Stratford sub Castle Village Website
Salisbury, Wiltshire UK

Friends of St Lawrence talk - Friday 2nd October at 7.30 pm in the Reading Room. Our speaker will be Clare Waddell, who many of you will know as a fellow resident of Stratford sub Castle. Clare is a dietitian at Salisbury District Hospital and has worked in the field of nutrition for more than 30 years. Clare's talk is titled "Can We Make Stratford sub Castle a Blue Zone?". For anyone unfamiliar with the term, Blue Zones are regions of the world where people not only tend to

The first 2026/2027 season of talks arranged by the Stratford sub Castle Guild will begin on Wednesday 9 September. Membership of the Guild s £15 pa and guests are welcome to attend any of the talks for £5 perr evening, with tea/coffee/biscuits included. The full programme is on this webpage: https://www.stratfordsubcastle.org.uk/guild-2026-2027-programme The details of the first talk on 9 September are in the poster below: Enquiries: Jenny Stone Tel: 07511 226828 Email .

The first meeting in the 40th year of the Garden Club is on Thursday 24 September 7.15 pm for 7.30 pm in the Reading Room SP1 3LL, opposite St Lawrence Church. Our speaker for this first meeting is Laura Hall - her talk is entitled “Creating Sustainable Wildlife Features in your Garden”. Laura is a gardener and garden designer – as many of you will know if you visited her lovely garden during the June “Open Gardens”. The meetings following this are: 29 October “Putting t

Please note that the mobile library will NOT be visiting Castle Keep, Stratford sub Castle on the scheduled date of 26 August. No reason has been given for the cancellation.

The latest Newsletter explains how essential watering of the plants and trees is being managed despite a hose-pipe ban imposed by Wessex Water on 19 August.

Early this morning, whilst photographing the Parsonage Farm swallows settlling on the telegraph wires, this large bird flew slowly and effortlessly past. The swallows weren't at all concerned by it. Following similar sightings reported on an earlier newspost, it is tempting to identify it as a White Tailed Eagle. (I will ask more knowledgeable people.) the odd markings in the lower part of the image are window reflections (taken from indoors)

One Network advises that Stratford Road between Waters Road and Castle Road is scheduled to be closed today with a diversion in operation.

Having reported that our household waste bin hasn't been emptied as scheduled today, this was the message received: Please leave bins at the kerbside until they have been emptied.

Our 6 September Café to be held in the Reading Room, Stratford Road SP1 3LL will be the last café of the summer season, so make sure you don’t miss out. The Café will be open from 2.30pm until 4.30pm. We will be stocking up on our famous cream teas, savoury alternative and delicious homemade cakes and there will be more bargains on our seasonal garden & kitchen produce table, and our pre-loved books table. (Cash payments only please.) Proceeds from our September Cafe wi

Google image - BEFORE the road resurfacing The scheduled night-time closures at Castle Roundabout have now finished. However, this is a warning that the road has been resurfaced around Castle Roundabout but the lane markings haven't been completed. With heavier traffic driving through Salisbury than normal as a result of the A31 closure - plus the usual seasonal holiday traffic - confusion was evident this morning regarding which lane to use. 'City' and 'A36' have not yet

The Village Noticeboard is now back in use. It is used by our local Groups to advertise their events and also - subject to space being available - for posters published by local charities and not for profit organisations. Printed posters can be left in the folder kept in the porch at School House, Stratford Road. Original Newspost dated 26 July 2026 As announced in the latest Parish Magazine, the Village Noticeboard is to be refurbished. It was built and donated to Stratfo

According to Royal Museums Greenwich, This will be the most 'coverage' seen from the UK and Ireland since the 1999 solar eclipse, The Royal Observatory Greenwich will be live-streaming this event, "we will be live streaming the eclipse using one of our modern telescopes, giving you a chance to watch this big event safely. Coverage will start live on YouTube and Facebook from 6.10pm." Here is a link to the YouTube stream: https://www.youtube.com/live/X_lWDBTZdrY Do you have a

2026 Reported sighting in or near Stratford sub Castle 22 August Tentatively suggested as a WTE See Newspost 6 August Another sighting of a Jersey Tiger moth Details added to the Fauna 2 photo album 23 July Jersey Tiger moth see the second part of this newspost 14 July Queen red-tailed bumblebee Image added to Fauna 2 photo album 3 July Japanese knotweed - not good news.. Details in the newspost 22 June Another brood of swallows fledged today https://www.stratfordsubcastle.or

The Environment Agency has published its latest Newsletter, reporting on progress to date. More pathways and play areas alongside the river have recently been opened, happily coinciding with the school summer holidays. Screenshot of page one of the 4-page newsletter. Download the complete document below. In February 2023, the Stratford sub Castle Guild arranged a talk by the Environment Agency's Project Manager Andy Wallis, to inform local residents of the plans. You can r

The Salisbury Wildlife Spotters' Group arrange regular sessions to observe and record wildlife in the Avon Valley Nature Reserve. Dates and details are in the poster below.

Wiltshire Council has announced a pilot booking system at six Household Recycling Centres - including our nearest one, Salisbury. From Monday 14 September bookings will have to be made in order to visit the following Household Recycling Centres (HRCs): Devizes Lower Compton (near Calne) Melksham Purton Salisbury Stanton St Quintin (Chippenham). You can book up to 7 days in advance, including same day bookings (subject to availability). You'll need a Citizen ID to access the b

Probably not a butterfly hidden in this image, but a dead leaf.. Over the past few days, several butterfly enthusiasts have visited Stratford sub Castle hoping to obtain a clear sighting of a Hairstreak butterfly thought to be resting in a tree near Parsonage Farm, Stratford Road. You may have seen the visitors standing patiently at the roadside with binoculars focused at the upper branches of the tree. Meanwhile, a beautiful Jersey Tiger moth came willingly into our house ye

One of our readers has sent these five images with the comment - "I took these photos to capture the impact of the dry summer and heat waves of 2026. Feel free to use them if you think it would serve as a good record on the website." The images above were taken on 21 July 2026. I have stopped counting how many days there have been since there was any significant rainfall in Stratford sub Castle. The photo below - taken from Mill Lane bridge today - demonstrates the low water

We had a lovely sunny day for our July café, which meant we had a lively, busy time, with proceeds amounting to £514 being donated to the Mothers' Union – Virtual Baby Project. With the usual choice of outdoor or indoor seating, these visitors chose the indoor option. More images are in the 2026 Cafés photo album - see link below. We are hoping our luck holds for our August café on Sunday 2 August, open from 2.30 - 4.30 pm, so that you can continue to enjoy our delicious

After a summer break, our 2026-27 season will begin on Wednesday 9 September. Full details of our new programme will be published in the September edition of the Parish magazine and here on the village website. The Guild is a friendly group that meets on the 2nd Wednesday** of each month from September to June for a varied programme of talks and social events. Recent topics have included ‘The Woman who saved the Nation’, ‘Responding to Disasters’, ‘Artificial Intelligence –