Bradt Guides Shropshire Slow Travel 3

Part of Bradt's distinctive, award-winning series of 'Slow' travel guides to UK regions, this, thoroughly updated third edition of Shropshire (Slow Travel) remains the only standalone guidebook to provide in-depth coverage of England's largest landlocked county. Although often overlooked, Shropshire is remarkable - "the nearest earthly place to paradise," according to author P.G. Wodehouse. The county has been touched by every era of history the British Isles have known: Bronze Age people, Iron Age tribes, Romans, Saxons and Normans all left their marks in hillforts, earthworks, roads, churches, place names and legends, while Shropshire's position at the once-turbulent Anglo-Welsh borders has left a legacy of castles, castle ruins and fortified manor houses, all carrying stories of clashes and feuds. In the north, flat, fertile plains plus meres and mosses give way to hills, valleys and woodland in the south. In the Shropshire Hills ('quintessential Shropshire'), Church Stretton was popular with Victorians for its Alps-like air and is an ideal walking base for the Stretton Hills and the Long Mynd. Bishop's Castle is home to a 'poetry pharmacy' and the country's oldest working brewery. Genteel Ludlow is a nationally famous foodie destination: Britain's 'Slow Food capital' hosts four of the county's nine Michelin-guide Bib Gourmand restaurants. Southeast Shropshire has Bridgnorth, with its quirky cliff railway joining Low Town to High Town, and Much Wenlock, birthplace of the modern-day Olympics.