Our Top Five Books To Help You Discover Shropshire

With a population density of just 350 people per square mile (compared with over 15,000 in London), it’s easy to see why many people don’t even know where Shropshire is. This landlocked county, nestled between Wales and Birmingham, is one of England’s best-kept secrets.

If you’re one of the lucky ones who has already discovered Shropshire, then you’ll know about the stunning hills, ancient castles and market towns. You might have walked in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and discovered places where very few other people go. The chances are you’ve also said “I never knew how beautiful Shropshire is”, as many of our guests do before planning their return trips.

But then again, you might have only dreamt of such places. That’s where our ‘Top Five Books to Help You Discover Shropshire’ come in handy.

1. Slow Travel Shropshire – Marie Kreft

This is part of the Bradt ‘Slow Travel Guides’ series.

Marie Kreft is a local lover of all things related to Shropshire. In the book Marie guides you slowly around the county describing how to enjoy many aspects of it, from the hills and towns to the food and drink. From where to eat and sleep (yes – we do get a mention in the 2020 version) to tales of local people, this book is a really good place to start planning your trip.

2. AA 50 Walks in Shropshire

This is part of the AA 50 Walks series.

The 50 walks described in this book range from two to ten miles and are graded with three levels of difficulty. The book covers not just the Shropshire Hills area in the south but has walks in Oswestry in the north west of the county and Market Drayton in the north east. There are a good number of the walks which are close to us.

3. Clun Valley & Borders 33 Favourite walks

This book was first published by the Clun Walking Group so contains walks which are very local to us with Clun being just 15 minutes' drive away. The well-described routes of between two and 12 miles are accompanied by maps based on the OS Explorer series.

4. Shropshire from Dawn to Dusk – Mike & John Hayward

The second pictorial guide to Shropshire from local father-and-son team of photographers, Shropshire And Beyond. Mike and John capture the best of Shropshire towns and rural areas through the seasons including some stunning shots of the Redlake Valley at sunrise.

5. The Life and Death of Chapel Lawn School 1856 - 1985 - Jeanette & Michael Macturk

This is very popular with our guests as they relax in the surroundings of the building they are reading about.

The book, published in 2002 by the village hall committee, starts by giving a short history of the locality which gives readers a fascinating insight to the development of a rural area. It then continues through the years during which the school was operational until it closed in 1985.

There are some great photos of what The School House used to look like, as well as some interesting facts about the origins and funding of the school.

We have copies of all these books in our map room and they are available to buy online (at the time of writing).