Las Vegas couple take gamble with visits to Shropshire

Shropshire really is a different world for John and Christine Kirk.

Every year, they swap the bright lights of Las Vegas – the entertainment capital – for the dark, starry skies of a sleepy rural market town.

And the annual 5,000-mile pilgrimage is all meticulously planned in advance by the couple reading the Shropshire Star online.

"Since my husband and I rediscovered the area in 1997, we return every year as we've made so many friends in the area," explains Christine, whose mother was born in Wem.

"What a great place Shropshire is to call our 'home away from home', and it is wonderful being able to keep up with the area all year round by reading the Shropshire Star online."

Retired casino worker John, 64, and fundraiser Christine, 63, first began returning to England in 1993 to attend David Winter carnivals – David being the maker of miniature English cottages which they collect.

"In 1997 we had my mum draw up a map of Wem's High Street so we could go exploring," explains Christine.

"When John and I found Wem that morning in 1997, I found it to be pretty much the same. And that is what I love about England – it's steady, whereas Las Vegas is forever imploding and making things bigger and flashier."

Trips provide the opportunity to visit places where family members lived and to tend the family plot at the cemetery.

"My mother and her family are all gone now but we keep the flame going in her honour," adds Christine.

Of course, their trips to Wem inevitably lead to ventures across wider Shropshire.

"John and I have been all over the beautiful shire, from top to bottom, and even though all roads lead to Wem and we always end up back there, we love the Long Mynd and the Wrekin," Christine continues.

Other favourite destinations include Ludlow Castle, the mere at Ellesmere to where her mother would ride her bike as a girl, while Much Wenlock, Whitchurch and Market Drayton are described as 'great little spots to shop and have a tea'.

"We adore market days in the various towns – I have my list all set to go so we'll know which days are what for market days.

"You can't do that here in Las Vegas – go to an open air market and browse and buy fresh veg."

Traditional pubs are short on the ground in Vegas too, so topping up a traditional visit is a must.

"Oh, do we like to just sit in a pub nursing a pint, having a curry and watching and listening to life as the English lead it!"

Tales of their trips are all logged. Christine explains: "I have a journal from each visit over since 1993 – always handwritten up until 2009. Now I type it all up and then print it out after returning to Las Vegas, tucked nicely into a loose-leaf binder with stickers and such.

"I've collected beer mats for all these years and frame each year's bounty and they are a beautiful reminder of our time in England."

And flicking through their journals triggers many fond memories.

Friendliness and willingness to help is the hallmark of the Brits – if all goes to plan. But one incident is memorable for its Frank Spencer qualities: the time when, in full 'Frank' style, one passer-by helping them to reverse their rental car succeeded only in ushering them straight into a lamppost.

But in return for stocking up on Shropshire life, John and Christine proffer parts of Vegas.

"We bring over Las Vegas calendars for the following year and everyone seems to love them. We hand out Las Vegas key rings and T-shirts also," says Christine.

A visit also provides a chance to stock up on British goodies unavailable in the States.

"We love all the shops in Shrewsbury, and besides our 'charity shop finds' I always take home my supply of English tea bags.

"I cannot abide Lipton's over here!

"There are make-up products that are not on the shelf in the States, so I stock up.

"Of course we'd always have our supply of Cadbury chocolates but being that the American company Kraft unfortunately bought them out it isn't the same any longer, and that is very sad, but it saves on the calories."

Looking forward to their next visit in the autumn, the pair can also confirm that Shropshire remains something of a best-kept secret to many people in the States.

"When people ask us where we visit in England, we say 'Shropshire' and naturally we get blank looks - we have to tell them it is bordering Wales and then they get it.

"But we like it that way because it means our Shropshire is so undiscovered. We don't like crowds and that is why it is always England for us in the off-season.

"We'll be there for three weeks in October and we hope it is chilly and wet, because the heat and dryness of the desert here gets very old as you can imagine."

Avid watchers of Coronation Street (via the internet), the surrogate Salopians even made it onto an episode called Coronation Street Las Vegas Adventure.

"Believe it or not, John and I were extras and in two scenes with Jack and Vera – super nice people."

Shropshire is certainly a nearer place, thanks to the wonders of the web.

Christine explains: "I look at Shrewsbury all the time via the council webcams – and was disappointed when it went from four cameras to two, but it is better than nothing.

"I am an Anglophile and proud of it, I suppose you could say."