I stayed at the English glamping resort with rare natural pool and free food hampers

AN outdoor pool is the centrepiece of any self-respecting holiday resort.

Sunshine, sunloungers and kids trying to sink each other’s inflatables.

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But this was no ordinary swimming pool. This was a NATURAL pool — nestled in the Shropshire countryside.

No nasty chemicals in this water. It’s split into two zones — one side for swimming and the other filled with reeds and water lilies.

The swimming area has clean edges just like a regular pool, but the water is naturally filtered by sunlight and the plants next to it.

The normal electric-blue hue and chlorine pong we’ve swam in all our lives is gone.

This is just clear water, like swimming in a mountain stream.

Which was appropriate as we were staying at Love2Stay glamping resort, within sight of the River Severn.

It offers 36 glamping units, including safari lodges, and 120 camping pitches, all set on a gently sloping hillside just outside Shrewsbury.

Its Biotop natural pool is one of only a handful open to the public in the UK.

And there’s also a lake with paddleboarding and kayaking, archery lessons, arts and crafts, gym, assault course and a nature trail.

We stayed in one of the site’s glamping barns. Outside, each has a private hot tub, firepit with starter bag of logs, giant hammock and beanbags.

Inside there’s a well-equipped open-plan kitchen, double bedroom and upstairs mezzanine for the kids to sleep on.

We were treated to a luxury food hamper on arrival, which comes with breakfast and dinner included.

Victorian fair

And we’re talking proper full English with fresh local ingredients and giant field mushrooms for the veggies.

There’s no shop on site — Sainsbury’s is a five-minute drive away — but the cafe serves hearty breakfasts and wood-fired pizzas in the evening.

You could spend the whole weekend without leaving the park but that would mean missing out on Shrewsbury’s medieval lanes.

We boarded the Sabrina boat, a charming 45-minute cruise that loops the River Severn. With tea, coffee and a wonderful commentary, it’s the best way to see the town’s historic riverside.

Bridges swoop overhead as you admire Charles Darwin’s alma mater Shrewsbury School.

While the naturalist is widely seen as Shrewsbury’s most famous son, don’t forget T-Pau’s Carol Decker, who lived above the nearby boathouse.

And the beautiful green spaces surrounding it were transformed by TV gardening legend Percy Thrower.

Just down the road lies the Ironbridge Gorge, which has been transformed into the Valley of Invention and a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Here the Industrial Revolution was forged at the Coalbrookdale furnaces, and the gorge is now home to six museums.

The Iron Bridge, opened in 1781, still stands as a marvel of its time when it became the world’s first bridge made entirely of cast iron.

We took a circular walk up the side of the gorge, which gave us spectacular views of the valley.

Then we headed to Blists Hill Victorian Town. It’s a living film set, a cross between a Western and Great Expectations.

Enormous ironwork and industrial relics from its blast- furnace past sit alongside a lovingly recreated Victorian High Street.

Staff in period clothing are working as they would have 150 years ago, making candles, baking bread and hammering iron at the blacksmith’s.

If you want your kids to know what life was really like before wifi, you can enrol them in the Victorian school. A stern Miss gives period lessons with a stick and hoop.

There’s a fish-and-chips shop wrapping cod in the village newspaper, and even a traditional Victorian boozer — complete with a sing-song knees-up in the afternoon.

And there’s a full Victorian fairground, with steam-powered rides, coconut shy and swingboats.

If you like your Victoriana with even more Clarkson’s Farm, Acton Scott Heritage Farm has reopened after a five-year break.

In its barns and yards, you can meet the wool-spinners and press Shropshire apples. The schoolroom is now a cafe serving local produce.

Back at Love2Stay, we cranked the firepit to industrial temperatures for marshmallows and mapped out our expeditions into the Shropshire Hills to see the ponies on Long Mynd.

It’s perfect for families who like a touch of luxury when they’re in the great outdoors.