Stay by the River

If you’re after inspiration for your green space back home, head to Hodnet Hall Gardens or Wollerton Old Hall Garden (both 15 minutes’ drive). The former has multiple themed areas, including the luxuriant Water Garden and a Kitchen Garden producing traditional and exotic fruit and veg. Wollerton is a formal four-acre space with colourful roses. The Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery in medieval Shrewsbury (half an hour) is home to archaeological and decorative arts collections, plus minerals and fossils. Stock up on picnic food at the award-winning Shrewsbury Market Hall, and devour it at The Dingle, a garden on the banks of the River Severn. Picture yourself on the next season of ‘The Great Pottery Throwdown’ when you visit Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent (50 minutes), where the TV show is filmed. At the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery you can see exquisite ceramics, as well as the Staffordshire Hoard, a collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver.