Welcome to Ludlow & The Shropshire Hills

Welcome to the dramatic scenery of the Shropshire Hills and its six market towns of Ludlow, Bishop’s Castle, Church Stretton, Cleobury Mortimer, Clun and Craven Arms. While Ludlow is the district’s ‘capital’ the others have plenty to occupy the visitor with speciality shops, good food and local ale and places of interest like Stokesay Castle and the ‘Land of Lost Content’ nostalgia museum. Events and festivals play an important part in town life and details can be found on this site by clicking here.

Getting to this area couldn’t be easier with hourly trains on the Cardiff to Manchester route serving Church Stretton, Craven Arms and Ludlow. The A49 trunk road winds through the valleys from North to South on its way from Shrewsbury to Hereford.

While you are spending time with us enjoy a trip on the scenic Heart of Wales line, which offers a chance to explore some of the most rural parts of the Principality. Take a Shropshire Hills Shuttle Bus up into some spectacular scenery to enjoy a walk in one of Britain’s finest Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The celebrated poet A.E. Housman called them the Blue Remembered Hills and Oscar-winning screen-writer and playwright John Osborne found inspiration in them in his later life.

Finding a place to stay is easy with our searchable database of AA and VisitBritian quality inspected accommodation. The Visitor Information Centres at Ludlow and Church Stretton are ready to offer help in planning your itinerary.

Ludlow and the Shropshire Hills are the perfect locations for a relaxing country holiday to discover a secret part of England.

Within South Shropshire are:- Shropshire's gastronomic capital Ludlow, the Alpine like setting of Church Stretton, which is now an award winning Walkers are Welcome town, Bishops Castle famed for it's microbrewery, Cleobury Mortimer, Craven Arms and Clun, immortalised by A.E. Housman. Each couldn't be more different or distinctive. Real shopping in proper shops, lively street markets, antique markets, specialist food shops, art and craft galleries - all give retail therapy Shropshire style.

KING OF THE CASTLE
Storybook castles at Clun, Ludlow and Stokesay - a 13th Century fortified manor house said to be so beautiful that when attacked no-one could bring themselves to destroy it.

Visit the Historic Farm at Acton Scott with a working millstone, horse ploughing and butter making, take a simulated balloon ride over Shropshire from the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre at Craven Arms where you can also meet the Shropshire Mammoth. Or indulge your senses at Burford House Gardens with its national collection of clematis.

DISCOVER SOUTH SHROPSHIRE

You can view the best attractions, gardens, nature & sport sites, castles & churches, activities, museums, history & heritage sites, walks & rambles, cycling, riding, fishing and golf sites throughout South Shropshire by clicking on our interactive map.

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SOUTH SHROPSHIRE TOWNS

Don't miss any of our six very different towns. they are an essential part of our District's rural experience.

Ludlow

Ludlow is one of Europe's best preserved historic towns and a fitting capital to South Shropshire. It is still dominated by its market square outside the castle.

Wander from the market square and you tread out a pattern established 900 years ago. Many buildings have changed with the times, most notably when medieval timber framing was hidden by clean cut Georgian façades down Broad Street and Mill Street. But almost unchanged is the church of St Laurence, beautiful inside and out.

Ludlow Tourist Information

Cleobury Mortimer

East of Ludlow and across Clee Hill, Cleobury Mortimer is named after its founding Marcher lord. Its market town origins and atmosphere are clear enough. It is worth a visit for that alone, and of course for its crooked spire.

The main street curves gently down to the River Rea. The town is remarkable for the number of its pubs. Even the street names are reminders of vanished inns.

A quiet, relaxed and traditional town. Look out for the excellent cakes and pork pies and organic foods.

Cleobury Mortimer Tourist Information

Church Stretton

Church Stretton knows a lot about hospitality, being the holidaying heart of the Shropshire Hills. But its origins go way back beyond the aspiring Victorian and Edwardian spa image that gave much of its present appearance.

Medieval traders established its market town status. A weekly Thursday market in the Square keeps the traditional alive, whilst the Stretton Antiques Market in the old Maltings sparked off the current fashion for antique shops in the town. The trend has recently extended to regular "flea markets" in the Square on Tuesdays.

Church Stretton Tourist Information

Clun

Clun is the sort of place that visitors call a village. Locals still see it as a town, with its Town Hall (housing a museum), the imposing castle ruins, a large church and grid like street pattern as clear as Ludlow's (if only a fraction of the size).

The Market Square remains one of its focal points. Another is its 16th century bridge, oldest in Shropshire, over the River Clun. And don't leave without popping into the garden and chapel of Trinity Hospital almshouses.

Clun Tourist Information

Bishop's Castle

Bishop's Castle - with a village size population, manages a more bustling air. It too boasts a Town Hall, where its local affairs are still presided over by a Town Council, a castle (built by a bishop of Hereford), considerable medieval prosperity, two members of parliament (until 1832) and a charmingly inefficient railway (until 1936). Its cattle market survives (on Fridays).

Periodic "flea markets" fill the ground floor of the Town Hall, and the Market Square has resumed its rightful place at the commercial heart of town, although now with indoor shops rather than out. It underlines its market town image with two home brew pubs, a host of festivals and three museums.

Bishop's Castle Tourist Information

Craven Arms

Craven Arms is the most recent addition to the District's market towns - "By steam and sheep" is the title of the a history of the town, and this sums it up admirably.

The railway arrived in 1850, other lines in the 1860's and '70's and sheep came in by the tens of thousands for the annual sales. This area is also famous for the beautiful Stokesay Castle. There is now a new reason for stopping: The Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre on the southern edge of the town tells the story of the whole Shropshire Hills landscape.

Craven Arms Tourist Information