Wilderhope Manor

Wilderhope Manor is a Grade I listed Elizabethan manor house at Wenlock Edge in the Shropshire Hills, built in 1585 for Francis Smallman, whose initials can be seen on the plaster ceilings. In the Civil War the Royalist Major Thomas Smallman escaped his captors on horseback and plunged down Wenlock Edge at the spot known as the Major's Leap; an apple tree is said to have broken his fall. In 1936 a Cadbury family trust bought the house and gave it to the National Trust on condition that it became a youth hostel, and the YHA still manages it, so it is a working hostel with limited visitor access to the rooms; check before travelling. The roof holds the largest colony of swifts in Shropshire. Reviewers mention the woodwork, fireplaces and other original features, and the countryside setting. Dogs are welcome under close control, ideally on a lead. Two waymarked loops start from the car park, the 1.8-mile Longville Coppice Walk and the 1.5-mile Stanway Coppice Walk, both with steep, uneven stretches. Parking is limited.