Ironbridge, gold mine!

Hey guys, so I'm up, can't sleep, 3am now, i'm normally clocking in for work, but they owe me a day so i'm off, but up as normal. My last story wasn't all good, and I kinda feel bad about it, although I don't regret being honest It still gets me down. So I thought I'd share with you a trip I had in May this year, to Much Wenlock, Shropshire. I will try to keep it short, but that never works, so I will apologies for the size of this story now. :)

As it happens I make daily deliverys to Madeley, in Telford. A stones throw from Ironbridge. I've always seen the tourist signs for the various museums and fancied a visit.

I looked online and found Presthope club site which was local to Ironbridge in Much Wenlock, we booked 2 nights and had a fantastic time. It was only our third time out in the Caravan and possibly the most challenging in terms of the drive there. The site was only local being around 50 miles from home, the journey there was mostly straight forward as I knew the way as far as Telford. After that it got a little hilly, leaving our petrol Volvo a little out of breath.

However the site was easy to find, and we soon set up. There is no toilet block at this site however the rest of the facilities and staff are spot on.

As we'd arrived earlier than normal (Not before noon mind) we decided we'd have time to visit Blists Hill Victorian town in Madeley. The guide said 3 hours was all we'd need so we set off. The plan was to visit the town, then get some shopping on the way back for dinner.

Well, so much for 3 hours! The Victorian town is out of this world! 4 hours later closing time was approaching and we had to leave having only covered part of the town.

We got our shopping, headed back to our caravan and being a warm and dry weekend we fired up the CADAC, for the first time since buying it and reflected on the day over BBQ food and a DVD. Eager to return to the Victorian town we hit the sack early. Lucky we'd bought a year long "Passport" for the Iron Bridge museums meaning we could get back into Victorian town for free, I highly recommend if you plan to visit the area get this Passport! It allows for unlimited visits to the museums for one year, and if there are any you haven't visited after this year, you can visit them just once. I wont bang on about the details, but there are several fantastic museums in the area that it covers, all details can be found here: http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/

Day two, we were up early, a quick breakfast and hot footing back to Blists Hill! Our plan, was to finish exploring the Victorian town, then visit a couple of other museums! Yet again, we spent way too much time enjoying the town to do it all.

So what was at the town to spend so much of our time? Well, me and my better half, we're nosy! There is so much to see and do! At first you're greeted by the town and it's bank, a working bank where you can change your modern day currency for "the old stuff" as i called it, pound shillings and pence!! This comes in handy for all the period shops, actual working shops, and public house serving drinks and food. You can buy most things, as you could "back in the day". From soap, to traditional sweets, working butchers, bakers, pharmacy, photographers and chip shop (FULLY recommend the chips)! Not to forget the post office (with miniature post office museum upstairs) and printers where you can even buy a news paper, although a little bit out of date! All prices are listed in both modern "pound and pence" for the non brave. For those that DID change some modern money for the "old stuff" prices are also labeled in pound, shillings and pence. There was a lot of fun to had watching people trying to work out the old money to pay for items, all part of the fun!

As you head further into the town there are many demonstrations, a guy working with iron, once or twice a week they pour the casts but on most days you can see a chap making the molds. You can even buy some of their work, as a result I now have a fantastic iron paper weight or two on my desk here and an "Ironbridge" bottle opener that lives in the caravan, made of iron of course. Not the best material for lightweight living but it keeps my nose weight in check! There is another guy working copper, and my personal favorite, the candle maker. He makes the candles in the traditional way (minus the toxic chemicals of years gone by), using a twin wick design for added light and resistance to blowing out. After his demonstration you can even buy the finished product, I now have 8 traditional twin wick candles! Everything is very reasonably priced.

As you head further into the town you pass by traditional cottages and houses, all of which are open for viewing. You get to see what remains of the blast furnaces, and a working metal works warehouse. There is a working fun fair, restaurant and a train service that runs deep into the mines at the very bottom of the museum land there is the remarkable inclined plane still remaining plus much more.

Once you visit it's easy to see what we spent the best part of a full day there spread out over two visits. It's not just all for looks, there is a lot to learn too great if you have kids.

Once we eventually dragged our selves away, we headed into Iron Bridge it's self, missing a couple of the other museums we decided we had enough time to visit the museum of the gorge (Also covered by the Passport) and the bridge it's self before heading back to the caravan.

The town was busy, but charming. There are plenty of interesting shops to visit, and after a long day in the Victorian town the shops and smaller museum was just what was needed to slow down the pace a little. On leaving the museum we found an icecream shop, got a couple of cones and sat on the famous iron bridge and ate them watching the tourist boats going up and down the river.

We headed back to the caravan for a cooked tea and another early night before heading back home the next day.

We still had A LOT yet to see, however we're very lucky that all this is less than 50 miles from home. We did plan to return in September to the site we stayed at in Much Wenlock as we had a couple of extra days off work before we headed to Florida, however we were busy preparing for our summer holiday in FL, so we decided to just make a day trip of it. We managed to just about squeeze in the rest of the museums in that day. Every single one worth the visit without exception, great for adults and kids alike! I could write a thousand more words on those alone from our day trip.

To sum it up, Ironbridge, a goldmine in the heart of Shropshire. So close to home I cannot believe we've not been sooner!! Will we return? You bet! Day trips and caravan trips! When our Museum Passports expire in May, we will certainly buy more for 2013! Sadly the site at Presthope IS closed for the winter, however there are a couple of CL's along the same road and in the same area, it's not a million miles from other sites in the Shropshire area either. If you're making a long trip to visit the area, I recommend you consider a week in the area, not just for the Ironbridge museums, but for much Wenlock it's self and the fact you're also equal distance from Bridgenorth, which is also well worth visiting.

It was after our visit, my mother-in-law from Luton, also in the CC came up with the grand kids for 4 nights at the same site, and loved it! They agree'd more nights in the area are required for the full experience.

Up until this point, my favorite place was always West Bay in Bridport (South coast), and admittedly it always will be. But Ironbridge has now secured a firm second place! It's going to be hard to pick JUST 5 pictures!