Shropshire (which was oddly abbreviated to Salop between 1974 and 1980) is a large sparsely populated county in the heart of England straddling the hilly area between Wales and Birmingham and covering an area of 1,350 square miles with a population of 400,000. Shropshire has a very attractive county town in Shrewsbury (which began life as the Saxon town of Scrobbesbryrig), possibly the finest tudor town in Britain with winding medieval streets of higgledy-piggledy half timbered houses. The attractions of Shrewsbury include Rowley's House Museum, Shrewsbury Abbey and the Shrewsbury Quest where visitors search for clues to solve a medieval murder mystery. Charles Darwin was born and educated in Shrewsbury.