New Year Trip 1: Shrewsbury

Sunday 29th December 2024

We have joined our motor-homing buddies, Jeeves, Michelle and their dog Layla for a few days over the New Year break. The first part of our stay is in the Shropshire County Town of Shrewsbury.

Shrewsbury is a medieval town, built on a small hill which occupies a loop in the path of the River Severn. The town is also the birthplace of the naturalist, Charles Darwin who is famous for his work on evolutionary biology. It has a largely unchanged town centre street-plan with over 660 listed buildings, many of them timber-framed.

Many of the streets still bear their original names which reflect what may be found there. Examples include: “Butcher Row”, “Fish Street”, “Milk Street” and “Grope Lane” ….Hmmm!

There is a modern shopping centre, “The Darwin Centre” with shops on three levels.

St Chad’s Church was built in the late 18th century and features a round nave which was unusual and controversial at the time. The building replaced part of the medieval town walls and a tower, which were demolished.

There is a large green space in the loop of the river below the town, called: “The Quarry”. A pedestrian suspension bridge takes you over the river here, but the bridge moves around quite a lot as you cross.

Within The Quarry, there is an area of landscaped gardens called, “The Dingle”.

After wandering around the town, we retraced our steps back along the river to our campsite.

Visiting with a Motorhome:

We are staying for a couple of nights on the West Midlands Showground, which provides a number of reasonably level all-season pitches with good facilities including electric hook-up, showers and toilet blocks. The site is within 30 minutes walk into the town centre and is bookable online via Pitch-up.