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Shrewsbury Castle. The oldest parts of the castle were built between 1067 and 1074, during the
reign of William the Conqueror and, gradually rebuilt in stone, it became a major border fortress in
the Middle Ages. After the conquest of Wales by 1300, the Castle fell into disrepair but in the
late 16th century it was revived to become a domestic residence. Today it houses collections of
the Shropshire Regimental Museum Trust including pictures, uniforms, medals, weapons and
other equipment from the 18th Century to the present day.

Hawkestone Park Follies is a historic woodland fantasy with cliffs, crags, caves, deep woods and a
series of extraordinary monuments built over 200 years ago, after years of neglect the magical
landscape was restored and reopened in 1993.

To get there take the Chester to Stratford touring route

Ironbridge Gorge

This is the cradle of the Industrial Revolution that started in Britain in the 18th century. Deposits of
coal, iron ore, limestone and fireclay, exposed by the River Severn as it cut through the gorge,
were the raw materials close at hand that enabled the development of a huge metal-working
industry.

The world’s first iron bridge was erected over the River Severn in 1779. This pioneering single-
span cast-iron structure was a turning point in British design and engineering. After it was built,
cast iron came to be widely used in bridges, aqueducts and buildings.

Now Britain’s best-known industrial monument, the bridge gave its name to the spectacular
wooded gorge that was once an industrial powerhouse and is now a World Heritage Site.

Once described as “the most extraordinary district in the world”, the Ironbridge Gorge is still a
remarkable, and beautiful, place to visit today. A huge amount of early industry survives as
furnaces, factories, workshops, canals and the settlements of Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge, Jackfield
and Coalport.

There are ten award-winning museums spread along the valley beside the River Severn. See the
products that set industry on its path and the machines that made them. Watch and talk to the
Museums’ craftsmen and costumed demonstrators as they work iron, fashion china and glass, and
bring alive the people who lived and worked here.

For more on Ironbridge Gorge and its attractions, click here . . .

To get there take the Chester to Stratford touring route

Sutton Park, a 2,400 acre National Nature Reserve, is one of the largest urban parks in Europe
and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. This landscape is a mosaic of open
heathland, woodlands, wetlands, marshes and seven lakes each with their own rich variety of
plants and wildlife, some rarely seen in the region. It is an important site for wildlife and
conservation, containing fine examples of natural countryside that have survived for hundreds of
years. These habitats are part of a working grazed landscape where cattle and wild ponies can be
seen grazing during the year.

Side trips to

Warwick Castle Dating back to 914, Warwick Castle has stood as an impressive medieval fortress
on the banks of the river Avon for the last 1100 years. Attacked in 1264, besieged in 1642 and
damaged by fire in 1871, the castle has survived the changing fortunes of history and remains one
of the most well-preserved mediaeval castles in the UK.