The Shropshire Love Nature Festival is back for 2023 highlighting events across the county aimed at bringing more people closer to nature.

This year’s festival will run for three weeks from July 17 to August 6 celebrating the wildlife, nature and biodiversity of the county. It is sponsored and organised by the Shropshire Good Food Partnership.

All events are run by local organisations and businesses aiming to share their skills and knowledge to help protect Shropshire’s natural beauty.

Organisers are hoping even more groups and organisations will join this year’s festival helping Shropshire people discover ways to make changes in their lives to support their natural environment.

Last year’s festival featured 70 events across the county bringing over 1,500 people closer to nature in events ranging from farm visits, litter picks, foraging sessions and allotment workshops.

The festival aims to showcase the incredible work that is already going on in Shropshire to safeguard the natural environment as well as encourage the staging of new events.

 The Shropshire Love Nature Festival team would like to hear from any groups interested in joining the festival by staging nature-led events during the three weeks of the festival.

Paul Newman of the Shropshire Good Food Partnership said: “Research shows that the closer we get to nature, the happier we are, the more worthwhile life seems, and the more we are willing to take action to protect our wildlife and the environment.

“That’s why one of the six focus areas of our Shropshire Good Food Partnership is ‘Nature Connection’, and why we are so pleased to be the lead sponsor of this year’s Love Nature Festival.

“This year’s events will offer opportunities to learn new skills, explore new places, and enjoy more of the natural beauty of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. Hopefully, we’ll all be inspired to take a little more care of the natural world around us.”

Further information on how to run an event as part of the Shropshire Love Nature Festival can be found through the website at https://www.shropshirelovenaturefestival.org/ or by emailing the organisers at shropshirelovenature@gmail.com

A family event at Reabrook Nature Reserve from the 2022 festival: Photo by Rick Adaway.