Things To Do Locally

Image of some black and white timber frame buildings on the main street in Church Stretton to show what is nearby to The Holt holiday cottage

Church Stretton is a perfect place to stay and explore Shropshire.

It is nestled in the heart of the beautiful Long Mynd, and yet is in easy travelling distance of all of Shropshire’s famous market towns. The town of Church Stretton itself also has much to offer for a lovely country holiday. So here is our round up of things to do in Church Stretton, the nearby towns and beautiful wider Shropshire.

Church Stretton has a visitor information centre – 01694 723133

Graphic of a cream tea to represent local food in Church Stretton while visiting The Holt holiday cottage

The town has a wide range of shops, including a supermarket, post office, banks, and two pharmacies. It also has a huge variety of smaller shops, many of them family owned shops offering unusual, artisan, or handcrafted goods not found on the average high street. There are a couple of outdoor equipment shops if you have forgotten to pack something.

The town has wonderful food. It is renowned for its tea rooms – from the traditional to the more modern and quirky – and you can certainly get a wonderful coffee or cream tea here. There are lots of restaurants and pubs serving good food. If you are wanting to take food home to eat on our terrace, there is a good delicatessen as well as the supermarket and a huge range of take away food establishments covering most kinds of cuisine. You will find information about locations of shops and places to eat in your welcome pack at the Holt.

Church Stretton has a market on Thursdays from 8.00a.m. to 2.00pm. There are sometimes also local produce and craft markets held on Saturdays and themed or seasonal special interest markets too.

Image shows Ludlow Castle round tower and ramparts.
Tudor houses and a church spire at Shrewsbury
A portait image of the front of the Stokesay Castle manor house, which has tudor frames and yellow plaster, with a castle tower in the background.
Image of Ironbridge Gorge, showing the bridge, some pretty buildings and a church tower in the rear.
Image shows Ludlow Castle round tower and ramparts.
Tudor houses and a church spire at Shrewsbury
Landscape Image of the front of the Stokesay Castle manor house, which has tudor frames and yellow plaster, with a castle tower in the background.
Image of Ironbridge Gorge, showing the bridge, some pretty buildings and a church tower in the rear.

Other Shropshire towns:

Church Stretton is only 13 miles from Shrewsbury, a lovely medieval cathedral city and the birthplace of Charles Darwin. A drive of 15 miles takes you to Ludlow, famous for its listed buildings and world class food. The birthplace of the Industrial revolution at Ironbridge is only18 miles away, and the Olympic flame was conceived only 13 miles away in beautiful Much Wenlock. The Severn Valley Railway is found 20 miles away at Bridgnorth, which King Charles I described as the finest view in his kingdon. A full list of Shropshire’s towns and their attractions can be found here.

Image of a older child or small adult riding a pony to represent one of the activities you can do when staying at The Holt holiday cottage

Sports and Activities:

As you might expect, Church Stretton is really geared up for the outdoors. The famous Midland Gliding Club is based here and there are clubs set up for rambling and hiking and fell running and shops providing equipment. There are horse and pony trekking trails and lessons in nearby Shrewsbury. For the golf enthusiast there is also a local golf club. And there is a mountain boarding and quad bike centre within 15 miles at Much Wenlock.

Landscape Image of the front of the Stokesay Castle manor house, which has tudor frames and yellow plaster, with a castle tower in the background.

Museums and Historical Buildings:

Within a few miles you can go back in time at the famous Acton Scott Historic Working Farm as featured on BBC’s The Victorian Farm. Ironbridge Gorge has 10 museums, including the fantastic living Victorian town at Blist’s Hill, as well as a brilliant interactive science museum Engenuity and going south 15 minutes to Craven Arms is the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre.  If you’re into castles we are only 20 minutes drive from Stokesay Castle which is a mediaeval manor house with guided audio tours, Ludlow Castle,which is historically very important, and Powis Castle with its world famous gardens is around 30 miles away.


A landscape image representing a soft play centre - image shows a grinning child squeezing between two brightly coloured foam rollers in a netted play setting.

For families:

There are lots of things to see and do near the Holt. Apart from walking on the Long Mynd, you can also visit the fabulous Church Stretton Town Park which has a brilliant range of play equipment as well as tennis courts, bowls, crazy golf, a BMX track and skateboarding.

The free to use and enormous Telford town park at Telford – about 25 minutes drive away – is huge and can use up a whole day with lots of fabulous adventure play areas for different age groups, as well as the (paid entry) fairytale theme park Wonderland. Telford also has an ice rink and multiplex cinema.

There is a great family play barn – Mickey Millers with lots of soft play climbing and drop sliding – at Craven Arms – less than 15 minutes drive – for rainy days. Enginuity, the science and engineering museum at Ironbridge, has lots of interactive things for children to get their hands on. There are two hands on visitors farms within 20 miles – Rays Farm at Bridgnorth, and Hoo Farm, Zoo and Dinosaur World at Telford.

A landscape image representing Telford Town Park, image a huge silver climbing frame with tube slides, and some people using a rotating rope swing in the foreground.

For more information:

There are some wonderful websites with much more information about Church Stretton and the surrounding areas. Check them out too:

Churchstretton.co.uk Has a wide range information about things to see and do, as well as a useful local directory of shops and services.

Visit Shropshire site Has lots of information about things to do in Shropshire as a whole, from shopping to history and myth.

Virtual shropshire site Has videos and galleries of things to do around Shropshire, as well as a great list of attractions and events.