Church of St Andrew and St Mary, How Capel, Herefordshire.

Church exterior

Fresco

Altar

A sweet little church surrounded by beautiful rolling Herefordshire countryside. The stained glass windows are particularly enchanting. I don't think I have ever seen such an odd subject for a church window as a load of cherubs appearing to fall from the clouds and transform into babies. The church also boasts a four part fresco and some rather splendid tiles.

Fave window

Window detail

Tile floor

How Capel Court Gardens, Herefordshire.

How Capel Peacock

Cider Press

How Capel Court Gardens are an absolute delight. You enter, passing a retired cider press into an avenue of trees surrounding an undulating lawn. The garden then drops into tennis courts and an ancient gazebo. Next is my favourite part, a semicircular Italianate stage and surrounding lawns and various chestnut trees. There are also a number of ponds,
a more formal Italian garden with clipped box and yew hedges and a number of Mediterranean style terrace gardens with statues.

Italian style terrace

Wistria covered area

Formal Italian garden

Not only are these gardens open to the public but you can hire them as a wedding venue. What could look better on those photos that you need to keep forever.

Obelisk, Hollybush, Eastnor, the Malvern/Hereford border.

Obelisk in distance, as seen from path

Some interesting tree forms

 An easy to follow walk, absolutely no need for a map or sense of direction. Park in the Midsummerhill carpark, found just outside Hollybush on the road to Eastnor. You then walk over the cattle grid and just follow the road, you are not allowed to drive up the road unless you are living in one of the few houses. The walk to the obelisk probably just takes about twenty minutes, and this is one walk you could push a buggy along if you have toddlers. The obelisk is a memorial to relations of the Eastnor castle family. Each side has a different inscription to a different dead relative. The memorials are to :

The Obelisk

Edward Charles Cook

A couple of nice views

Lord Chancellor Somer who died in1812
James Cook who died in 1758
and John Lord Somer, Baron of Evesham.

A quite warm day the walk was gentle and although, as you can see, the skies were grey and cloudy, the views were still quite beautiful.

Horses with obelisk in background

I rather liked this whomping willow esq tree

Woolhope Dome and Broadmoor Common, Herefordshire.

Mistletoe detail

Crocus and daffodil

Today I went on a circular walk  through an area known as the Woolhope Dome and across a Nature Reserve called Broadmoor Common. We used a pub called The Crown as the place to start and finish our walk. The food there is great and so it is also where we had our lunch. This also means the 12th century church, visible from almost all points along our walk, signposted for us where we had parked our car. 

Broadmore Common, which we crossed at a part of the walk, is a species rich and valuable grassland common. We saw sheep and lambs, cows,  Canada geese, common geese and hens whilst on the walk. 

An easy and interesting walk, with many sweet bridges, stiles and kissing gates, it is well signposted and is 6.5 miles in length. Free leaflets with maps are available from local tourist information centres.

Various views from walk 

Apple orchard crossed on walk

One of several duck ponds

Midsummer Hill, Eastnor, Herefordsahire

Eastnor Castle seen from hill

The Malvern Hills extend south from Malvern into Eastnor in Herefordshire. One of the southern most hills is Midsummer hill. The paths to it's summit is quite narrow and steep, and for most of the climb you are surrounded by woodland. At this time of year you can see clearly through them past Eastnor Castle and the obelisk and out across the gently undulating Herefordshire countryside.

 Near the top you leave the trees and find yourself on a shale and grassy mound with great views in 360 degrees. There are buzzards, sparrowhawks and kestrels living around here and you can see the distinctive birds of prey hovering and then swooping down, both over the hills and the surrounding farmland. There is an information post at the top which explains about the different plants and animals you may see.

I was absolutely the only soul on the hill, even though the car park was full. There is an easier walk from the car par to the obelisk and I could see many people had walked there.Being alone on the hill though meant there was no one to disturb the wildlife and I saw many smaller birds including a very inquisitive wren and a pair of nervous pheasants.

The Herefordshire obelisk

View through trees

View from summit

Tree root detail

Ledbury, Herefordshire

One of the narrow Tudor side streets

17th Century Market House

 Ledbury is a delightful market town, on the Herefordshire side of the Hereford/Worcester border. Much of it's architecture is Tudor, There is a museum on Butchers lane, and there is a 26th Century Painted Room in Church Lane and a 27th Century Market House on the High Street. These are open to the public, (free of charge) weekdays 11-4 during the summer months, and 2-5 on Sundays and Bank Holidays during the summer.

Ledbury library and clock tower

The Tinsmiths shop

Shanti-shanti and Hus and Hem

Hus and Hem

The area's architecture hasn't stood still, as the Tinsmiths shop in particular demonstrates. A fascinating building looking rather like a metal clad recumbent Stegasaurus.

My two favourite stores however are right next to one another. Shanti-shanti sells an eclectic mix Moroccan lights/ incense/ jewellery and a hundred things you never knew you needed. Hus and Hem in contrast sells Scandinavian textiles/ candles/ home ware and fancy goods. 

After spending rather more than I meant to on absolutely vital things I never realised I needed I went to Ice Bytes, the Internet cafe for coffee/ ice cream and cake.

Today was a rather dull looking day but I think I made the mo of it.

British Camp, Malvern Hills

Photo 1

Photo2

Yesterday was very foggy, which doesn't really show up on my camera. To try and show you how foggy I stood on the common at Link Top in Malvern. One of these pictures shows the hills behind the common, but which one?

Today it was beautiful, clear skies and sunshine. The views from British Camp were spectacular. British Camp is so named as various armies have had forts there and have dug moats and ridges in to the hillside. The views are spectacular across both the Severn valley flood plain in Worcestershire and the rolling hills of Herefordshire.

View looking north from British Camp

View looking west from British Camp

View looking north of earthworks on top pf British Camp

View looking east

Panoramic view looking east

Tree detail

Yellow lichen growing on trees