Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre is a museum in southern Shropshire, just south of Craven Arms. [1] [2] [3]
The museum offers exhibitions around the Shropshire Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and informs people about the history, geography, and biology of the area. [4] [5] The exhibition includes a life sized model mammoth, Iron Age roundhouse, and film of the area including drone footage. Other facilities include a local art gallery, gift shop, crafts room, and café. [6] So far more than a million people have visited this centre, since it officially opened in 2001. [7] Local charity, Grow Cook Learn, owns and manages the building,[ citation needed ] which was set up as a Millennium project to help with tourism. [7]
As part of the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, Onny Meadows has been turned into a tourist and education site to help promote the Shropshire Hills, and countryside. [8] [2] The name for the meadows was taken from the River Onny which flows along the 11 acres meadow site boundary. The meadow includes planted wildflowers, hedgerows, and trees/woodland, and is managed by a volunteer group. [9]
A variety of events are held within the visitor centre and meadows, these included guided walks and talks. [8] Walking paths are available and are suitable for wheelchair usage on site, paths range from short walks around the site to longer circular routes starting from the centre.
The Centre is continuously working to develop the Onny Meadows to support wildlife. In 2024, the team launched a new wetland area to encourage and support a diverse range of species. This area is open to the public with a hide and screen for observing wildlife.
Church Stretton is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, 13 miles (21 km) south of Shrewsbury and 15 miles (24 km) north of Ludlow. The population in 2011 was 4,671.
Charnwood Forest is a hilly tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland; its elevation is generally 600 feet (180 m) and upwards, the area exceeding this height being about 6,100 acres (25 km2). The highest point, Bardon Hill, is 912 feet (278 m). On its western flank lies an abandoned coalfield, with Coalville and other former mining villages, now being regenerated and replanted as part of the National Forest. The M1 motorway, between junctions 22 and 23, cuts through Charnwood Forest.
The Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is the Gloucestershire local partner in a conservation network of 46 Wildlife Trusts. The Wildlife Trusts are local charities with the specific aim of protecting the United Kingdom's natural heritage. The Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is managed by a board of trustees elected from its membership who provide overall direction for the development of the trust and there are advisory committees. The work of the trust is carried out through staff and volunteers.
Durlston Country Park is a 320-acre country park and nature reserve stretching along the coast of the Isle of Purbeck on the outskirts of Swanage in Dorset, England. The park is a popular destination for tourists to enjoy the walks, views, visitor centre, climbing, and wildlife, including Durlston Castle, the Great Globe, Tilly Whim Caves, and Anvil Point Lighthouse. It is a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, forms part of the 630 mile South West Coast Path, and is owned by Dorset Council.
The Stiperstones is a distinctive hill in Shropshire, England. The quartzite rock of the ridge formed some 480 million years ago. During the last Ice Age Stiperstones lay on the eastern margin of the Welsh ice sheet. The hill itself was not glaciated though glaciers occupied surrounding valleys and it was subject to intense freezing and thawing which shattered the quartzite into a mass of jumbled scree surrounding several residual rocky tors. At 536 metres (1,759 ft) above sea level it is the second-highest hill in the county, surpassed only by Brown Clee Hill. Stiperstones' 8-kilometre (5 mi) summit ridge is crowned by several jagged outcrops of rock, which may be seen silhouetted against the sky.
Craven Arms is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is sited on the A49 road and the Welsh Marches railway line, which link it north and south to the larger towns of Shrewsbury and Ludlow respectively. The town is enclosed to the north by the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and to the south is the fortified manor house of Stokesay Castle.
Broseley is a market town in Shropshire, England, with a population of 4,929 at the 2011 Census and an estimate of 5,022 in 2019. The River Severn flows to its north and east. The first iron bridge in the world was built in 1779 across the Severn, linking Broseley with Coalbrookdale and Madeley. This contributed to the early industrial development in the Ironbridge Gorge, which is now part of a World Heritage Site.
Coombe Hill Canal lies in the Vale of Gloucester, south west England, north of Leigh and runs west 2.75 miles (4.43 km) from Coombe Hill Basin to the River Severn near Wainlode Hill. It opened in 1796 and closed 80 years later in 1876, after the only lock was damaged by flooding. The Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust purchased the Coombe Hill Canal nature reserve in 1985 and the area is managed by the trust. Adjacent to the Coombe Hill Canal is a large area of wet meadowland situated midway between Gloucester and Tewkesbury to the west of the A38, which was purchased by the trust in 1999. There is a north and a south meadow. This land and the Canal itself often flood in winter, which attracts hundreds of wildfowl.
The River Onny is a river in Shropshire, England. It is a major tributary of the River Teme.
The Darwin Shopping Centre is the main shopping centre in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, comprising approximately 17 per cent of the town centre's retail offer by leasable area.
The Shropshire Way Main Route is a waymarked long distance footpath running through the English county of Shropshire. It runs 202 miles (325 km) around the interior of the county in two loops centred on Shrewsbury, with an additional spur to Whitchurch.
Severn Valley Country Park is a country park in England, located near Alveley, Shropshire, 8 miles (13 km) from Bridgnorth, 7 miles from Kidderminster, roughly central in the Severn Valley. Originally the site of a huge coal mine, it is now a 126-acre (51 ha) park consisting of woodland, meadows and riverside banks with views over the River Severn and a Green Flag Award.
Lullingstone Country Park is near Eynsford, in Kent, England. A former deer park of a large estate, it was later sold to become an open-space and woodland park. The park and Lullingstone Castle are a Scheduled Monument, and an area of 66.4-hectare (164-acre) is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest Kent.
Brown Moss is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Local Nature Reserve and important wetland area rich in wildlife close to Whitchurch, Shropshire. It is open to visitors and contains a number of self-guided walking trails. The name 'moss' derives from the local word for a peat bog.
Colemere Countryside Site is a countryside heritage site. Due to its important conservation status it has two key designations being a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and an internationally important Ramsar wetland site. 3 miles (4.8 km) south-east of Ellesmere, Shropshire.
Ifton Meadows is a Local Nature Reserve north of Oswestry in the county of Shropshire, England.
Lyth Hill is a Local Nature Reserve in Shropshire, England which contains valuable habitats for wildlife and is associated with the novelist and poet Mary Webb.
Rea Brook Valley is a country park, and Local Nature Reserve located in the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire and is recognised nationwide as an important site for wildlife. This park is also known for its history in the Severn Valley Railway line. The Rea Brook is the watercourse that flows through the park.
Wilfred Owen Green is the town green located in the middle of the town Oswestry in Shropshire, England.
Hill Rise is a 0.9 hectare Local Nature Reserve (LNR) located in the Harpur area of Bedford. It is owned and managed by Bedford Borough Council.