Shropshire walking vacation

Planet

It is safe to drink the water from the tap in England, however, for customers keen to avoid buying single use plastic bottles we encourage customers the chance to purchase a discounted filter Water-To-Go bottle which combines three different technologies to remove over 99.9% of all microbiological contaminants in water.

We operate a ‘leave no trace’ policy on tour; our tour leaders are trained to promote this message to customers. As the focus of this trip is primarily walking, we aim to leave a minimal impact on the areas as possible. This trip actively encourages customers to reduce the carbon footprint to a minimum. On this vacation most walks start directly from our hotel and take us along lanes, dismantled railway lines and canal tow-paths as well as countryside footpaths and bridleways through farmland and valleys. The gorge is surrounded by woodland, conserved by the Severn Valley Countryside Trust.

This includes not deviating from designated walking areas so as not to upset ecosystems irrespective of the size. We encourage customers not to feed birds or other wildlife as they become reliant on tourists. The hotel has been selected for the number of waste that is recycled and the hotel has received the Green Tourism Gold Award.

We’re committed to running our business responsibly. In our office we reduce, reuse, and recycle whenever possible. It’s in a refurbished mill, and we’ve also installed a waterwheel to generate electricity from the river. It was the first of its kind in Britain, gives us our own sustainable source of power and any excess goes to the National Grid.

People

On this tour we stay at the Best Western Valley Hotel in the heart of Ironbridge and is the perfect base for exploring the local walks and visiting the Ironbridge Gorge Museums. The hotel assures us that they recycle as much waste as possible. Breakfast and dinners are served at the hotel; however, lunches are taken in a variety of local eating establishments, such as cafes, pubs and shops to purchase picnic supplies, which helps to spread the financial benefits of tourism.

We offer millions of pounds in financial aid to walking groups within the UK to maintain walking by young and old for future generations, rebuild broken paths and bridges washed away. This falls under an organisation named the Charitable Trust.

We cap passengers at a maximum of 22 customers so as not to impact on the environment in Shropshire, especially as we explore primarily on foot and on ‘rights to roam’ land. We use as many locally owned services as possible throughout this trip. We employ a local transport company to provide transfers on a couple of days and we include the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Passport Ticket in with the vacation cost.