Category: THE MARCHES

A remote nook beautifully situated beside the River Wye, Symonds Yat is well worth a visit for water-babies, bird enthusiasts and those fond of a relaxed riverside pint. An ancient hand-hauled ferry (adult/child 80/40p) joins the two separate hill-hugging villages on either bank, usually with a few ducks stowing away in the back. There’s an abrupt change of mood in upper Symonds Yat West, which hosts a big, sore-thumb fairground jingling to the sound of pocket change, slot-machines and carousels.

An ancient cathedral city on the banks of the River Severn, Worcester (woos-ter) is sprinkled with stark reminders of its eventful history, though postwar city planners have hardly set out to highlight them. Turn a blind eye to the chain stores and multistoreys that nuzzle its architectural gems however, and you’ll be rewarded with a magnificent cathedral, pockets of timber-framed Tudor and elegant Georgian architecture, riverside walks, and tales of the English Civil War, which finished here.

Verdant hills honeycombed with springs and crisscrossed by beautiful walking trails thrust up alluringly over the south and west sides of serene Worcestershire. Though the northern and eastern plains offer little to visitors, plump in its regional heart is the capital, Worcester, boasting a fascinating cathedral and the world-renowned Royal Worcester Porcelain works. The dignified hillside Victorian resort of Great Malvern and the rolling Malvern Hills (the Malverns) beckon just south.

Home to one of the most extraordinary sights in England, the magnificent medieval Mappa Mundi, the dignified cathedral city of Hereford straddles the River Wye plump in the centre of its county. Known largely for its cattle, cider and connections with the composer Elgar, it has a relatively provincial feel but an increasingly youthful energy fizzles along its riverside and centre.

An oasis of tranquillity, rural Herefordshire is scattered with quintessentially English villages of black-and-white timbered charm, a cherished sense of community and well-developed appreciation of the quiet life. Though it’s challenging to get around, the effort is rewarded with bucolic landscapes of lush fields, twisting lanes and more than enough leafy orchards to whet your appetite for the county’s famous ciders. The River Wye wiggles provocatively through the county, tempting canoeists from across the country. County capital Hereford hosts the superb medieval Mappa Mundi, and tip-toeing into Wales is renowned kingdom of books, Hay-on-Wye.

It can be hard to fully grasp the world-rocking events that took place in this tranquil river gorge as you wind your way through its wooded slopes and sleepy villages. But the Industrial Revolution was dramatically kick-started here in the 18th century. Three generations of the pioneering Darby family set about transforming their industrial processes and in so doing irreversibly changed the world.