
We answer the door from seven in the morning until eleven at night. After that, ring the bell, which sounds upstairs, and somebody will come down.