Week long UK break in... Shropshire?

Would Shropshire fit the bill?

In short, yep. I have a mate who retired there who likes to do all the things you like to do, and he's always doing them, the jammy get.

Things I've gleaned from him:

- Alderford Lake (and various canals) for paddle-based activities.
- Royal Hill for great pub grub and rive views https://royalhill.co.uk/
- More quiet roady lanes than you can shake a stick at

We've done a couple of weeks down that way over the years

lots of nice walking and biking round the long mynd. Much wenlock is quite pretty, and there's lots of historical stuff around ironbridge. Shrewsbury is lovely - we did a nice day out on a canoe down the river with Hire A Canoe
https://hireacanoe.com/

We've had a few weekends in Shropshire over recent years.

We tend to be a bit more castles and old towns than running and cycling, but these are the places that we have visited:

Shrewsbury

Ironbridge

Ludlow

Black Country Museum (like Beamish with different accents)

RAF Museum Cosford

National Trust / English Heritage

• Stokesay Castle
• Attingham Park
• Wroxeter Roman City
• Kinver Edge rock houses
• Wightwick Manor
• Boscobel House

All worth a look if that sort of thing floats your boat. Beautiful part of the world.

FWIW, were >this< close to moving there

Great stuff. Cheers m'dears. All looking positive so far.

Very under rated Shropshire. Llangollen canal is very scenic. Great cycling round there and the Long Mynd. Ludlow town and castle are worth a visit

Not been in a long time but growing up, my parents had a caravan on a little site at Wentnor which sits between the Long Mynd and the Stiperstones. Shropshire is like the Peaks without the crowds is how I remember it. Beautiful countryside!

Shropshire is an odd distance for us. Not far enough away for a week's holiday but just a bit too far for a day out. Hadn't considered going there until a few years ago and now we are there for a long weekend every year, global events permitting.

I moved from Yorkshire to Shropshire (near Oswestry) about 5 yrs ago.

Shropshire is a stunning county, very rural and one of the lowest populations in the country. It has the Berwyn Mountains in the west, large areas of extensive plain to the north west, the Long Mynd, and the south of the county is rolling hills.

You would probably need a car to explore and make the most of it as the 'attractions' are quite spread out. From Oswestry to various places - Ludlow 1hr, Alderford 1hr, Telford 45mins, Bala 45-1hr, Llangollen 30mins.

running (offroad) - Not great - most of the county is farm land with very little access. Exceptions Long Mynd / Stiperstones, Berwyn Mountains. There are other areas of forestry too.

cycling for me (gravel and/or road) - as above most areas are farmland so not much gravel. However the road riding is exceptional, in fact I would say the best secret in the country with miles of small lanes either on the flat or hills. I go out for 3-4hrs and will not pass a car, some of the country lanes are practically gravel. in fact some sections around our way are genuine gravel roads. Mountain Biking is less good IMO. great for DH/Enduro but not for XC / Trail apart from Long Mynd

paddleboarding and kayaking - Not limited, but not as extensive as you would think. You can hire SUP & kayaks on some parts of the canal network, Alderford as described above (but thats a long way from anything else), the River 7 near Montford Bridge, there is also a place near Wrexham where you can take your own. lake Bala is really the meca though, or the National White Water centre is not too far from Bala. Lake Vyrnwy also does stuff.

be careful using OS Maps. Some areas are so quiet that the paths / BW's no longer exist... or a farmer has decide to block them. Even established footpaths (Offas Dyke) can get over grown as they see such little use.

A picture I took on one of my local road rides with the Berwyn Mountains in the background. Weirdly though most of what you see in the picture there are no legal rights of way.

If your camping then have a look at Small Batch campsite.  Two good pubs within easy walking distance and a lovely location.

We're very much debating moving there to Hopton area... you can get a decent bit of course for your money and would give the lad some epic MTB areas to play in.

We’re very much debating moving there to Hopton area…

Hopton as in Nesscliffe ? We looked at houses there, and now not too far away. We love living here. Houses are cheaper, but then wages are lower too.

Very few downsides for us to the area, other than our son plays football to a high standard and we spend most of our life heading towards the big cities !

Shropshire is like the Peaks without the crowds is how I remember it

Correct we were amazed when we first moved down here, and still are to this day. We can go out on a bank holiday and do a beautiful walk and not see a single person

You're missing a trick by excluding mtb from your list of activities OP. Shropshire is brilliant for mountain biking.  I moved here 8 years ago, I'm retired and I haven't stopped pinching myself at my good fortune yet. I'm typing this from a cafe stop having gone for a morning cross border motorbike raid into mid Wales. This afternoon if the rain holds off, I'm going to drag my pedal bike to Hopton or Bringewood.  Rinse and repeat tomorrow probably 😀

Hopton as in Nesscliffe ?

Hopton as in Hopton Castle area, Bucknell etc, somewhere quiet and villagey.

Wages don't play a facotr as we'd be staying in current jobs.

I grew up in Shrewsbury so I'm biased, but I think South west Shropshire is one of the best kept UK secrets. Really quiet, so beautiful. I'd recommend the longmynd, the stiperstones, stop in at the Bridges pub, nip to Montgomery and Bishops Castle (possibly catch some live music and food at the latter), wander to the stone circle at Mitchell's Fold, visit Ludlow and get some posh food.

Lots of great MTB trails at Eastridge forest when I was there, but I might be out of date on that!

A good base to visit mid Wales too.

stop in at the Bridges pub

Thanks, that’s just brought back some great memories of my childhood.

I live about an hour away, so regularly down there with the dog.

Just did the Shropshire Six - a walk starting at Corndon and taking in Stiperstones, Long Mynd, Caer Caradoc, Brown Clee and Titterstone Clee.

A beautiful part of the world

I live on the Worcestershire/Shropshire border.

For quaint old towns with museums, castles and antique shops, Ludlow is excellent. Bridgnorth is good.

For industrial history; Severn Valley Railway and Ironbridge Gorge Museums. Both world class at what they do.

I see a lot of kayakers and paddle boarders paddling past me on the River Severn. You can even hire a boat one way and get a steam train back upstream from Bewdley to Bridgnorth.

Mountain biking. I agree, a lot of bridleways are overgrown through remoteness and lack of use. Clee Hill is mostly rideable with spectacular views.

Clee Hill is popular for walking as well, although 'popular' by Shropshire standards means once you're away from the carparks, you could spend all day Sunday up there and meet 10 people.

Road cycling; easy to get from A to B or make up a loop on lanes through sparsely populated areas.

@rjmccann01 - we'll rent a cottage but thanks.

@blokeuptheroad - I'll be taking just a gravel bike or  just a road bike, tbh.

As usual some great advice from everyone. Very much appreciated.

Plenty of gravel to be going at in Shropshire if you know where to look. Highly recommend starting in Craven Arms and following Wenlock Edge and on to Shrewsbury. About 65km and a huge percentage off road. GPX on request 😜

Kerry Ridgeway is also absolutely stunning. Feels very remote and scenery is lush. Have a route planned from Newtown and back to Shrewsbury, yet to tick it off though.

Cross Cartel from Ludlow worth looking at for routes also.

Feel free to DM me and I'll let you in on some Salopian treats.

I live in Shrewsbury and I am very outdoorsy, Shropshire has plenty to keep you occupied for a week including the Long Mynd, Stiperstones, Eastridge Woods,  Clee Hill and Ludlow.

About an hour away are Pistyll Rhaeadr and The Berwyns etc.  Also the Wyre Forest (my previous back yard) is worth going to for some great mountain biking.

Ride Asterton Bank, and thank me later.
Stopped in Church Stretton for a week and didn't scratch the surface of things to do. Will return at some point.

Lots of lovely countryside and fab cider from local corner-stores

Long mynd around church Stretton.

Offa's dyke around Kington (not Knighton!), great countryside. Just realised Kington is Herefordshire but it's also south of Manchester, also sells apples and they also talk funny

Talking funny on Kington: The Radio 4 thread.   They once did two dramas set in Kington, and they talked really funny.  Not one local accent in either of them.

Being a "funny speaker" from South of Manchester was great fun when teaching in Scotland - nobody could work out where I was from.

Plenty of gravelly goodness around the edge of Shropshire - Ludlow, Wyre, Knighton north or south of the border.  On the Radnorshire side of the Teme is Beacon Hill, a Long Mynd lookalike well worth a tyre track.

We’re staying just north of Ludlow (Stanton Lacy) week after next. I’ve been in two minds whether to take a gravel bike or mtb. I’ll only be doing 60-90 minute rides in the morning before everyone gets up so thought the gravel bike would probably suit me most.

Is Clee Hill ok for a gravel bike?

We’re staying just north of Ludlow (Stanton Lacy) week after next. I’ve been in two minds whether to take a gravel bike or mtb. I’ll only be doing 60-90 minute rides in the morning before everyone gets up so thought the gravel bike would probably suit me most.

Is Clee Hill ok for a gravel bike?

I live within walking distance of Stanton Lacy village hall, which is actually not in Stanton Lacy (it's in Haytons Bent).  Within your time limit, there isn't much mtbing from the door.  The nearest worthwhile would be Mortimer Forest or Bringewood south of Ludlow which is a bit of a trek from Stanton Lacy.  Doable in your window, but you'd be turning back as soon as you got there without time to ride any of the trails. Most of the bridleways are very overgrown at the minute.  There are two Clee Hills - Brown Clee (the nearest) and Titterstone Clee ( the one everyone thinks of as 'Clee Hill').  Titterstone Clee is easily doable on a gravel bike, or a road bike come to that.  Brown Clee would be MTB territory from the direction you'd be going, especially near the top.

@tenfoot I can loan you some local maps and cycling & walking guidebooks whilst you're here if it's of any use?

I love Shropshire, especially round Bishop's Castle. If you had to show quintessential English countryside to someone this would be a good starter.

Off road running I like to head south of Bishop's Castle up to Blakeridge Wood and back again.

Mortimer Forrest is also good, when walking around it noticed quite a few tyre treads so must be some riding.

If you're looking for camping accommodation I can highly recommend Fox Holes campsite.

Mortimer Forrest is also good, when walking around it noticed quite a few tyre treads so must be some riding.

Absolutely loads.  Mostly winch and plummet, there must be twenty or more decent trails with new ones appearing all the time. Just across the road is Bringewood which has one official DH run, used for racing and uplift days and loads of unofficial stuff.

I love Shropshire, especially round Bishop’s Castle.

If you like a good pint, Bishop's Castle is a must.

If you're in Ludlow, the church the (St Leonard's?) has the most amazing carved misericords. The Tudor architecture is pretty knockout too. Long Mynd is great.

It's a little known internet fact that freeriding wasn't born in Canada, but in Haughmond Hill Quarry in 1988.

If you’re in Ludlow, the church the (St Leonard’s?)

St Laurence's 👍 I had to Google misericord. Every day is a school day!

I grew up in the forest - Mortimer Forest is a FC administrative name for Bringewood.   It did not exist prior to the late 1960s.   Grinds my gears something rotten.  Imagine getting away with renaming FoD!

The forest is on a kink of a long limestone ridge. While famed for the downhill off Wheeler's Vallets the dip slope has lots of fun descents at a more accessible layer, especially in Haye Park on the High Vinnalls dip.

Unfortunately there are no recent orienteering maps which are often a good give away but if you go up to the island of farmland in the forest around Haye Park House, you will find the tyre tracks in the spruce and larch woods.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5231303

There is some great gravel riding at Brown Clee and on the limestone ridge at Wenlock Edge.

(Originally Mortimer was the FC name for all the holdings in north Herefordshire and SW Shropshire, including Hopton, Blakeridge Wood etc - somehow it hung on on the medieval hunting forest of Bringewood Chase by Ludlow.)

Kington is another good call, lovely area. CLose to Hay on Wye for culture and so on, plenty of countryside and lovely lanes

@fashadh I did not know that! You probably won't approve of the name, but hopefully you'll like their aims - there is a friends of Mortimer forest group. They do a lot of guided walks and talks and try to educate people about the history and ecology of the forest.  I went to the opening meeting in St Laurence's where Jonathan Porritt gave a talk. I did go on a guided deer walk with them during the fallow rut, where the FC ranger had a whinge about mountain bikers using the forest. I felt the need to defend us so we had an 'interesting' exchange!

Just planning a road cycling trip with mates staying in Ludlow. Might manage a gravel day but if anyone can recommend approx 60 to 70 mile loops from there that would be great. Local lanes ideal.

Thanks Blokeuptheroad - I have been moaned at a few times when visiting the area, but not yet on the bike.  Antifun are everywhere.  Night riding winds them up apparently. One forest manager managed to get orienteering banned for nearly 20 years - that was in the original "Mortimer Forest" ie everywhere for miles around.  Was a pig being a keen orienteer in a forested area where there were never any events.

When I first started using the forest I was instructed in the ways of stealth as it was a bit gomlish.  You never saw anyone in there mind.   I spent most weekends in there having a close relative in a now demolished cottage at Woodcroft.  High Vinnalls is still my most ascended hill, seen many trees come and go up there.

If anyone is bored today, we'll be at Blazing Bikes for a bit in the afternoon, just looking... honest 🙂

Ioneonic - Did this route, which is nearish Ludlow. The road from Craven Arms to Bishop's castle is definetly not country lanes, but other than that I remember it being pretty quiet.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2593377250

It looks like I decided to live at the wrong end of the county for mtb 🙁

This is a view from the top of the Berwyn's, one of my fav off road runs from the past. You never used to see a soul up there and you can take in Pistyll Rhaeadr as part of the loop.

Oh and if you like your wine - head to Tanners in Shrewsbury. They are pretty good at sourcing good stuff

Shropshire is epic, we feel very lucky to live here and can’t imagine wanting to live anywhere else, just a lovely place. We’re in the slightly more populated North in a village near Nesscliffe, lots of great biking and running close by. We do lots of family exploring over the summer on our bikes and we keep finding new stuff every year, there are lots of “hidden” villages nestled in the Shropshire hills, just lovely. 🙂

And Shrewsbury is a really nice town to potter, enjoy the history and get a nice coffee!

Night riding winds them up apparently

It was night riding specifically he objected to.  I'm not much of a night rider and a very mediocre mountain biker. The first time I did any night riding (aged 54 at the time) was in Hopton on a Pearce cycles shop ride.  They took us down one of the black DH runs.  My first night ride, with a cheapo Halfords light on a trail that would have tested me in the daylight!  I survived, just!

To be fair, the Forestry people in Mortimer are mostly quite tolerant of mountain biking.  None of the established unofficial trails seem to get closed unless they are harvesting or people build ridiculous features.  It helps that most of the trails aren't obvious unless you actively go looking for them and don't get very heavy traffic.  I took me ages to find and link them together when I moved here, I'm sure there are loads I haven't found yet.  I have generally found the mix of people that use the forest to be quite tolerant of each other.  Walkers, horse riders, runners and cyclists etc.  I've never had any kind of altercation and usually get (and always give) a cheery 'good morning', 'afternoon' or whatever.

@weeksy, I would have loved to come and say hello, but have made plans for today.  Keep a tight grip on your wallet!

@FunkyDunc although we go to Hopton, Bucknell etc a fair bit, we do love the local trails, lots of fun to be had and although we are enduro focused, still plenty for family MTB rides too 🙂 the biggest problem is how overgrown stuff has got this year.