Klaus the Cat Explores Shrewsbury

Hey friends!

Klaus has had a lovely morning exploring the gorgeous and historic county town of Shrewsbury and took lots of photos to share with you!

Shrewsbury is a wonderful place, with over 600 listed buildings — quite a lot for a smallish town! And it's also where Charles Darwin was born; you can still see his house on a street called The Mount.

There are lots of gorgeous places to explore, though not always on the tourist map, and we thought we'd share some of Klaus's favourite discoveries with you.

We walked into town over the Frankwell suspension bridge which gives you an excellent view of the River Severn which wraps around the town, and sometimes floods too!

The funny dinosaur thing you can see to the left is the Town Council's 40 foot high monument to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin, called The Quantum Leap. It's a bit controversial as it cost a lot of money, and is quite a random thing, but tourists seem to like it.

We then walked further into town, up the hill and past the Square... 

...and stopped for a coffee at what must be one of the most lovely buildings to house a Costa in the country!

Klaus had a nice espresso

After leaving Costa, we walked up the little lane which you can see to the left of the building which is called Grope Lane! It's a narrow medieval alleyway linking High Street to Fish Street, known for its overhanging, half-timbered buildings and, historically, as a medieval red-light district. Dating back centuries, the lane's name reflects this past function, as it was formerly referred to as "Gropecountelane".

Klaus had a little sit down after walking up the lane

From Grope Lane, we got onto Fish Street, which is probably the most photographed street in Shrewsbury, and features the Bear Steps which are named after the Bear Inn Pub which used to be there.

Klaus decided to have a little sit down on the Bear Steps

There are some interesting folk on Fish Street!

We had a bit more of a wander around this area, including the top of the Bear Steps where there is a cafe and gallery

And more lovely shops and flowers

Wyle Cop is a street very close to this area, it has a lot of independent shops selling lots of lovely things, plus it has the historic Henry Tudor Inn, which has been around for a century or two! 

We went off the beaten track a little and found some wonderful houses, all tucked away in their own little world, but a stone's throw from the town centre! 

Here we have two houses adjoining each other, one is on St Marys Street (number 10), and the other is number 16 on Dogpole! Which itself is a very funny name for a street, it takes its name from a pole that was suspended across the end of the street which forced people to dismount (if on horse-back) or to 'duck' to get under it. Dogpole is a mutation of the pronunciation of the original name 'duckpole'.

We then had a little look at the Drapers Hall

And finally we stoped off for another coffee (and cake!) before coming home, just before it started to rain!

If you would like to buy your very own Klaus, you'll find him here