The Cut Visitor Centre and Shop, Shrewsbury
Enjoy a warm welcome at our visitor centre at Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury
Our centre offers visitors real peace and quiet and a chance to escape the hustle and bustle of Shrewsbury. Surrounded by roads and car parks, Shropshire Wildlife Trust’s headquarters appears from the outside about as peaceful and wildlife-friendly as a traffic island. But step inside and you will discover an oasis of nature, lots of history and a rare sense of tranquillity.
It is completely free and there is always lots to do and discover. Explore our shop, where you can purchase wildlife items and gifts or wander around our wildlife gardens for inspiration or to just sit and enjoy the bird song.
Opening hours
Monday to Friday 10am-12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4pm.
Address
Shropshire Wildlife Trust, 193 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY2 6AH
Tel: 01743284 280
The visitor centre is a ten minute walk from Shrewsbury train station and 100m from a Park and Ride bus stop at Old Potts Way. We are situated on Abbey Foregate Pay & Display car park.
Covid 19 update: Our toilets remain closed whilst restrictions are in place. Please follow government guidelines when visiting and masks must be worn when within our shop. For information about our wild child area, see below.
Peanut butter
Shop
Browse our gift shop within the Visitor Centre. Here you will find seasonal gifts, books and pocket money toys. We also stock a huge range of wildlife themed items to help you discover nature, including ID guides, maps, top of the range binoculars and bird feeding products.
We continue to offer a click and collect service on shop items. Browse our products online and once you have decided what you would like, drop us an email or call us and we will arrange payment and a date for collection.
Money raised from our shop contributes directly to conservation work in Shropshire.
Members receive 10% discount on products. If you are not a member you can join here.
Wild Child Garden
Our fantastic Wild Child Garden is a unique outdoor play area within the gardens of our visitor centre, With lots to explore children can get muddy and discover the joys of outdoor wild play in a completely safe environment. Make the muddiest mud pie, crawl through creepy tunnels and create a splash with our water wall.
We have decided to only open the play area for pre booked groups (whilst Covid restrictions are in place). Current social distancing requirements mean that bookings must be no larger than 6 people (including children of all ages) or 2 households per booking.
Current availability is weekdays, 10-12 and 2-4, the space costs £10 per hour to hire.
Please call 01743 284 280 or ask at reception for further information and to book.
Garden Room
Conference facilities
Host your conference or event in the historic town of Shrewsbury; birthplace of Charles Darwin. Three unique conference rooms are available for hire, during weekdays, evenings and weekends; all situated within the peaceful confines of our cloisters and garden and within easy walking access to Shrewsbury town centre.
We hope to reopen our conference facilities in May. To make an enquiry please contact us.
Ian Sheppard
Our wildlife garden
Fully accessible paths allow you to discover our small but diverse wildlife garden. The structure of the garden is formal, but in summer you will find plants spilling over the edges, running riot up woven arches, breaking and softening the straight lines of the flower beds. Once part of the Abbey the site is full of history, it is the perfect place to escape all year round.
The site originally belonged to Shrewsbury Abbey until it succumbed to Henry VIII’s order for the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540. One of the three wings of the infirmary buildings still stands in the garden and old foundations can be seen.
In the 1860s, the land was bought up for the development of the Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway, replaced by sidings and platforms for a railway that opened in 1866 and went bankrupt by the end of the same year.
Between 1977 and 1994 Ellis Peters published a series of books based on Brother Cadfael, a detective monk from Shrewsbury Abbey. The site was developed into a visitor centre based on this character. The near-derelict site was restored; its grounds contaminated by decades of use as a British Rail engineering shed were made safe and a medieval herb garden was established.
Since then it has been Shropshire Wildlife Trust's headquarters, with staff offices based in the buildings. The Visitor Centre shop and gardens are available for the public to browse and enjoy and we often hold events here, The gardens are tended by a dedicated group of volunteers,
Events at The Cut
Youth for the Wild for 11-24's: Moths!
Nearby
Make a full day of your adventure and take the opportunity to explore and enjoy other wild places close by.