Niall,
If driving down from the north my inclination wouldn’t be to aim for Church Stretton but instead to play Delemere Forest or its next door neighbour Sandiway, which are both just SW of Manchester/M6, and then head to Welshpool for the Friday.
If feeling braver and more adventurous and time permits then after Delemere/Sandiway you could loop along the North Wales coast taking in the likes of Conwy, Nefyn(?), Harlech and Aberdovey and then head to Welshpool.
After Kington assuming time is are available I’d head for the likes of Minch’ Old, Painswick, Cleeve and then drive back northwards taking in some of the courses mentioned in my and Duncan’s earlier posts.
As Sean alludes to above, the likes of Welshpool, Church Stretton, Kington (to a lessor extent), Painswick and Cleeve require quite a bit of strong leg climbing so it would be worth considering carefully which hilly courses to play other than Welshpool and Kington. Some of the other GCA iconic options, like Minch’ Old, are fortunately nice and flat and easy to walk.
atb