Stratford sub Castle Village Website
Salisbury, Wiltshire UK

A new battery has been fitted to the defibrillator outside the Reading Room, Stratford Road SP1 3LL. It has been tested and is working and its status has now been returned to 'Active' on all the relevant emergency systems. The defibrillator had been out of action since Monday 5 October.

Wiltshire Council's mobile library service visits Castle Keep, Stratford sub Castle every two weeks and is now served by an electric vehicle (EV). The new vehicle meets the latest standards for fuel efficiency and emissions - part of Wiltshire Council's wider fleet decarbonisation strategy - with a longer-term goal of moving towards all electric vehicles and expanding EV charging networks across council sites. Source The scheduled dates for Stratford sub Castle have been a

On Monday 5 October, between 11:00am and 3:00pm, members of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon and the Wiltshire Police Scrutiny Team will be at the Market Square as part of a Police Powers Scrutiny Roadshow. They’ll be on hand to: Explain how scrutiny works within Wiltshire Police Share plans for improving how we understand and monitor the use of police powers Give you the chance to watch body-worn video from real incidents Hear your vi

image - café scientifique The October talk will be given by Steve Tonkin who will be talking about light pollution and its effects on health and the environment. Steve Tonkin is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and has written widely on practical aspects of astronomy. He is the Dark Skies Advisor to the International Dark Sky Reserve on the Cranborne Chase National Landscape. He has a monthly column in BBC Sky at Night Magazine, for which he also writes equipment a

Friends of St Lawrence talk - Friday 2nd October at 7.30 pm in the Reading Room. All the tickets have been sold and there is a waiting list in case of cancellations. 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 unfamil

Flowers from a wedding on Saturday 12 September remained at St Lawrence Church for several days and residents were encouraged to view them and to 'Smell the roses" - the scent was wonderful! The flowers have now been removed from the church and a few more images have been added to this small collection. Click on any of the images to view in a larger window. An evening view

We will be welcoming Roger Hirons aka The Plant Doctor, for another visit to our Club. Roger is an expert on plants, ecology and garden design and a published author of ‘Hedges & Living Boundaries’, that he wrote in 2022. The title of the talk is "Putting the garden to bed for the Winter". Roger’s interest in plants began at a young age and after training at Pershore College he worked in plant nurseries, has run garden centres and now has his own garden design and landscapin

News from Wiltshire Council: More booking slots are now available at participating Household Recycling Centres "We're making more booking slots available each day at the Household Recycling Centres taking part in our booking system trial. Since the trial started, we've been looking at how residents are using the sites. We've found that most visits take less than 30 minutes and that there is enough space at the centres to welcome more vehicles. This means we can increase the

The current owner has kindly shared this undated postcard image of Orchard Cottage, Stratford sub Castle. British History Online describes the property: Orchard Cottage, of one storey with attics, has rendered brick, flint and rubble walls and a tiled roof. It was built early in the 18th century and until recently was thatched. Inside, chamfered beams are exposed. The image has been added to the Stratford's Historic houses page.

The newly refurbished village noticeboard was officially unveiled on the 9 September 2026 before the first meeting of the new 2026-27 Guild season, by local councillor John Wells and Elizabeth Byford, a long-standing resident and currently the oldest Guild member. Witnessing the unveiling were Steve Mayall and his original build team, the current Guild committee, and Barbara Mayall (Guild Chair in 2016 when the noticeboard was erected). The Guild hopes the noticeboard continu

The next meeting of the Stratford sub Castle Guild will take place on Wednesday 14 October at 7.30 pm in the Reading Room, Stratford Road, SP1 3LL when Phil Whitemore will be speaking on the topic 'Unsung Heroes - Animals in War'. From ancient times, animals have served the armed forces in wartime. The speaker will be explaining how they have been cared for and recognised with awards and memorials. Doors open at 7.15 pm and the talk will be followed by the usual tea/coffee/bi

After the overwhelming success of our August café, we made sure we had extra seating and extra cakes for our September café, which was the last for this summer season. Once again, we broke all records since we began in 2013, with proceeds amounting to £679 being donated to Old Sarum & Longhedge Pantry. What a great summer season we have had……………….. May I take this opportunity to thank everyone for continuing to support the cafés, whether helping, donating items or just com

Five Rivers Leisure Centre will be offering free access to residents on Wednesday 16 September and Wiltshire Council is offering a number of promotional deals and inviting leisure centre users and local residents to take on a countywide one-mile challenge inspired by this year's theme, 'Powered by You'. Residents are encouraged to complete a mile using a treadmill, exercise bike, cross trainer, rowing machine or by swimming a mile in the pool, highlighting how every step, st

'Censored' - speaker Miranda Pender Norah James Miranda told us of the intriguing tale of Norah C. James (a late member of her wider family) and the obscenity trial of 1929. Norah was born in London in 1895, into a wealthy, but disjointed family. She was left with a very negative view of marriage. She was also deeply affected by a history of mental health in her family. Before taking up writing Norah had numerous careers including as a nurse during the First World War

A national charitable group, Ramblers UK, organises short 'Wellbeing' walks in the Salisbury area. Included in the current programme are these walks local to Stratford sub Castle: Thursday 17 September at 10.00 - meet by the footbridge near Five RIvers Centre A choice of a 60 mins or a 90 mins walk. Friday 18 September at 10.00 - meet at the café kiosk in the centre of Victoria Park 30 mins Details and joining instructions are here: https://www.ramblers.org.uk/go-walking/wel

"...... the "BUS LANE" wording itself requires a specialist hand-lining crew, and unfortunately this element couldn't be completed at the time as specialist resource was unavailable." extract from an email from the Highways Agency 2 September 2026 As highlighted in an earlier newspost, drivers should be aware that the bus lane lettering has not yet been fully reinstated. This is confusing drivers - in particular visitors to our city - who will assume all these lanes are av

News from Wiltshire Council "Current Government policy requires Wiltshire to plan for around 3,500 new homes each year, making it important that local people have their say on how the county develops. Growth is something Wiltshire needs to plan for, and local feedback will help to ensure new development supports communities and brings the right benefits in the right places. Find out more about the Wiltshire Local Plan and share your views at Salisbury Market – Tuesday 8 Septe

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)