Worcester - Elgar, Swans and Daffodils

With a population of just over 94,000 people, Worcester is, by far, the biggest 'chester' we've visited during our series of 'Chester' walks.  Home of Lea and Perrins and the birthplace of the British Medical Association, Worcester has faded in and out of history, mostly on the periphery of events (a notable except being the English Civil War) despite its strategic location on the River Severn and its magnificent cathedral.

I must admit, I knew very little about Worcester before we went there, concerning myself more with the pronunciation of the name (it's wuster, right?  Or is it wooster?) than with the city's place in the wider world!  It seems like a pleasant enough place and, although the city is believed to have Roman origins (hence the -cester), this felt less obvious that at some of the other -cesters we've visited, like Wroxeter and Silchester.  I guess the smaller places have kept their more obvious connections to the Romans, whereas cities like Worcester have had many other layers of history added on top. 

Huntlands Farmhouse BnB

Lodging,  victuals and merriment

We decided to stay outside Worcester and walk towards the city, as we enjoy waking up to the sound of birds twittering (as opposed to the constant traffic of London) and it's very fulfilling to walk towards civilisation and the train that will take us back home.  We decided to stay in a wonderful rambling farmhouse with a duck pond called Huntlands Farm, just outside Knightwick in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire.  It's not the most obvious place to stay, but I think we're fated to stumble across the most interesting lodgings on these walks and the welcome we received at Huntlands was second-to-none. 

The BnB is provided by Lucy, who redesigned the interior of the main farmhouse building and is a professional upholsterer.  We also met her father, John, who is a charming man and has a wonderful collection of accordions and harmonikas.  We had a very tasty dinner, cooked by Lucy and then an evening of laughter and music - I used to play the accordion years ago, when I was in an accordion band in Ireland.  It was a wonderful feeling to play again and I realise how much I've missed it.  It's inspired me to think about taking up a musical instrument again - it's such a stress-relief and a lovely way to spend an evening!

Huntlands to Knightwick Manor (0.9 miles)

Cows near Knightwick Manor

Rather than walking directly to Knightwick, we decided to take a more circuitous route via Knightwick Manor, so we could avoid walking along the busy A44, which is the road that runs all the way from Oxford to Aberystwyth.  So we turned right, instead of left, at the bottom of Huntlands drive and made as though we were heading south towards Great Malvern.  After a very small settlement called Gaines we followed a local path to Knightwick Manor, a wonderful farm building on top of a small hill near the Suckley Road.

Knightwick Manor to Knightwick (1 mile)

Three Choirs Way signpost

From Knightwick Manor, we turned right onto the Suckley Road, then picked up the Three Choirs Way, a 100-mile long walking route that links the cities that host the Three Choirs Festival - one of the world's oldest classical choral music festivals.  Each year the festival alternates between the cathedrals of Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford and celebrates, amongst others, the music of English composers such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams.  This has definitely been the most musical of our walks so far! 

The Talbot, Knightwick

The symbol of the Three Choirs Way is a treble clef and the words of a local adage 'Blessed is the Eye between Severn and Wye'.  I've been puzzling over the meaning of this adage ever since, but I'm none the wiser, so if anyone knows what it means, please put me out of my misery!

Knightwick itself is very much a typical 'roadside' village and has a very attractive looking pub called The Talbot with an interesting signpost outside, pointing to faraway friends, rather than faraway places!

Knightwick to Ankerdine Hill (0.5 miles)

Daffodils

We don't get to do a lot of climbing on these Chester walks, so Ankerdine Hill was a chance to stretch our calf muscles and enjoy some forest walking as well.  Our conversation had turned to a recent TV documentary about the English Defence League.  BAM (Best Aussie Mate) doesn't have a television, so I was updating her on the themes of the documentary and the how it portrayed the EDL leader in a very positive light. Without addressing that organisation's extreme islamophobia, the documentary seemed to legitimise support of the EDL and justified xenophobia by distracting viewers away from the blatant issues around race.

Ankerdine Hill to Doddenham Hall (1.3 miles)

View of the distant Malverns

Leaving the summit of Ankerdine Hill, we got lost in a conversation about Sakura, the Japanese Cherry blossoms, then we wandered on to a discussion about the incredible optimism of Japanese people, despite last year's terrible earthquake and tsunami and we finished talking about the famous Japanese Shikoku pilgrimage route and how we would both love to do part of this (although the full thing can take sixty days!)

We also slightly lost the Three Choirs Way at this point and wandered on to the much shorter Worcestershire Way, which runs 31 miles from Bewdley to Great Malvern.  We soon realised our mistake and turned off the Worcestershire Way when it came to Easinghope Lane, following the lane downhill to Doddenhall Hall and the Three Choirs Way once more.

Doddenham Hall to Broad Green (1.1 miles)

Hmmm...everywhere but back then!

The stretch from Doddenham Hall to Broad Green was fairly typical of the rest of the day's walk - mostly along the edges of fields, with views of the Malverns off in the distance and the occasional foray on to quiet country lanes.  It was quite a peaceful walk and we didn't come across any other walkers apart from farmers in the distance, tending to their fields. 

Getting out of Doddenham Hall was probably the most complicated part of the whole walk, as the path was partly obstructed and signposts like the one in the picture were particularly open to interpretation!  I sometimes wonder at the value of sign posts like these, as it's plainly obvious that, at any given time, we mainly have four directions to choose from (right, left, back, forward)!

Broad Green to Elgar's Birthplace (2.3 miles)

Broad Green

Broad Green seemed like a fairly sedate place and reminded me of other 'commons' that we've seen on our various walking trips.  The rest of the path to Elgar's birthplace was through pastureland and made very pleasant walking.  I was a bit underwhelmed by the village at Elgar's birthplace.  I think at that point, I'd been hoping for some refreshments and a public toilet.  The birthplace museum building looked really nice and I'm sure it makes a good day trip from Worcester.

As BAM did an artistic re-enactment of Elgar's birth, I thought about his legacy and how Elgar has become a symbol of bombastic patriotism and flag-waving.  By all accounts, nothing could be further from the truth and Elgar was very much an outsider in late-19th century English society. 

Elgar's birthplace museum

He came from a relatively lowly background and languished in obscurity before the success of The Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance marches.  Often considered to be one of the most 'English' of composers, Elgar took his musical inspiration from the Continent.  He was also an outsider because of his Catholic faith.  He loved walking in the countryside, no doubt around some of the fields myself and BAM were walking through. 

Elgar's birthplace to Worcester Cathedral (2.7 miles)

Descent into Worcester

Not long after Elgar's birthplace, we started our descent into the outer suburbs of Worcester.  At this point, the Three Choirs Way passes along the Oldbury Road, past the main campus of the University of Worcester and down the rather steep Hollywell Hill to meet the River Severn. 

The Hive, Worcester

It's a lovely walk along the Severn to reach Worcester Cathedral, past the railway and road bridges and the swan sanctuary.  The cathedral itself is magnificent - with an incredibly imposing exterior and breath-taking interior, it reminded me a little bit of Durham cathedral, which we visited on our Chester-le-Street trip. 

We were equally impressed by The Hive - a gold-plated library building, part of the University of Worcester, which is due to open in July 2012.  It's nice to see some economic growth in these times of doom and gloom!

Access for Wheelchair Users

Worcester Cathedral

As most of the walk was through fields, the only part I'd recommend for Wheelchair users is the 2.7 miles from Elgar's birthplace to Worcester Cathedral.  The first part of this is on a track which seemed fairly accessible.  As you come into Worcester itself, the paths are also accessible.  I wouldn't recommend wheelchairing down Holywell Hill, as it's a bit steep - it would be better to turn left on Henwick Road and then right on Hylton Road, which runs parallel to the River Severn. 

Swan sanctuary on the Severn

Image credits:

All images were taken by me - please feel free to reuse them under the Creative commons license:

Attribution (especially to this blog)
Share alike
Non-commercial