Every year the girls and I go on a short trip near Christmas for a catch up and to do some Christmas shopping. In previous years we’ve been to Liverpool and Stratford upon Avon, this year we chose to visit Shrewsbury. This is my guide to Shrewsbury to help you get around and spend 3 days there.
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in western England. It sits inside a loop of the River Severn, and its Tudor centre is lined with half-timbered houses. It is the birthplace of Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution.
A 3 DAY GUIDE TO SHREWSBURY // WHAT TO SEE, DO & EAT
DAY ONE
We drove up to Shrewsbury on Thursday 28th Nov and arrived around midday. We checked into our Premier Inn hotel whilst waiting for Helen to arrive, as she was getting a train down from Wales. Once we checked in, we had a little wander around Shrewsbury’s shops; popping into Paperchase and L’Occtaine whilst we waited to see if they had any good Black Friday deals. It was very cold and very dreary with rain as we walked to the train station to meet Helen.
We let Helen drop her suitcases off at her room and then headed back out to explore the town some more and went into the Hotel Chocolat shop to get a nice hot drink and try some chocolates. I tried their Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate and got to try some of their little chocolate penguins.
Once we had a little explore, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before heading out to dinner. We had booked a table at Darwin’s Kitchen (famously named after Charles Darwin) and had very quirky decor and a delicious menu. We ordered their Bread Board and their Hummus & Pitta. It was delicious and the perfect starter to share for the 4 of us.
For my main I ordered their Butternut Squash, Califlower, Chickpea and Spinach Bhuna curry which came with rice and naan bread on the side and it was absolutely amazing. I had a vodka, soda lime as my drink to accompany it. I really wanted a desert but I was so full after my dinner, I opted for a double Baileys On The Rocks instead.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep as we were so tired from the drive up.
DID YOU KNOW: Shrewsbury is the birthplace of Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin’s father practiced as a doctor in Shrewsbury. Young Darwin also did work experience there before travelling to Edinburgh to train to be a doctor himself, but he was only allowed to practice on women and chidren.
DAY TWO
On our second day, we got ready and headed out to breakfast to a cafe that does veggie and vegan dishes that Helen has been to before called The Greenhouse Cafe. I ordered their Full Breakfast which came with 2 veggie sausages, baked beans, 2 fried eggs, homemade toast and cooked tomatoes.
The decor inside was very shabby chic and they had an awesome mural on the wall by our table depicting a man who regrets asking for an all day breakfast which was quite funny. They had lots of yummy veggie and vegan options on the menu and the bread they serve is all handmade.
After breakfast we headed out to do some shopping and seeing what Black Friday and Christmas goodies we could find. I didn’t buy much but enjoyed checking out all the Christmas deals.
We did a little bit more wandering and went into some lovely shops including a lingerie shop and a homemade soap shop that made some amazing products all from natural ingredients. We then walked a little bit further and checked out the Shrewsbury Market Hall which also has a famous food level with several food shops and cafes in. We stopped at one called The Birds Nest which was very quirky. I had a hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmellows and also a very large brownie slice.
The brownie filled me up so much, that I had to take the rest back with me and the hot chocolate warmed me up nicely after walking around in the cold. We walked around the Market Hall and checked out all of the stalls and shops and they had some amazing stalls around. They had the biggest selection of Christmas trees which were the perfect shape.
I also checked out a lovely dried flower shop called English Bridge Flowers and the lady running the stall Lynn was very sweet. I took some pictures of her stall and products. (She kindly sent me a rainbow wreath for the NHS during the COVID-19 Pandemic as I wrote about her on my socials and blog.)
We walked a bit further around town and walked to another inside market which was a little smaller and didn’t have many shops open but they did have a lovely cafe which we stopped to have lunch in. I had their avocado and hummus bagel with a side salad and a cloudy lemonade to drink. The smaller indoor market is called The Parade Market Hall and had lunch in The River View Cafe.
After exploring The Parade Market Hall, we headed back to the hotel room to get changed for the cinema. On our way to the hotel, we took a little detour through Grope Lane which is quite a famous lane in Shrewsbury for their bespoke shoe shops but also for a very historical reason.
DID YOU KNOW: Grope Lane, to the left of the Cross Keys building which currently houses Costa Coffee is one of 21 medieval shuts or passages that still exists in Shrewsbury. A ‘shut’ is believed to have been an alleyway that was closed off at night. Centuries ago, Grope Lane was said to be where ‘ladies of the night’ would offer their services.
We decided to book a slot in the cinema to see the new film Knives Out, which was a new comedy and who killed who drama. It took a little while to walk through Shrewsbury and find the cinema, but once we found it we took our seats in the room for the film to start. It was pretty good, I knew what to expect whereas the other ladies were disappointed because they thought it was a more serious film.
When the film has finished, we walked back into town which it was absolutely freezing at this point and we could barely feel our fingers. Before the cinema, we had booked our table in a gorgeous cozy pub called The Golden Cross. Inside it was very cozy, had electic decorations and taste but was so lovely and the menu sounded delicious. I ordered a Vodka, Soda and Lime and ordered their Fish & Chips which was enormous but one of the best fish and chips I’ve had. The batter was so light and crispy.
DAY THREE
Our third and final day was pretty chilled. We decided to have breakfast in The Birds Nest (that we visited for a quick drink the day before) and it definitely didn’t disappoint. I went for their Elvis Presely waffles which came with peanut butter, syrup, scrambled egg and bacon (which I gave to the other ladies). I also ordered their juice smoothie. We had one final trip to Hotel Chocolat and some other shops in the main high street before heading back to the hotel to grab our cases and head home.
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Have you travelled to Shrewsbury? What was your favourite bit? Let me know in the comments below.
Happy travels,
I am going to Shrewsbury in the New Year so this is a super helpful guide. I have bookmarked this 🙂 x
I’m glad you’ve found it helpful, I hope you enjoy Shrewsbury. It’s such a lovely place! 🙂 x
Wow! Sounds like you had a fab time! I will definitely adding this to my list and will be checking this place out the next time I visit the UK x
Linda
It was such a lovely weekend away to do some Christmas shopping and relax with the girls 🙂 x
This looks like such a cute place! I love hotel chocolat and everything seems so much more magical at Christmas!
-Kyra xx
I’m so glad you enjoyed this post! It’s so magical isn’t it 🙂 x