Keep rainy day boredom at bay with these top 10 indoor Shropshire attractions
With the summer holidays upon us and the weather looking grim, indoor attractions are the ideal entertainment for restless youngsters.
Check out our pick of the top 10 - suitable for a range of ages and members of all the family - across Shropshire below.
Do you have any you would like to add to our list? Let us know in the comments section below.
Jailhouse Tours at Dana Prison, Shrewsbury
A whole host of experiences are on offer at this landmark jail, including guided and self-guided tours, ghost tours, night tours, 'a night behind bars', and tunnel tours.
Visitors are able to explore the Victorian prison wings and the Georgian cells beneath, learn how executions were carried out, listen to tales from former prison officers and learn how prisoners lived day to day.
The venue also offers kids archery, a laser maze and an escape room too.
Team building activities are also on offer.
The venue also hosts live music events with a licensed bar, educational visits, and ghost hunts.
For more information, click here
Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, South Shropshire
Surrounded by countryside, this attraction boasts a Shropshire Hills Through Time exhibition - from the Ice Age to current day, an award-winning cafe, 30 acres of riverside meadows, and a gift shop.
There are also regular family events and workshops throughout the school holidays for both children and adults.
Visitors can also 'meet' the centre's mammoth - a full-size replica of a skeleton found at Condover near Shrewsbury.
The centre is open seven days a week, from 10am till 5pm.
For more information, click here
RAF Museum Cosford
Named the number one accessible attraction in Shropshire, this venue has a wide variety of things to see and do, including a 'Fun 'n' Flight' interactive gallery, a virtual reality zone, and flight simulator.
A huge array of vehicles are on display at the Cosford landmark venue too, from tanks, to planes, cars, missiles, motorcycles, engines and more.
Admission to the museum is free.
The attraction also hosts a wide range of events, including car rallies, a 'D-Day Challenge', Nimrod Tours, a Vintage and Homemade Festival, and various in-depth looks at life stories.
For more information, click here
Telford Ice Rink
Home to the Telford Tigers, this town centre attraction offers ice skating, a cafe, a lounge bar, skate shop and soft play area.
The Saint Quentin Gate venue offers skating lessons, public skates, ice hockey training, a 'Tots on Ice' session for under fives, disco skate sessions on Friday nights, and family skate time on Saturdays and Sundays with house lights and music.
The ice rink is open from 8am till midnight Monday to Friday and from 7am till midnight on Saturdays and Sundays. Be sure to check the timetables for the various sessions taking place.
For more information, click here
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery
Founded in 1835, this Market Street venue offers visitors the chance to explore millions of years of history through more than 1,000 objects on display - from key Shropshire finds like the Roman tombstones and headstones and the Shropshire Mammoth, to a fine geology and Tudor collection.
A wide range of events for all the family are on offer, from story-telling sessions, to cartoon workshops, stained glass events, courses, film screenings, Lego workshops, parent and toddler groups, art workshops, a young writers' group and more.
Art at the venue include works from the Roman, Medieval, Tudor and Stuart eras, as well as a 'Shropshire Gallery' and a 'Special Exhibition Gallery'.
The museum and art gallery is open from 10am till 5pm Monday to Saturday, and from 11am till 5pm on Sundays from April to September. From October to March, the venue is open from 10am till 5pm from Tuesday to Saturday, and from 11am till 4pm on Sundays. The museum is open on Mondays during the school holidays in the winter months.
For more information, click here
The Venue, Oswestry
Billed as 'Oswestry's number one entertainment venue' on its website, this Park Hall attraction offers bowling, soft play, indoor laser tag, an escape room, dance and drama sessions for youngsters, a pre-school playgroup, a gym, fitness classes, football and more.
The attraction also hosts live music events, some of which are accompanied by a disco and food.
Visitors can also enjoy meals at the The Venue, with a bar, big screen TVs, pool tables and locally-sourced food.
It is open from 7am till 10pm, Monday to Saturday, 7am till 6pm on Sundays and 7am till 6pm on bank holidays.
For more information, click here
Ironbridge Gorge Museums, Telford
These top Shropshire museums offer a range of attractions for all the family, from Blists Hill Victorian Town, to Enginuity, Jackfield Tile Museum, Coalport China Museum, Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, Museum of the Gorge, Darby Houses, Tar Tunnel, The Iron Bridge and Tollhouse, and Broseley Pipeworks.
Enginuity in Coalbrookdale, Telford, is child-focused and hosts drop-in workshops during the school holidays. This attractions lets youngsters get hands-on with design challenges and puzzles, and children can 'pull a loco', 'build an earthquake-proof tower', generate electricity using water and dams, and challenge their parents to build the strongest bridge. It also runs various events, including comic art workshops and exhibitions, comedy nights and charity dinners.
The Tar Tunnel at Coalport meanwhile, is an eerie brick-lined tunnel dug into the hillside where visitors can see the treacle-like bitumen oozing through gaps in the walls. Visitors are no longer able to walk down the tunnel, however. The attraction is open on Wednesdays during the summer as part of the Coalport China Museum site tour and visitors can view the Victorian curiosity from the entrance accompanied by a guide.
The Coalport China Museum boasts an array of treasures, from elaborate statuesque vases to hand-painted miniatures, made for everyone from wealthy families to Queens and Tsars. Visitors can see traditional techniques in riverside workshops, dress-up in the children’s gallery and step inside the atmospheric kilns.
Blists Hill Victorian Town, meanwhile, lets visitors can experience what life was like in a bygone era. Meet Victorians in their authentic shops and cottages, buy curious goods from the past and watch tradespeople in action in their atmospheric workshops and factories.
For more on the museums and attractions, click here
British Ironwork Centre, Oswestry
The Ironwork Centre offers a range of things to see and do, with a sculpture park boasting more than 100 sculptures and a collection of art over 90 acres of land, two indoor showrooms featuring an eclectic range of items made from a range of materials, and a safari quiz for kids in the summer.
Visitors can also take part in workshops, from blacksmithing and silversmithing, to flower arranging, and ceramics. There are children's craft activities and workshops too.
The venue hosts a range of events, including fairs, the Oswestry Colour Run and trails.
There is also a cafe on site.
The centre is open seven days a week.
For more information, click here
Hoo Farm Animal Kingdom, Telford
Though much of the attraction is outdoors, visitors can also spend time away from the elements looking at the farm's reptile collection.
It has an indoor play area too at the Little Lemurs play barn, where youngsters can enjoy a small soft play area, ball pit, and games machines.
In between showers, Hoo Farm has a huge range of attractions from sheep racing, to animal feeding and pedal go karts, as well as animals on display at Lemur Forest; Parrots of the Caribbean; Rivers, Rainforests and Deserts; and Wallaby Woods.
Experience days are also on offer.
For more information, click here
Indoor and soft play areas in Shropshire - Telford, Oswestry, Ludlow, Shifnal, Market Drayton and more
There are loads of indoor play areas for little ones to enjoy away from the elements all across Shropshire.
Below are 12 across the county:
Funzone, Whitchurch
Mickey Millers Family Playbarn, Craven Arms
Fantastic Funhouse, Oswestry
Wacky Warehouse - The Two Henrys, Shrewsbury
Piggs Playbarn, Norton
Jungleland, Telford
Monkey Mania, Ludlow
Pirates and Princesses, Telford
Little Rascals Play Centre, Shrewsbury
Mad Hatters, Church Stretton
Wacky Warehouse - Bridge Builder, Telford
Wacky Warehouse - Gingerbread Man, Market Drayton
