Heritage Open Days is England’s largest festival of history and culture, taking place every September and involving thousands of local volunteers and organisations. Stories are told, traditions explored and histories brought to life. The festival provides members of the general public with the chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences. And what’s more, it’s all absolutely FREE.

The event returns this year from Friday 6 to Sunday 15 September - and here are just some of the venues you can explore around the region...

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Buildwas Abbey - Buildwas, Telford, Shropshire, TF8 7BW

To celebrate Heritage Open Days, English Heritage are offering a free guide tour of Buildwas Abbey. Situated in a stunning wooded Severn-side setting, expert tour guide volunteers will take visitors on a fascinating journey around the impressive ruins of this Cistercian abbey, including its unusually unaltered 12th century church, beautiful vaulted and tile-floored chapter house, and recently re-opened crypt chapel.

Fri 13 Sept | 11am, pre-booking required

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Dudmaston Hall - Dudmaston Hall, Bridgnorth, WV15 6QN

Take advantage of free entry to this lived-in family home at the heart of a working Shropshire estate. 
A much-loved home for over 875 years, the family rooms are scattered with photos. The unexpected galleries create a total contrast, with their crisp and formal lines designed by the last owner, Lady Labouchere. Meanwhile, the gardens provide amazing vistas, while the orchard is the perfect place to relax and enjoy watching your children let off steam. 

Sun 8 - Thurs 12, & Sun 15 Sept | 10.30am-4.30pm, no pre-booking required

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Haughmond Abbey - Haughmond Abbey, Haughmond, Uffington, Shrewsbury, SY4 4RW

Join an expert team of English Heritage volunteers for an exclusive tour of Haughmond Abbey.

The popular visitor attraction includes extensive remains of the Augustinian abbey, including its abbots’ quarters, refectory and cloister. The substantially surviving chapter house has a frontage richly bedecked with 12th- and 14th-century carving and statuary, and a fine timber roof from around 1500.

Mon 9 - Thurs 12 Sept | 11am, pre-booking required

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Iron Bridge guided tours - The Iron Bridge, Telford, TF8 7JP

The world’s first iron bridge was erected over the River Severn in Shropshire in 1779. This pioneering structure marked a turning point in English design and engineering; after it was built, cast iron came to be widely used in the construction of bridges, aqueducts and buildings.
Join knowledgeable volunteers to find out more about this fascinating site and its history. 

Sat 7 - Thurs 12 Sept | 11am & 1pm, pre-booking required

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Newport Heritage Festival - various venues in Newport, Shropshire 

For one day only, Newport is opening as many doors as possible.

Some of the town's historic buildings will be open for the public to visit free of charge. These include the Tudor Guildhall, the Newport Cemetery Chapel of Remembrance and a walk of some of the most interesting graves in the cemetery, St. Nicholas Church (and hopefully the bell tower too), the Black Shed at the canal (Victorian warehouse) and others.

Sat14 Sept | 10am, no pre-booking required

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Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings - Spring Gardens, Shrewsbury, SY1 2SZ

Visit Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings’ Mill exhibition for free across a mid-month Heritage Open Days weekend. Learn all about the first iron-framed building, why it was built in iron, and the lives of the people who worked in the buildings.

Sat 14 & Sun 15 Sept | 10am-4pm, pre-booking preferred

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Shropshire Museums Collections Centre - Ludlow Library, 7 - 9 Parkway, Ludlow, SY8 2PG

Take advantage of a behind-the-scenes tour, with the curators presenting a selection of hidden gems from the vast collections of Shropshire Museums. Highlights include costumes, paintings of Ludlow and the surrounding area, Shropshire fossils, stuffed birds and animals. Visitors will also have the chance to check out the archaeology store. The tour will last an hour and is suitable for anybody aged six or older.

Sat 7 Sept | 10am, pre-booking required

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Whitchurch Museum & Archives Heritage Centre - 12 St. Marys Street, Whitchurch, Shropshire, SY13 1QY

Whitchurch is renowned for being the only town in Shropshire to have been continually inhabited on the same site since being built in Roman times. So why not visit the volunteer-run museum and find out about the history of Whitchurch and its surrounding villages?

Journey from the Centre of the Earth, a special display for Heritage Open Days, focuses on geological core samples extracted recently from a borehole on local farmland, on loan from the British Geological Survey. The results date back nearly 200million years to the Jurassic Age when Whitchurch was a desert and dinosaurs were walking on the earth.

Fri 13 & Sat 14 Sept | 10am-4pm, no pre-booking required

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For further information on Heritage Open Days across the region, visit heritageopendays.org.uk.