A STRAIGHT TALKING NEW ZEALAND LIFESTYLE BLOG

May 15, 2013

Visiting All The English Counties 8/48Exploring Shrewsbury, Shropshire

In my quest to visit all the counties of England in one year, I dragged G off to the beautiful county of Shropshire on a bank holiday weekend (he hates to leave the house on a bank holiday weekend, he’s English and suffers from Henny Penny syndrome where the sky is always falling).  I had a list of places that I wanted to explore in Shropshire and exploring Shrewsbury was at the top of my list…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…ummm possibly so I could eat a Shrewsbury Biscuit!  Have car, will travel for food!

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

^^Can we all thank G for taking an almost respectable photo of me for once…I don’t actually look 9 months pregnant in the said photo…tired yes…pregnant no!

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

I’d grown up eating Shrewsbury biscuits in New Zealand so it was time I tried them in Shrewsbury and I was lucky to find some gluten free ones (here is my Gluten Free Guide to Shropshire).   We enjoyed a mug of tea at the Market Buffet tea room which has been operating for decades inside the Shrewsbury Market Hall and it seems to be a favourite for the locals as it was heaving plus it has some cute little views over Shrewsbury.

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

The market is located under the 1960’s clock tower…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…and has lots of treats for foodies…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…say hello to a regular sized scones Shropshire style…big enough to feed a family of 6!  The stall holder was giggling at me as I took photos of his cakes and scones…you could tell I wasn’t from Shropshire hehe.  A word of warning: these aren’t gluten free!

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

Leaving the market behind we enjoyed the delightful rain and puddles that were springing up all around Shrewsbury…we took this as an opportunity to do a bit of retail therapy…the sky wasn’t the only thing weeping, so were our credit cards…G thought Shrewsbury was really good for shopping and I have to agree.  We had a wander around in the rain admiring the beautiful old buildings in the square…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…there was a lot of activities taking place as there was a book festival on and the town was busy…there was a real feeling of community spirit which I’ve found missing in other areas of England…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…to secret little passages…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…beautiful architecture…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…to men with bows in their hair, Shrewsbury had it all!

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

We popped inside an antiques market and found a million and one pieces that we wanted to buy but held off as we were going to Peru a few days later (we didn’t in the end) so we popped inside The Gallery Tea Rooms for lunch and waited for the rain to move on.  Finally the sun arrived so we headed off to explore some more…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

^^The BBC Britain instagram account featured this photo yesterday…how cool is that!

…G has realised that the way to make me happy is to let me take copious amounts of photos of wobbly buildings without him nagging or complaining in my ear…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…he had the patience of a saint that day…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…of a saint!…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…or maybe it was because he bought something and knew it was better for him not to complain as he would get a look…my mum taught me well!

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

Unfortunately it did decide to get a bit overcast again…but on a bright side it makes for better photos so I can’t really complain too much…other than having difficulty trying to balance an umbrella, a ten tonne handbag and a camera looking for a perfect angle!

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

^^This was my favourite photo from our day out exploring Shrewsbury

I loved the mixture of buildings in Shrewsbury, there’s something for everyone…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…the structured lines…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…a mixture of old and new…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…gorgeous red brick buildings…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…and more wobbly buildings…

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

…and pretty little churches!

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

We ended up sitting down on the bench for a little bit enjoying the beautiful colours of Shrewsbury…I told G that I could quite happily move to Shrewsbury…I’m kinda over the whole Tall vs Grande world that we currently live in and just like the simplicity of getting asked if I want a Cup or a Mug of Tea…remember when life was simple?!?

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

Welcome to Shrewsbury!  Such a sweet little place to explore.

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Telford which was a good base for exploring Shrewsbury, the Iron Gorge and Bridgnorth (more on those soon…I didn’t want to give you all RSI!)

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

Have you visited Shropshire before?  Did you fall in love with the county?  What’s your favourite spot in Shropshire?

England Travel InspirationThe perfect day trip exploring Shrewsbury in Shropshire, one of England's most beautiful counties and a real hidden gem. Shrewsbury is brimming with history and is the birth place of Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury biscuits! Click the link to read my Shrewsbury Travel Tips and where to find the best gluten free food while travelling the county.

You can read more about the county of Shropshire via the official tourism page.

xx

If you liked this post on Visiting All the English Counties 8 / 48 – Exploring Shrewsbury, Shropshire then why not come and join me on TwitterGoogle+InstagramFacebook and Pinterest – I won’t bite!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG VIA EMAIL

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Search
Search