Much Wenlock – Cradle of the modern Olympics

Much Wenlock in Shropshire is to Britain what Olympia is to Greece, as in this beautiful unspoiled little market town, the local surgeon, Dr William Penny Brookes created the Wenlock Olympian Games which ultimately inspired Baron de Coubertin to set up the Modern Olympics we have today – so fulfilling Brookes’ dream.

In 1994 Juan Antonio Samaranch, then president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), made a pilgrimage to Much Wenlock and laid a wreath at Brookes' grave. He announced to the world press that:"I came to pay homage and tribute to Dr Brookes, who really was the (founding father) of the modern Olympic Games."

2009 is a special celebration year for Much Wenlock as Brookes was born in the town 200 years ago exactly. The Games are organised by the dedicated volunteers who make up the Wenlock Olympian Society, and are still held in the town every July.

But there is much more to see and do in and around Much Wenlock. It is a town in miniature with a myriad of fascinating old buildings, streets and passage ways to explore and the Olympian Trail to follow. An excellent selection of quality individual shops, a pottery and tea rooms, inns and accommodations serving locally sourced produce.

Wenlock Priory’s impressive remains are an unmissable, serene and majestic sight. Just outside the town is the impressive Wenlock Edge studded with fossils from the time when once it was a coral reef in a tropical sea. Pretty unspoilt Shropshire villages and towns and rolling hills and countryside are waiting to be discovered.

Not far away is the Ironbridge Gorge, where the Industrial Revolution began 300 years ago in 1709, with its interesting collection of museums and Shrewsbury, the birth place of Charles Darwin in 1809, is only a few miles away.

For further details go to visitbridgnorth.co.uk.