Natural England

How would you like to carry The Stiperstones on your back? Well now you can thanks to an exciting new activity for families who visit The Stiperstones, and it`s a lot more fun than it sounds.

The Stiperstones-in-a-rucksack is now available, and will turn families into explorers and help make the most of their visit to the National Nature Reserve.

Pick up a rucksack (for a small refundable deposit) from the Bog Visitor Centre located at the foot of The Stiperstones, and then follow the directions, clues and story extracts for a self-guided walk on the hill with stopping points to delve into the rucksack’s treasure trove of activities and curiosities. Discover the wildlife, landscape, geology, history and culture.

As the trail is self-guided, a rucksack can be collected on any day when the Bog Visitor Centre is open (10am – 4pm during the summer) and it is ideal for families as they can walk at their own pace and spend as much or as little time at each stopping point as they like. The walk is approximately 2 miles long.

Stiperstones-in-a-rucksack is an initiative supported by Natural England, Shropshire Hills AONB and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

For further information, please call Natural England on 01743 792 294.

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Notes for editors

Natural England
Natural England works for people, places and nature to conserve and enhance biodiversity, landscapes and wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas. We conserve and enhance the natural environment for its intrinsic value, the wellbeing and enjoyment of people, and the economic prosperity it brings.
For further information about Natural England please visit: www.naturalengland.org.uk

The Stiperstones National Nature Reserve (NNR)
The Stiperstones NNR was opened by David Bellamy in 1982; it forms the major part of the 10 kilometre (6 mile) Stiperstones ridge. The reserve runs to 485 hectares (1,200 acres) and rises to 536 metres (1,760 feet) above sea level. It is owned by Natural England which manages the reserve with assistance from others including commoners; Natural England is the principal funder of this music project and concert. The tors of hard Stiperstones Quartzite which punctuate the skyline are set amongst boulder fields and stripes of stone, relicts of extreme ice age conditions and they are surrounded by upland heathland. Here ling and bilberry (whinberry), western gorse and bell heather, cowberry and crowberry make for the most diverse upland heathland in the Midlands. There is open and well-used public access to the reserve, but it remains wild and atmospheric.

The Bog Centre
The unusually named Bog Visitor Centre, is the old school house and one of last remaining buildings from The Bog Village, demolished in 1972. The centre is the only visitor facility for The Stiperstones upland region in the heart of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and provides a wealth of information about its mining history, its people, and the current work to restore the surrounding landscape.
Location: 6 miles north of Bishops Castle, east of the A488. Grid ref SJ 355979