Shrewsbury - a gem in our county

Hi everyone

Spring is struggling to arrive & stay & our weather has been unsettled to put it mildly.

This morning a friend & I decided to visit our nearby Shropshire county town of Shrewsbury which is always a welcome change of scenery.

The River Severn - the longest river in England, loops around the town with 2 main bridges spanning the Severn River. We parked & walked across the English Bridge. The Welsh bridge is higher up in town & looks the same. The two bridge names hints at the town's interesting past ...

What a gorgeous, but cool morning. The River is deceptively deep & is a hazard at places with late night revellers taking a dip & getting in to trouble in the river. However, today it was calm & smooth with beautiful reflections. The little island usually has nesting birds or swans on it ...

Coffee in a new place after our early start; it was an interesting cafe with lots of vegetarian food ... 

Then a browse in a lovely shop with goods from all over the world. Hibiscus was full of lovely items. The owner was very interesting & she chatted to us about where she sources stock from as well as showing us many of her lovely items ...

The square in Shrewsbury is always full of activities & events; it has this lovely Town Hall building with more references to the towns long history ...

We both opted for a healthy salad lunch - Chicken Caeser salad was my choice ( I am carb free so didn't eat the bread) & it was nutritious & delicious, a good choice while we people watched & caught up on each others news.

The best thing about towns with a long history is that the back streets are interesting so we took a walk .... 

A lovely old entrance with interesting paint colours peeking through , glimpses of lovely gardens  & life behind the gates - fascinating ...

St Chad's Church looms large with its brilliant cross on the top. Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' was filmed in Shrewsbury in 1984 & there is a tombstone to 'Ebenezer Scrooge' in the church yard -  I have yet to find it! You can view the movie here ...

A town of many spires - looking back down towards the town from The Quarry

The entrance to The Quarry, a large 29 acre public park, has these stunning gates ...

Green spaces are so important, with beautiful views & space for people to enjoy.  This is a very important part of our county, our green spaces.

I love how different the various streets are - the gentle curve of old buildings with the modern clock tower from the Market punctuating the scene ...

Solid red brick buildings look just right ...

The Crescent 1793 - it speaks of many stories & happenings over the centuries - who else would love to peek behind some of the doors ?

More church spires from another church yard in the centre of the town.

Many of the tombstones have gone or been repositioned against the wall, now it is a peaceful space in the centre of town which is used by family & office workers - that is how it should be.

 I love this beautiful front courtyard with its lovely topiary spires & the cheerful tulips in pots. 

A mixtures of small town houses & larger ones line this back street - hinting at the past with their old lights & tiny windows upstairs. It was also a time when people didn't have cars so parking was not an issue. This whole street is narrow, so is a one way with no parking which must be a bit of a nightmare on shopping days ...

What a fab day just browsing, lunching, taking photos & catching up - that is a good morning in my book!

Thank you for stopping by & taking the time to read, comment & hopefully follow my blog.
Dee ~♥~