First: The Shrewsbury Quest closed in 2001. It was an attempt to recreate part of the Abbey lifestyle. Indeed, some of the walls inside are from the original abbey grounds which have survived the dissolution.
The place made good use of dim lighting, smell (the smell of old wood and herbs were all around) and even sound (the subtle sound of Gregorian Chant echoed through the rooms to great effect). You could wander through some of the rooms which had been recreated.
These include the Abbey Gatehouse, Store room, Scriptorium, Guesthall, Cadfael's Workshop, a monks sleeping room, Cloistered walkway and a fantastic herb garden.
The main theme running through this set of scenes was that you, the visitor, had to solve the mystery of the death of a minstrel, Edwin, who was found stabbed on the Green Court. Who was to blame for the death??? Two recent visitors to the abbey Sir Ivo and his wife Elvira perhaps...
To solve the murder you were preseted with a series of clues in the form of Cadfael notebooks which were strategically placed around the route, pointing you to where you needed to look. Other clues were placed in obvious and not-so obvious places.
By far the best of these exibits, was the Scriptorium. A large room with a multitude of things to look at and, more importantly, do. You were given a blank page at the start of the visit and it was here that you could turn your page into a masterpiece of medieval script.
A peaceful alternative to the creativity in the scriptorium, was a peaceful walk around the small gardens there - here you could find the herb gardens and the abbots garden, including fish pond. Cadfaels workshop was here too, and it certainly looked as you'd expect it to...
