My first night in Shropshire was at a farm with a very Welsh name

I've long believed that the first night I spent in Shropshire was at the Sun Inn, Clun, in 1987.

Reader (suspiciously): This isn't going to be about Snailbeach is it?

No. If you'll let me finish...

That summer I walked part of the Offa's Dyke Path. It was my first attempt at such a holiday, so I didn't realise the importance of walking every day, and I took a weekend out for the bookshops of Hay-on-Wye and another day to travel from Knighton to Llanelli and back on what they now call the Heart of Wales Line.

On the way back, I got out at Knucklas, the station before Knighton, and found bed and breakfast at a nearby farm called Monaughty Poeth.

The River Teme forms the border between England and Wales for a stretch here – or rather its course as it was in 1542 does. The Teme must have been lapping at the farm's walls if they stood in the 16th century, but Monaughty Poeth is clearly just over the border in England and, more importantly, Shropshire.

You can see the farm in the photo above and, thanks to the wonders of the net, I can send you to a lovely obituary of the lady who must have cooked my breakfast the next morning:

Joce and Jim moved from their home at Brackenway down to the main farm at Monaughty Poeth in 1982, where Joce became the perfect farmer's wife as well as doing Bed and Breakfast, belonging to the South Shropshire group.