Well, we did 16 viewings in 2 days and by the end I was getting just a tad cranky with all the driving about :blink: . All with our two year old in tow.

On Sunday, we took all the children for a drive up to Shropshire (but left our two oldest with Gran & Grandad in Hereford for the viewings). We had a picnic in Shrewsbury Park (where they have the swimming pool) and then we headed out to Wellington and decided to concentrate on Shrewsbury for the time being as it was very close to some factories and the roundabouts system seemed a bit odd.

We viewed the Old Post Office in Dorrington which needed quite a bit more than the minor cosmetic attention mentioned in the details and, as it was Grade II listed, we were worried about some of the so-called 'improvements' that had taken place to the property over the last few years. So that was out.

We then looked at some just off Racecourse Lane and thought they were alright. Then we saw Meole and thought 'yes' as it was an old established village/suburb. it has the local church and schools which Bicton Heath seems to miss out on being a more modern development. Plus, you can nip under the railway bridge, up over the A5 and be in the countryside in 15 minutes walking.

Again, we liked Bayston Hill for similar reasons.

Everyone was really welcoming and seemed very proud of Shrewsbury. And, nice for us, there isn't much trace of an accent as we were worried we might stand out a bit as we don't.

We didn't get to go to 'Happy China' though as we didn't even get to the Travelodge until after 7pm and I was too knackered to go out again so we went to the Little Chef next door, it was alright I suppose but was rather hampered by our two year old who was making up for spending all day in the car.

You certainly have a lovely town so we have put in our offer and currently waiting to see if we get accepted.

Will update you all soon,
Schizoidgal.

Oh, and the only congestion we had was at the A5/A49 roundabout and right in the centre of town. Your rush hour matches our mid afternoon light congestion here.

"there isn't much trace of an accent"

Unlike on the BBC programme "The Green Green Grass" people in Shropshire don't actually talk with a silly West Country accent. Probably something to do with the fact that we are NO WHERE NEAR the West Country!! :rolleyes:

There is a bit of an accent amongst the more 'yokel' elements in Shropshire though,

"alright mon, dunna wanna buy a house round 'ere mon."

I think there definately is an accent in South Shropshire which has a yokel twang about it! Your being snobby David!

Oi! What do you mean by yokel? Folk in South Shropshire are just as canny as any where else if not more so!

No offence intended, it's just a way of identifying our country comrades. Just like we urban dwellers might be called 'townies'.

I'm sure the good folk of South Shropshire are as clever as any around and I would think that they wouldn't want us to change our traditional name for them just to be "PC".

And no offence taken :) . Just banter. I'm a townie myself these days.

I once heard the Shropshire accent described as "Brummie interbreeding with Welsh to get two lots of slaggings off in one go". :-)

Well, whatever it is, it sure isn't a West Country accent, which was the point I was making before..

Taken from a definiton of the word :-
Yokels, also called bumpkins, are unsophisticated country people. In England yokels are traditionally depicted as wearing the old West Country farmhand's dress of straw hat and white smock, chewing a piece of straw and carrying a pitchfork or rake. The Wurzels cheerfully play on this stereotype in their Scrumpy and Western music. Yokels can also come from other parts of Britain such as Yorkshire or Norfolk. English yokels speak a country dialect from some part of England. Variations can involve the straw hat with baggy trousers or a large untidy weatherproof hat not of straw.

There you go David!

I can always tell by accent people who come from South Shropshire.

I dunna know what you're talkin bout sayin thurs a shewsby accent. :D