Woolly says – Having spent some time with Zoe in Dudley helping to celebrate her burpday we set off for home knowing that we had a problem with the main road being closed. Jo hadn’t said much about how we were going to get back so I was fascinated to see which route we would be taking, as we got closer and closer to where the roadworks would be, I was delighted as she pointed the car left and started following signs for Craven Arms, a small but rather nice place where we had previously been to check out the Museum of Lost Content. It was also home to a mammoth!
The Museum Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre had been on our list for quite a while, not big enough to spend a day but certainly worth a visit as we were passing and given the amount of excitement my small friend was showing it was a good choice.
Woolly says – The museum is based on exhibitions around the Shropshire Hills, including the history, geography, and biology of the area even better it includes a life-sized mammoth!! It’s proved a popular attraction since it opened in 2001and has become an educational hub for local schools, as we pulled into a parking space it appeared that the schools were making the most of it today as well. Before heading inside, we wandered around the circular grass topped building and onto the meadows so that Alfie could have his exercise.
Onny Meadows, as they are known, take their name from the River Onny which flows along the 11 acres meadow site boundary. The meadows are part of a conservation project to preserve wildflowers, hedgerows, and trees/woodland, although there were no flowers at this time of year the lush green grass and wide-open spaces were lovely. Alfie happily raced back and forth meeting dog after dog to play with as Jo and I ambled at a far slower pace looking at the overloaded apple trees in the orchard and the berries that covered many of the bushes. Our circular route led us back to the car and having made sure that the muddy panting beast had water and ventilation we headed to the entrance of the centre.
My happiness went into overload as the centres Mammoth, Tusker, stood waiting to greet me. He looked in very good form and as Jo left us to make our acquaintances Tusker took me inside to meet the other members of his clan. Mammoths were everywhere, on shelves, the floor even on the toilet walls, I could barely contain my emotions as I became surrounded by all of their friendly faces and I set about chatting too as many as possible. With the promise of lunch together I caught up with my carer as she headed into the exhibit itself.
The first and by far the best thing to see was the life size skeleton of a mammoth, based on a find in 1986 a few miles away in Condover where an adult and three young mammoths had been discovered, it wasn’t as big as I had thought but then he was missing his vast furry coat which would have added quite a lot to his size. The discover had showed that mammoths had been living in Shropshire less than 14,000 years ago, they cold have walked over the very spot I was stood on now, how thrilling is that.
As Woolly admired the mammoth bones, I chuckled to myself as I read the information board regarding the needs of a mammoth, it appeared that I was underfeeding him greatly if this was to be believed!
Woolly says – Even I hadn’t realised how much my ancestors had eaten and I struggled to think how I would manage to eat 200 kilo’s a day!! Time for a review of my diet by the looks of it. We moved on passing through the Iron Age, Saxons, Romans to the current day with boards giving a very brief description of how each era had affected the locality and what they had left behind. There wasn’t much in the way of photo opportunities and it didn’t take us long to look at everything it was enjoyable even so. Life got better still as arriving in the café it was overrun with mammoths all waiting for me to join them for lunch, I just hoped that the kitchen could cope with our huge dietary needs.