Flanked by calm waterways and rolling farmland, Market Drayton is a buzzy North Shropshire town on the banks of the River Tern with – as the name suggests – a strong tradition of markets.
The Wednesday market dates to 1245, having originally been established by the Abbot of Combermere as a place to sell the abbey’s produce. Nowadays the lively street and indoor market attract shoppers from all over the region.
The town’s indoor Market Hall also hosts a weekly Saturday market, there is a monthly artisan’s market held around the historic Buttercross in Cheshire Street and even an annual “floating market” in summer at Talbot Wharf on the Shropshire Union Canal.
Market Drayton is also known as the home of gingerbread – in the early part of the 20th century, there were four gingerbread bakers in the town. Billington’s Gingerbread still makes and sells spicy gingerbread fingers to a closely guarded recipe.
There is a thriving community in Market Drayton. Many events are held in the Festival Drayton Centre, a volunteer-run venue where the calendar includes live music, comedy shows, exhibitions and cinema screenings.
In September, the town hosts the Ginger & Spice Festival – a celebration of its culinary history and social heritage. See visitshropshire.co.uk for more.
The nearest train stations to Market Drayton are Stoke-on-Trent (17 miles away) and Shrewsbury (20 miles). The number 64 bus connects the three places. Once there, the town itself is walkable, but a car is needed for exploring the more rural attractions.
Pass the Keys is an accommodation booking website with properties in Market Drayton, including a two-bedroom cottage in Church Street. The property belongs to an artist, so is brimming with quirky pictures and retro furniture. It is just off the main drag, meaning you are in walking distance of the markets, shops, pubs and restaurants. The beds are comfy, too. Sleeps four, from £115 a night.
Just outside Market Drayton, in nearby Hodnet, is former 16th-century coaching inn-turned-gastropub The Bear. There are 12 spacious bedrooms upstairs and fine dining downstairs. Shorter travellers beware, though – the beds are so high that you might need a boost up. Doubles from £180, including breakfast. One accessible and two dog-friendly rooms are available.
The Fields Kitchen bakery and deli in the High Street is a one-stop farm shop for all things Shropshire-made. It sells Aberdeen Angus beef sourced from the owner’s family farm on the outskirts of Market Drayton. You can also pick up Shropshire-produced cheese and Billington’s Gingerbread.
For something a little unusual, Flores Diem in Shropshire Street combines a traditional florist with an alternative store, called Midnight Realm, selling Goth, steampunk and alternative gifts.
Jones’s Coffee House in High Street is a family-run café-cum-shop that also displays and sells work by local artists. The homemade food is delicious (the soups are a highlight) and there is wine made from the vines grown at the family’s vineyard in nearby Colehurst.
The Shropshire blue cheese and Jones’s chutney toastie (£8.15) is the perfect winter warmer alongside a refreshing glass of Colehurst white (£4).
Right down the bottom of Cheshire Street is The Hideout, where the milkshake menu (from £3.60) will satisfy even the sweetest tooth.
Just outside of the town – and well worth the 10-minute drive – is Fordhall Organic Farm (open Tues-Sun) and its tearoom, Arthur’s Farm Kitchen.Fordhall is England’s first community-owned farm, with 8,000 shareholders from across the globe. In the tearoom, tuck into a decadent Welsh rarebit (£8.95), made with mature organic cheddar.
If it’s market day (Weds or Sat), head for the indoor Market Hall in Cheshire Street where you will find a butcher, handmade crafts and gourmet chocolate among the stores.
Market Drayton Swimming and Fitness Centre in Newtown has two indoor pools and hosts regular fun swim sessions.
The 14th-century St Mary’s Church (opening times vary) is a warm refuge from the cold, with Kempe windows to admire inside and enviable views of the town outside.
Peony & Tonic, on the High Street, is a flower and cocktail house – downstairs it’s a florist, upstairs is an intimate bar serving handmade cocktails – including a flawless porn star Martini.
The Red Lion, on Great Hales Street, dates to 1623 and is the flagship tap for Shropshire brewery Joule’s – the pub adjoins the brewery itself via a malt bridge. The Red Lion also sits over Market Drayton’s aquifer – the water source for the brewery’s ales – which can be seen via a well inside.
Ambitious expansion plans are under way at the site, with a visitor’s centre in the works and a second pub expected to open by the end of the year. Core Joule’s ales include Green Monkey, a refreshing English craft lager.
The Bear in Hodnet – so called because it was formerly home to two sun bears that lived underneath the building and could be viewed via a glass floor – underwent a £2m refurbishment around four years ago. Its fine-dining menu changes with the seasons and might include dishes such as scallops with celeriac, apple and samphire (starter £12), chicken breast with Parmesan gnocchi (main £26) or a rich monkfish Wellington (£29).
Market Drayton is central to Shropshire’s “garden triangle”, which includes Goldstone Hall & Gardens, Wollerton Old Hall, Hodnet Hall and the Dorothy Clive Garden.
The Dorothy Clive Garden (£8 adults, £2 children) has seasonal flower trails to follow and a designated wheelchair access route.
In the town itself, you can follow a two-mile canal walk starting from the Towers Lawn bus stop or follow the Town Trail, starting from the Buttercross and ending at Festival Drayton Centre. Both routes include some steep steps.
1) The town is of Saxon origin and was referred to in the Domesday Book as “Draitune”. In the 13th century, it was granted a charter to hold a market on a Wednesday, giving it its current name.
2) In 1651, the Great Fire of Market Drayton destroyed nearly 70 per cent of the town. The blaze started at a bakery and spread quickly. The Crown Inn, which is still open today, was one of the few buildings to survive the flames.
3) Farmer’s wives were said to have enjoyed dunking their gingerbread fingers in port at the town’s former gingerbread café (now a high-end optician).
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