Shropshire is a county of contrasts. South Shropshire, especially the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is for many people quintessential Shropshire. It’s the ‘blue remembered hills’ of AE Housman in A Shropshire Lad. It’s the Welsh Marches – your destination for castles and picturesque villages. South Shropshire is all about Ludlow, Bridgnorth, Bishop’s Castle and Church Stretton, and seemingly infinite footpaths for walking and exploring. At the southwestern edges it’s the Clun Valley and Clun, the ‘quietest place under the sun’.
Read MoreNorth Shropshire reaches from Oswestry, almost in Wales, across the Shropshire Plain towards Cheshire and Staffordshire. Here we have canals for leisure and wildlife-watching, plus meres and mosses with biodiverse habitats and timeless scenery.
Oswestry and the other North Shropshire market towns like Ellesmere, Market Drayton and Whitchurch are characterful and are dotted through this peaceful Shropshire countryside.
Wonder at Thomas Telford’s legacy just over the Welsh border at Pontcysyllte World Heritage Site and then slowly follow the canals as you explore this lesser known part of our rural county of Shropshire.
Find out more about Oswestry here
Read MoreIn central Shropshire is Shrewsbury, our county town, almost islanded by the River Severn. Nestling inside the loop of the river is a charming town with an abundance of striking timber-framed buildings which house some of the best independent shops you’ll find anywhere. Original Shrewsbury is definitely a one off!
The town was the birthplace of world-renowned naturalist, Charles Darwin. There is an imposing red sandstone castle – now a regimental museum – as well as a beautiful park known as the Quarry which every summer hosts the world-famous Shrewsbury Flower Show.
You can follow the river as it meanders through more of Shropshire. Don’t miss the little timber framed church at Melverley or a visit to Wroxeter, harbouring the impressive remains of Uriconium/Viroconium – Britain’s fourth largest Roman city. Close by the deer park and gardens introduce you to the impressive mansion that is Attingham Park.
East of Shrewsbury is newly developed Telford Town and Ironbridge Gorge. The latter is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its contribution to the Industrial Revolution. It’s hard to find evidence of industrial output there today: the Severn Gorge is lush with greenery and it’s fun to explore the ten museums in and around it.
Take another day out and you could be visiting the world famous Cosford Aerospace Museum or, for a splendid stately home, don’t miss Weston Park.
Now we’ve told you a little about Shropshire’s destinations, when are you coming to see them?
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