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The small and delightful historic town of Much Wenlock in Central Shropshire is home to The Gaskell Arms, a seventeenth century coaching inn that offers most things that are required to help guests relax and unwind in style, from a peaceful beer garden and self catering accommodation, to tasty food and facilities to celebrate or host conferences.

The interior has oak beams and log fires on one hand, and comfortable bedrooms with modern facilities on the other. And once it's time to attend to your appetite head to the elegant restaurant where home-cooked British food is served at all times.

The à la carte opens with a vine tomato and mozzarella salad with red onion tapenade and herb oil before it offers a main course of chicken Cynthia with oranges, grapes and orange sauce or salmon Duglere in a creamy sauce with prawns, mussels and tomatoes.

Bar meals are served in the lounge bar and The Gaskell Arms is open for drinks throughout the day.

Located on the old A5, now mercifully relieved of its traffic load by the M54, opposite the gates to the National Trust's Attingham Park, the Mytton as it is colloquially called sits beside the twin bridges over the River Severn with gardens sloping down to the river.

It is a thoroughly jolly place with a large and handsome area in front of the bar in which a variety of mis-matched, but attractive, chairs and tables provide no-nonsense eating space with plenty of room for large family parties. Beyond is a more formal area for those that like it.

The menu, whilst relatively short is well augmented by a list of daily specials. Dishes are generous, straightforward and served by cheerful, briskly efficient waiters. A good wine list is supported by a selection on the board from which most normal human beings could make a satisfying choice.

Butler's Restaurant is part of a hotel, which has been formed after combining two elegant 17th century country houses, and then adding the odd wing or two in good taste. The Park House can be found on the edge of the market town of Shifnal, and serves as an ideal base to explore the outstanding countryside and attractions in and around Shropshire.

The overall ambience is one of quiet opulence, and Butler's provides a good range of comfortably-priced English and Continental dishes, served well and supported by an excellent wine list that embraces Old World and the New.

On the à la carte, peppered fillet of beef is pan-fried and paired with stilton and red onion salad, while main courses of pork fillet appear with crushed potatoes, creamed cabbage and bacon, crispy crackling, candied apples and calvados cream Grilled fillets of lemon sole are served with potted shrimps, saffron potatoes, asparagus and baby leeks, crab and tarragon velouté.

With its high backed leather chairs, solid wooden tables and comfortable sofas, the bar is a great place to visit for a drink.

Yockleton Arms is the name of a welcoming restaurant and bar eight miles west of Shrewsbury on the Montgomery Road. You could visit the family-run venue with special people or for a more relaxed meal with the family.

The setting is warm and intimate, and there is something for everyone to enjoy. The bright and airy dining area is a great place to sample the best of British cuisine, and the menu offers both traditional and modern creations created from the region's best seasonal ingredients. If you're in the mood for a pizza, get set to choose from close to twenty exciting combinations.

Look out for a crab and prawn tian with cucumber salad, which provides a firm foundation for a main course of chicken supreme stuffed with Cumbrian ham and orange, sage butter and walnut gnocchi or hearty game pie, hand cut chips and vegetables. The rustic little bar serves wines and beer.

Children are most welcome and dishes from the à la carte can be ordered in smaller versions.

At last somebody's done it! The waterfront overlooking the River Severn at Ironbridge Gorge has been crying out for years to shake off its tearoom image and host a proper restaurant, and Eric and Beb Bruce have picked up the challenge. Fresh from their highly successful operation at Oswestry they have established a serious restaurant that offers a flexible and fast changing menu that still manages to retain the favourites of the regular customers, of whom there is an increasing number.

Amongst starters you are likely to encounter expect black pudding with chorizo sausage, mushrooms, bacon and a soft poached egg, with its wonderful overtones of that splendid meal we call breakfast. Or perhaps prawn and smoked haddock ravioli with shellfish sauce appeals?

Main courses can offer individual roast rack of local lamb, medallions of venison with sun-dried cranberries and a cognac cream sauce, whilst even hardened carnivores might feel drawn to a plum tomato, red onion and mozzarella tart wild mushroom soufflé.

Desserts of apple charlotte with clotted cream and apricot sauce, or dark Belgian chocolate torte with their own preserved cherries in cognac are frequently to be seen, and their cheese platter is a work of the art.

Décor is tasteful and exudes warmth. This is a long overdue addition to that exciting historical hot spot that surrounds the Iron Bridge.

Located just outside Shrewsbury, the splendid Albright Hussey Manor Hotel provides a happy alternative to the often crowded streets and car parks of the town itself. Surrounded by carefully tended gardens spread over four acres, the whole atmosphere of the family-owned refuge is comfortable, relaxed and unfussy without being uncaring.

Twenty-six ensuite bedrooms that have helped the manor earn an AA four star rating offer magnificent views over the Shropshire countryside. While some are situated in the main house others can be found in the more modern wing.

The Subbiani family also run an excellent AA rosette dining room called the Moat Room Restaurant, taking full advantage of what the seasons bring. Dine on dishes such as Cornish fresh crab meat salad with potato bread and crab bisque, and grilled escalope of loin and confit of English Rose veal with wild mushrooms and gratin dauphinoise potatoes amidst oak panels, huge open fireplaces and moulded Tudor beams.

The cocktail bar is a lovely place for a well-deserved end of day drink.