Walking Up Cusop Dingle

I've been trying to do more walking, and Saturday was fine and mild so I decided to head up Cusop Dingle. I have memories of collecting a delicious mushroom called The Prince from Cusop Churchyard - it's a brown capped mushroom - but that was twenty years ago, and there were none there when I looked this time.
I looked into the church while I was there. It's good to see that it is still kept open - and it was lovely to see that they have a kettle and tea and coffee there for anyone who wants to make a hot drink, too.
I came out of the lych gate and down the footpath beside the earthworks of Cusop Castle, just a mound now, but once part of a group of local castles with Hay, Clyro and Mouse Castle, who would signal to each other with beacons when danger approached.
At the bottom of the hill is the mill that was converted, around 1910, to produce electricity for Brynmelin, the house above it on the next hill along, and one of the first houses to have electricity in the area.
The Dingle is still an area where home owners are keen to generate their own power - there are lots of solar panels on roofs, and one of the houses takes part in h.energy, the Herefordshire week of celebrating green energy. They have a little water wheel/generator in the Dulas Brook. The brook used to power quite a bit of industry - there was a paper mill (and there's still a Paper Mill Cottage, with a lovely garden), and there was a brick works further up the Dingle.
Near Ty Coch farm, I ran into the Hay Walkers, who had been doing a circular walk from the church - they were heading back as I was going up, and said they had had a very enjoyable walk.
There's a cottage I've always liked, a bit further on. You can only get to it across a footbridge over the Dulas Brook. It used to be screened by trees on this side of the stream, but they've all been felled. It must have been done quite recently, because the field is looking very raw now. I don't know what they're planning to do with the ground. On the other side of the road, though, the trees were looking beautiful in their autumn colours. That's where I stopped this time and turned back.