Hi my lovely readers!

A few weeks ago, just before Christmas, I managed to squeeze in a little weekend trip, my last trip of 2021 to the beautiful county of Shropshire to visit some of the many sights around Oswestry and Shrewsbury.

It was a lovely trip full if different activities and I loved every minute of it, but my favourite part was spending one full day in Shrewsbury.

Shrewsbury, although a little market town located in Shropshire in England, is rather significant. It’s the birthplace of Charles Darwin and an architectural gem when it comes to Tudor and medieval architecture.

There’s a ton to see and do in Shrewsbury to keep you busy and for every sort of budget.

Here’s how I spend one day in Shrewsbury, Shropshire!

Shrewsbury Prison

My day started with a visit of the Shrewsbury Prison. It’s for sure a bit of a different visitor attraction compared to your museum visits. The fee to enter the museum is £15 per adult, but if you book the ticket in advance online, at least the night before you want to go, you can get a discount.

Shrewsbury Prison was operating until 2013, for more than 200 years. It was build during the Victorian times and the exhibitions are all about high profile cases and hangings, the living conditions of the prisoners and what their day to day used to look like.

It’s super interesting and a bit creepy at the same time. If you’re really adventurous you can even try to escape from prison in one of the prison break events or spend a night in one of the cells.

After our prison tour, which is by the way located just next to Shrewsbury train station and Shrewsbury Castle, we headed towards the town centre and our next stop the Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery.

Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery

This museum is such a gem. It’s one of the many free attractions that Shrewsbury has to offer. The Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery is educational and diverse at the same time and covers many different time periods and topics, all linked of course to Shrewsbury and Shropshire and also Darwin.

You can tour the different galleries including: Roman Gallery, Shropshire Gallery, Medieval, Tudor and Stuart Galleries and the Special Exhibition Gallery.

Interesting Fact: Did you know that the Romans already had underfloor heating?

I was really impressed by this little museum and its staff. Everyone was super friendly, and made me feel so welcome in Shrewsbury. One elderly man was so knowledgeable and passionate about Shrewsbury, it was infectious.

We for sure spend more time than originally planned in the museum.

Market Hall

Next up was the indoor Market Hall. Shrewsbury has two markets. One traditional market located in the town square that hosts farmers markets, Christmas markets and the like, which in fact is just outside the Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery and an indoor Market Hall.

The indoor Market Hall is open Tuesday to Saturday and is a shoppers paradise when it comes to unique, handcrafted and quirky items. Here you can find food stalls selling fresh fruit and veg, as well as artisan pastries and fresh meet from family run butchers. Other stalls sell handmade and vintage items, old records and antiques.

Amongst the versatile stalls you’ll also find hip and character rich cafes, bistros and restaurants serving all sorts of delights.

After my thirst for some retail therapy was quenched, it was time to move on to the next sightseeing item on the list, which was a simple stroll around the town centre to admire the beautiful architecture of this old market town.

Taking a Stroll around the Historic Town Centre

Shrewsbury is a medieval market town with over 600 listed buildings, some dating back to the 15th and 16h centuries. One characteristic that shines through are the timber framing buildings. Many are located right in the town centre hence very close by. Most of which have been converted into pubs, shops and hotels.

Shopping

You can combine your sightseeing tour easily with some shopping if you like. Shrewsbury offers a great mix between your standard high street shops and many independent stores not just in the Market Hall, but around the many streets and side streets.

The best is to wander around and get lost. Well, the town centre is not huge, but just go of the track a little and really explore.

Church of St Mary the Virgin

While we were wondering the streets of Shrewsbury we came across the Church of St Mary the Virgin. I like visiting churches as I’m always impressed by their interior, the stained glass windows and the likes.

We headed inside and were greeted by one of the church clerks who was eager to show us around and point out some significant items in the church. He explained the story of the stained glass window, the main feature in the church, which was fascinating and how a local artist restored it.

After our little history lesson we decided it was definitely time for a late lunch so started to look for a suitable pub

Pub Lunch/Dinner

Finding a pub wasn’t that easy to be honest that was still serving food. It was 3pm by the time we decided to have something to eat and wondered around for a little while before we found a suitable pub with pub grub.

We wanted to eat in a pub that was in one of those medieval timber framed buildings and found a few of course, but they all stopped serving food between 3 – 5pm roughly.

When we almost gave up hope we did find one though and happily ate our Fish n’ Chips and relaxed a little as we were up all day long.

By the time we finished our meal it was dark (we visited just before Christmas) and already time to drive back home to London.

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I loved my trip to Shrewsbury and It was one of my favourites for a very long time.

Do you have a favourite British village/town/city?

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