THE BOG VISITOR CENTRE

A RECORD YEAR FOR THE GEM IN SHROPSHIRE'S LOST MINING VILLAGE

THE CENTRE HAS NOW CLOSED FOR THE WINTER BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS EMAIL US. SEE DETAILS BELOW.

The team of volunteers who run it believe it is unique as Britain's only gas-lit visitor centre. And its fame is spreading. The centre, housed in a former Victorian school in a quiet haven at the foot of the Stiperstones National Nature Reserve, finished its 2009 season by reviving its Christmas Fair and finally closed its doors until Easter 2010 by notching a record-breaking 19,733 visitors during the year. Standing in ideal walking country, the centre attracts a huge range of visitors and the pictures here illustrate their diversity. Ponies Benji and Simba are shown enjoying a welcome rest while visitors from Cornwall and elsewhere in Shropshire relax over the centre's home-baked refreshments. while members of the Morgan Three Wheeler Club from Lancashire and Oxfordshire are shown setting off in their splendid 1930s vehicles. It is hard to imagine the days when The Bog was a hive of industrial activity. But right here indeed was a busy mining community of typical Shropshire folk, in an isolated spot 1,300 feet above sea level and close to the Welsh border, with a hard-won haul of lead and barytes. Some traces of this lost village survive, including the school building, and around it the remains of The Bog's industrial past can be seen, including the Somme Tunnel, the powder magazine, the Miners Arms (now a private house) and the Miners' Institute - though not an amazing aerial ropeway which soared up and away over the hill. And all in a land of lore and legend...and the exploits of Wild Edric. Unmissable.

2010 OPENING DATES:

The centre will reopen after the winter break on Saturday March 27. Open daily from 10.00am until the end of October for all school holidays and Bank Holidays, otherwise Wednesday-Sunday each week. For further information until March 26 phone 01743 792747; thereafter phone 01743 792484