Welcome to Bishop's Castle and South Shropshire

Bishop’s Castle is a friendly, medieval South Shropshire town close to the Welsh Border with a fascinating tumble of buildings of different styles along its main street. With six pubs, two breweries, a town hall, livestock market and two museums, Bishop's Castle is a lively town. It has a strong local community and welcomes tourists and walkers.

• Houses on Crutches Museum
• More on Bishop's Castle

Bishop's Castle lies just outside the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Our gentle hills are wooded or grazed by Clun Forest Sheep. There is great walking all around, as well as country drives, cycle routes and challenging forest terrain for mountain bikes. Offa's Dyke, a defensive eighth century earthwork and National Trail, cuts through the remnants of the Clun Forest just a few miles west of Bishop's Castle. The Dyke visitors centre is at Knighton, a short drive over the hills. South Shropshire offers excellent bird watching. Buzzards abound in the sky and are the symbol of the Shropshire Way, which passes through Bishop's Castle. The Bury Ditches hill fort is a short walk or drive away, as is the treasured nature reserve at Clunton Coppice. There is plenty to find of interest in the surrounding hills for geologists as well as nature lovers.

A few miles to the north, the lead mining site at Snailbeach is a reminder of the industrial past of this most rural of landscapes. It is a steep walk from here to the Stiperstones, a wild hill with eerie jagged tors, or take the short drive to the base of the stones. The Long Mynd and Stretton Hills lie to the east, snuggling the picturesque town of Church Stretton, with its annual food fair, and the beautiful Carding Mill Valley. To the east, the Clee Hills are populated by picturesque villages and boast the highest summits south of the Pennines. A pleasant one hour drive northwards takes you to the world heritage site of Ironbridge, birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

The towns of South Shropshire have many hidden delights. Much Wenlock is a short drive along the Wenlock Edge. It is the birthplace of the modern Olympics: follow the Olympic Trail, dip into the teashops, pubs and bookshops or visit the abbey. Ludlow has a deserved reputation as a gastronomic centre, serving real local food amid antiques shops and antique buildings. The charming town of Clun is nearby. The historic town of Shrewsbury is within easy reach for a day trip by car or bus.

South Shropshire has many literary connections. Mary Webb based her books on the area and the playwright, John Osborne (1929-1994) made his home at The Hurst on the outskirts of Clun. A.E. Housman's vision of Shropshire as a land of tranquillity and beauty was so strong that he cast himself as a Shropshire Lad and penned his much remembered lines about "blue remembered hills" of South Shropshire.