Climb up Earls Hill
by Jivegirl
There are some great walks around Shrewsbury.
We stayed with friends in Shrewsbury for a long weekend and having visited the Wildlife Trusts
Visitor Centre at the Abbey Foregate we downloaded their free mp3 guide at our friends house and decided to spend the Sunday afternoon at Pontesbury and follow the Trusts audio walk up Earls Hill.
Its a lovely walk with some marvellous views, certainly the walk to the top of the hill at the trig point is worth, it even if it was an extremely windy day when we visited. There are some amazing anthills in a field, and the audio trail told us some of the local legends about the Devils Chair, as well as pointing out the natural sights we should expect to see. Though I didn't exactly fall over any dormice on our trip. I particularly liked the old mans reminiscences about the farm.
Well worth doing especially as it is free and may get those technology obsessed kids out for a walk with the bribe of an ipod.
It can be freely downloaded from the Shropshire Trusts website www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk
or from another good website
www.audioguide2go.com which also gives access to loads of other audio walks and trails in the UK and abroad. A lot of them are free
If you do the walk the parish church is also worth visiting.
The Severn River
by antistar
Snaking around the town like a comforting arm, the river Severn has been the lifeblood of the city for centuries. Dependent on the wool trade for its profit, this market town relied on the Severn to bring trade and profits to and from the centre of England. Today the Severn is less vital to the town, but still provides a glistening frame to photograph the town from as you criss-cross its many bridges.
Shrewsbury Castle
by MarvintheMartian
Shrewsbury Castle is half way up Castle Street and has excellent views over Shrewsbury and towards Wales.
The oldest parts of the Castle were built between 1066 and 1074, during the reign of William the Conqueror. There were additions over several centuries. Later, in the late 18th century, Thomas Telford remodelled the interior as a private house. The Castle was acquired by the Corporation of Shrewsbury in 1924 through the generosity of Shropshire Horticultural Society.
The Castle houses the spectacular collections of the Shropshire Regimental Museum Trust including pictures, uniforms, medals, weapons and other equipment from the 18th Century to the present day.
Costs about £2 for entry to the Castle, although it seems you can walk around the gardens and walls for free. Maybe I was just lucky?!
Laura's Tower
by MarvintheMartian
Laura's Tower was built by Thomas Telford as part of the remodelling of the castle in the late 19th Century for the town's MP, Sir William Pulteney. Today it offers fantastic views in all directions and particularly over the Severn towards the Abbey, the Column and to the Wrekin and Haughmond Hill.
A Shropshire Town
by antistar
The train, A Shropshire Lad, drew us through the rolling green hills of a county that oozes Englishness, pulling in and depositing us at its core, the thoroughly English county town of Shrewsbury. Here you will find, sitting on a hill above the languid Severn river, a thicket of half-timbered houses, wandering through tight and winding lanes, overlooked by dozens of church spires of all shapes and sizes.
Its Englishness is in sharp contrast to the land a few miles west, the valleys of deepest North Wales. In Shrewsbury they speak a refined, soft English and the streets are alive with well-dressed children moving to and from well-appointed schools. In the valleys they speak Welsh, a language more alien to English than Slovenian, they raise sheep on hard, wind battered hills.
Shrewsbury is a small, wealthy English market town that sits right on the Welsh border. There isn't a huge amount to see in the town, but it makes a great stopping off point on the way to the more natural beauties of North Wales. You can wander its quaint streets for an hour or two, and enjoy a coffee or a meal before getting back on the Shropshire Lad and heading off to face the hardships of climbing Mount Snowdon.
Sign in with Facebook
St. Chad's, Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury Abbey
Shrewsbury Streets
St. Alkmunds and St. Julians, Shrewsbury
