West Malvern Village, Worcestershire

West Malvern Village Hall

St James Church, West Malvern Road

 West Malvern village is a sleepy little picturesque village.The sleepyness I put down to the fact that being on the west side of the hill it takes the sun about an hour longer to reach the village than the rest of Worcestershire. In the summer however the late arrival of the sun each day is more than made up for the locals by the spectacular subsets.

The village looks lovely all year, and at Christmas the carols by candle light at the local church are enchantingly  festive. In summer there is a local art's festival, and my personal favourite is the summer music festival West-Fest.


There are many footpaths and once you have burnt off the calories you can replace them at the local pub, the Brewers Arm's. This pub has won competitions for its views, and has a very quaint "olde worlde" style.

Sign indicating footpath of West Malvern Road

Brewers Arm's public house

Lower Dingle view

The Quabs footpath

Cyclamen near "The Runnings"

Cyclamen detail

Ancient Ridge Walk, West Malvern

Gate at Croft Farm onto Ridge walk

 I decided to try and do the ridge walk again, that was what I had been trying to do when I got lost in West Malvern wood last week. I have walked the ridge walk about 16 times, but often wasted quite a lot of time lost in the wood by the park before finding the path to Croft Farm

Had a fantastic idea, I thought, start at the farm end because the gate to the path is easier to find.

View of West Malvern from ridge

View westward across Herefordshire countryside

Tree canopy detail

Muddy Path

Unfortunately this is not a totally me proof plan. There were a few places where the path divided in to several, and so I stuck to the what looked like the main path. When I saw the yew three below I remember thinking, "I never noticed that before." Well that was because I had g\one to far along the wrong path. Not a huge disaster, as the tree with the bracket fungi and the scary looking quarry I had never seen before and were both very beautiful.\

Yew Tree

The woods here are very ancient, as the walk I went on was mentioned in the Domesday book. In particular they were mentioned as there are Service  Trees, which were used in ancient times to make alcohol planted here. Apparently they are still here, though I don't know what they look like so couldn't take a picture,

Tree with bracket fungi

Most dangerous bit of pathway

Quarry sign

A road tree detail

Earl Beauchamps's Fountain

Last days of snow, (hopefully).

West Malvern as viewed from park

View towards the North West from park

 The broadband went down yesterday so couldn't post blog. It has rained over night and everything now is looking rather sad and melted.

These pictures were taken yesterday in and around West Malvern park and woods. It was a warm crisp snowy morning. Everything was white and I got rather lost in the wood, as all the paths and streams looked the same. Luckily the wood isn't that large so if you walk in any direction for about thirty minutes you will be out and have your bearings again.

Igloo made by local children

In the community wood

Panoramic view inside wood

West Malvern Community Wood

West Malvern Community Wood, new section.

 A fresh layer of snow has fallen today. It is incredibly beautiful. Went for a walk around West Malvern community woods and park. It is amazing how different a place can look. Fabulous.

The swings and slides did look rather spooky though.

Oak Tree.

West Malvern Park, "avenue"

West Malvern Play Park