Tuesday – Home – The meteorological first day of spring. It is dry so some work can be done in the garden. Robins, a Song Thrush and Greenfinch serenade me as I put some bone and blood mixed with chicken manure pellets around the bases of the fruit trees. Then some brambles are removed, a long term job as there are a lot to remove before they really get going. Finally, the vine has been pruned on the patio and the numerous runners are now removed and shredded. Another couple of pots of broad beans are sown. The first sowing is just beginning to sprout.
By the afternoon the sky has clouded over. Forced rhubarb is harvested. A Robin has got into the chicken run, how I know not and it is advisable to keep wild birds out with the prevalence of bird flu in the area. However, getting it to fly out the open door is quick and easy, so quick that the hens do not realise escape is possible! More daffodils are now in flower but the snowdrops are fading. Pure blue Periwinkles flower around the stump of the long gone Wellingtonia.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – Rain pours down steadily. Robins, Dunnocks, a Great Tit and a drumming woodpecker are around the car park. Down the track where a Song Thrush searches the leaf litter beneath the undergrowth. The water level in the lake is very high and the islands are most completely submerged. A pair of Tufted Duck swim across the water whilst Mallard are around the small area of one island still above the lake. On top of it is a large Carrion Crow. Chaffinches fly up from the path into the trees at the end of the orchard. The meadow is saturated although fresh mole hills have been thrown up. Another Great Spotted Woodpecker is drumming in lakeside trees. A Green Woodpecker yaffles.
Into the Alder plantation. Great and Blue Tits and Siskin are searching the trees for food. Into the hide. The scrape is entirely submerged and the reed beds are just flattened pale brown mats. A Moorhen walks across them. There appears to be just a couple of Canada Geese on the south side along with a Mute Swan. More Mallard and a few Mandarin Duck, including one standing on one of the fence posts, are in the south western corner. A large flock, fifty or more, Wood Pigeons land momentarily in the trees on the far side of the river, before rising again and scattering. A pair of Oystercatchers huddle on the southern bank. There are evidently Canada Geese on the large island as cackling starts up.
Back through the plantation. A Great Spotted Woodpecker has found the ideal tree in Westfield Woods as the drumming is loud and sonorous. Long-tailed Tits are in the hedgerow along the meadow. Redwings, Fieldfares and a Green Woodpecker all fly up from the ground at the eastern end of the meadow. Through the cider orchard where there are more winter thrushes. Into the dessert apple orchard where the Wildlife Trust are planting new trees to replace the old ones that have died over recent years. They have also renewed many of the wire mesh protectors around the bases of the tree trunks.
The last thing Kay said when I set off this morning was, “Be careful, it will be slippery”. So, of course I slide straight over onto my back descending the short bank down to the gate and am covered in mud!
Friday – Leominster – A bright sunny spring morning with a breeze which keeps the temperature down a bit. Through the Caswell estate to Castlefields. To the east are large pressed steel buildings of the industrial estate. Through this industrial estate. Footpaths here are something of a conundrum – some have been illegally block others and missing completely and at St Botolph’s Green there are new footpaths and buildings not marked on the OS map. Some of the existing footpaths are in poor condition, very muddy and rubbish strewn. Out onto Southern Avenue opposite the back entrance of the cemetery.
Along the northern edge of the cemetery accompanied by bird song. Lanterns and Polish flags adorn the graves of the Poles that died here following the Second World War. On to the Hereford Road. The fields leading up to Cockcroft Lane have all been ploughed. Again, there are public footpaths marked on the OS map that no longer exist.
Sunday – Leominster – A grey, damp, cool morning. A chill wind blows. Rain fell overnight. Bird voices continue down the street Jackdaws, Wood Pigeons and House Sparrows. A Jackdaw disappears down a chimney with a beakful of nesting material. A Stock Dove alights on the railway bridge, not a species I see often around here.
The water level in the River Lugg has fallen slightly over the week and the water clarity has improved. Blue Tits search an Alder tree for grubs. A Robin sings. Upstream a pair of male Blackbirds squabble, one ending up briefly in the water. Back round to Pinsley Mill. The resident Dunnocks are in song on the far side of the railway. Several Chaffinches fly off towards the Grange.
Into the Millennium Park. A Greenfinch wheezes its song from the top of a Silver Birch. The glorious swathes of snowdrops have largely faded now. Eight Blackbirds search the grass, all males. More Dunnocks are in song. A pair of Cormorants pass over. The Kenwater is also clearer than of late.
Monday – Croft – Another cold grey morning. A visit to Croft, the first for many months. Great Tits, Chaffinches and a Nuthatch fly up from the car park into the trees. Down into the Fishpool Valley. Groundworks are still being undertaken. There are large grassy areas below the dams of the pools where once there was just scrub. New bridges have been installed and vast numbers of trees have been removed although many new saplings have been planted. It has been reported that Ash Dieback has hit Croft hard and many Ash trees have had to be removed. A Song Thrush sings atop of one of the remaining Ashes. Dunnocks chase through the brambles and undergrowth.
On up the valley. A single clump of Primroses shines by the stream. A newly restored dam had reinstated a long lost pool between the lime kiln and the rustic shelter. Another restored pond lays above this one. Further on the hillsides are littered with fallen and felled trees. A pair of Wrens dive into the bramble undergrowth. Blue Tits flit from tree to tree. Along the track through the valley between Lyngham Vallet and Bircher Common. Many trees here are marked for felling. They are all Ashes that are dying or dead. Streams of clear water pour down from springs in the hillside. Dark green leaved Wood Spurge with dark red stems are yet to flower. All the way up the track stand hundreds of Ash trees marked with orange dots, to be felled. There are fresh leaves on a Honeysuckle climbing all over a small tree. A few sheep graze on the far side of the valley. A pair of Fallow Deer just a few yards from the track stare at me for a moment before bounding off up into the darkness of the Conifer plantation on Lyngham Vallet. Large Buckler Ferns stand under the conifers.
The track winds its way up the hillside to Whiteway Head. I follow the forestry track rather than the one along the top of Leinthall Common as that is always horribly muddy. Forestry operations are being undertaken here with large numbers of conifers being felled. A tree ring count indicates the trees are between 30 and 40 years old. A Common Buzzard flies over swiftly, the rapidly changing landscape here must be confusing for these birds. Blue and Coal Tits call one another as they move through the treetops. Suddenly there is a bright yellow burst of Gorse livening the dull greens, browns and greys of the winter trees and undergrowth.
Up the slope to the Mortimer trail, The great old Hornbeam at the path junction has finally succumbed and fallen, the stump full of rot. Nuthatches are calling the trees from every direction. Up the steep slope onto Croft Ambrey hill-fort. The wind is gusting up here. The views are extensive but hazy. To the north are the Shropshire hills; to north west, the Radnor Forest with Whimble rising above it; to the west the araucaria on Hergest Ridge, then south west to the Black Mountains with Hay Bluff and Lord Hereford’s Knob; on to the south with the hills roll away towards the Golden Valley; south west reveals the grey humps of the Malverns and then finally round to the north east, the Clee Hills. Down through the western gate of the hill-fort. There are plenty of deer slots in the muddy earth.
Down the track back towards the castle. A dozen shiny jet black cows stand in a line. Into the Spanish Chestnut field. An Ash tree growing near one of the old Spanish Chestnuts has broken off some six feet up its trunk. One row of young chestnuts have been severely pruned, oddly the other row has been far less severely pruned. A Raven sails over with a quiet cronk. The castle is now rather busy. Route
Tuesday – Home – The morning starts cool and warms only slowly. The last of the leeks were dug at the weekend. This bed now has a couple of rows of garlic, which look pretty healthy; last year’s were a failure. The rest of the bed has a few weeds and the usual Couch grass encroachment, so it is cleared. A lot of river-smoothed pebbles are also removed, the winter always brings them to the surface. Two rows of beetroot – Bolthardy, RZ and Bulls Blood – are sown, along with two rows of parsnip – Tender and True – and half a row of radish. A tray of leeks – Giant Winter, Pandora and Bandit, a tray of cabbage – Kilaton, a tray of Early Purple Sprouting and a tray of Southern Georgia Collard go into the greenhouse. Finally a tray of sweet peppers – Soror Sarek are for the bathroom.
A couple of branches are removed from the Gladstone apple, they were pressing down onto the netting over the chicken run. Rustling behind the summerhouse reveals a female Blackbird throwing leaf litter with abandon. The, hopefully, resident Greenfinch is calling from a nearby tree.
The afternoon gets more and more grey. It is unclear from the various weather services whether colder days are on their way. So the newly sown seeds are covered with a black membrane sheet.
Wednesday – Leominster – Dark clouds drift across the sky in a buffeting wind. Through the town centre which is quiet. Down Broad Street and into Vicarage Street past Brook Hall, the Old Meeting Room, once Plymouth Brethren and The Orangery, the coach house and stables. The road follows the old route of Pinsley Brook. The road becomes a path and now runs along beside the Kenwater. On between the river and the large modern housing estate. A Wren darts across the path into shrubbery. Lesser Celandines are in flower. Goldfinches sing excitedly in the bare branches of Hawthorns. Damage to the bank opposite has been repaired with large black plastic bags of gravel leaving a rather unsightly mess.
On past Kenelmgaer Bridge following the course of the Kenwater. Either side of the path are sprouting Stinging Nettles, Dock, Cow Parsley and Wild Arum. A Jay flies up onto the trees. The river is flowing swiftly, a grey green colour. A pair of Long-tailed Tits chase through the trees. A Mistle Thrush departs with a rasp. Robins. Great Tits, Blue Tits and a Blackbird are all in song.
Out onto a wide meadow of Wegnalls farm. The path of being blocked by fallen willow. An area of the meadow has been fenced off a site for an unsuitable housing development. Past the great old Willow. Suddenly the sound of spring, the onomatopoeic call of a Chiffchaff. Then another explosion of sound, four male Blackbirds fighting and arguing furiously in a bank of brambles.
The path leaves the river and skirts a large thicket of brambles. Over forty Jackdaws fly up and off across the fields. Onto a public footpath that crosses the fields back towards the town. The sun appears lighting up the branches, Hawthorn and Hazel, and the leaves of Ivy. The footpath runs between two very old hedges consisting mainly of Hazel. A Dunnock sings. A tapping sound in the tree above me is followed by the repeated whoop of a Nuthatch. A Greenfinch calls as the path approaches the housing estate. A couple of ginnels lead through Green Lane.
Steps lead up into Perseverance Road. A number of houses date from the 1860s, another from 1903. The road joins Bargates and back into the town centre.
Friday – Madley-Kingstone – Off into the rain, although the forecast is for it to clear. Into Brampton Road and past the church of Nativity of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Most of the houses here are modern although an older building has an interesting mansard roof. The probable 17th century Church House looks abandoned. Opposite is a very large timber framed farmhouse, Church Farm, dated early 17th century with a large late 18th century cider house attached, now residences. The map marks a moat behind the building. Houses continue to be modern with the occasional Victorian building in between. Gitnal Farm looks mainly Victorian. Opposite is Madley Methodist Church, a fine late 17th century building formerly a house. Behind Rose Cottage is a decent size rookery occupied by number of pairs of Rooks. Under a small branch on which a Dunnock is singing and has no intention of moving for the likes of me.
Through a scattering of houses that constitute Parkway. Broadgreen Farm has vast modern barns and high stacks of produce boxes. In the other direction are chicken sheds. Parkway farmhouse in a much extended older building. Past the end of the runway of the former Madley airstrip. The site opened as a training centre for aircrew and ground wireless operators on 27th August 1941. In 1941, No. 4 Signals School RAF was stated up at the base. The school was disbanded and renamed as No. 4 Radio School RAF in January 1943. Further on is a large orchard. A sizeable finch flock flies over. A lane runs off of this lane opposite Little Brampton, several houses of varying ages, including a former smithy.
The orchard continues on both sides of the lane. The finch flock can be heard twittering within. Great Brampton is a large Regency house on the site of an older building, built for John Pye who sold it in 1825 to Charles Ballinger. In 1853 the house was acquired by the Murray Aynsley family who are thought to have made many of the alterations that leave the house in the basic form which we see today. Bizarrely two bronzed statues of gorillas are on the gate posts. The house sits in a parkland of specimen trees from which a Chiffchaff calls. The lane comes to a junction of the Roman road from Wroxeter to Caerleon, a leg of Watling Street. Past a large modern commercial site belonging to ETL, a radio-electronics manufacturers. The lane joins the B4348 from Hay-on-Wye.
Past an industrial estate. A cast iron mile post stands by the road, “Kingstone Parish – To Ross 15 miles To Peterchurch 5 miles, (the rch being in small letters above the U)”. Hanley Court is a strange looking building. There is a frontage of a typical Stuart period house with another parallel range attached to the rear but overlapping so a large brick frontage shows. This is late 18th century. Into Kingstone. The cries of children at the large comprehensive school rings across the fields. The majority of the housing here is modern, the village being a dormitory for Hereford now. At the main road junction is the Bull Ring pub and several older properties. Up towards the church of St Michael and All Angels, where again there are some old timber-framed houses. The manor was held by King Edward before the Conquest, and by King William in 1086. It was assessed at 4 hides, and contained a wood called Treville that rendered customary dues in venison. The tithes of the manor were held by Sainte-Marie de Cormeilles, and Ibert FitzTurold held 2 hides from the king as a manor. During the Second World War, Kingstone became home for a large contingent of RAF personnel, associated with the Madley airfield. The temporary accommodation left behind after their departure, served to provide housing for families and also to provide the start of what is now a school complex for infant, junior and senior pupils. The village was the home of Robert Jones who, in 1879, won the Victoria Cross for evacuating patients from a hospital whilst under attack from Zulus at Rourke’s Drift.
Annoyingly the church is locked. The building dates from 12th century with additions during the 13th and 14th centuries. It was partly restored in the mid 18th century, the tower was rebuilt by Cottingham in 1848-51, and there was a complete restoration in 1889-90 by Nicholson and Son.
Along Green Lane. The Ebenezer Primitive Methodist chapel of 1857 is now a dwelling. Past the 20th century village hall back to the main road. Back along the main road. Two Red Kites fly over the fields. It is still raining albeit lightly now. Onto the Roman Road, Stone Street. A Common Buzzard flaps over the orchards. After some initial wiggles, the road is, of course straight as a die. It enters an area that the Romans could not have begun to imagine. On the site of the former airfield are huge industrial buildings house what is apparently a barbecue supplier. Over the road are acres of polytunnels. Further to the east are huge satellite dishes of BT’s Earth Station which apparently gives access to satellites covering a third of the globe. A pair of piping Oystercatchers fly over. Some of the older buildings I assume are old aircraft hangers. A brand new razor wire topped fences surrounds Brightwells main auction site now they have left Leominster. Opposite now are rows of glasshouses.
Beyond Brightwells there are large chicken sheds. The rain is now heavier and a car draws up a woman asks if I want a lift somewhere; I reply that surprisingly I’m actually enjoying a walk in this lot. A long hedge of Hawthorn is turning bright green with unfurling leaves. On past Street House farm. Over Cage Brook. The Roman Road comes to the Hereford to Walford Road and it continues northwards in a straight line. On the junction is the Comet Inn. I turn west back to Madley. A Red Kite twists and turns in the wind over the church. I am soaked through! Route
Sunday – Leominster – The sky is covered in a thin layer of grey cloud. It rained overnight. Wood Pigeons are in full voice these days, my toe bleeds taffy, ringing from the rooftops. The water level in the River Lugg has risen again and is a pale grey brown colour. A quacking Mallard flies downstream. A Chiffchaff calls from trees beside the station.
Back over the railway. Thin sunlight reflects off the freshly washed Ivy leaves. Very dark grey clouds are moving in from the west. Into Pinsley Mill. Another Chiffchaff calls from across the railway. A Swallow or, more likely, a Martin is silhouetted high in the sky travelling rapidly westwards. In the Millennium Park Snowdrops are finished. Stinging Nettles and Ransoms are sprouting rapidly. The daffodils at the foot of the churchyard are much reduced this year. Blackthorn is coming into blossom. The River Kenwater looks much the same as last week. It is getting darker by the minute as the stormy clouds move rapidly across the sky. However the sun makes a valiant fight back, lighting up the east end of the Minster for a short time.
Into the churchyard. Another Chiffchaff calls from the edge of Pinsley Mead. The wind is rising. Four Grey Squirrels race for the trees. A Magpie struts across the grass. Here comes the rain.
Home – The rain does not last long but a blustery wind continues. A Chiffchaff has arrived in the gardens in this part of the street. The prunings from the Gladstone are chopped for transport to the recycling centre – we have more than enough brown material in our compost bins. The emerging broad beans in the greenhouse are watered. Peas are in soak and will be sown this week.
Monday – Bircher Common – Another change in the weather with blue skies, bright sun and a slight chill. A Common Buzzard flies low across the big field behind the Croft Castle car park. Song Thrush sings from the top of a tree by the visitor centre. Another Song Thrush stands on a bin at the end of the car park before hopping down and starting to search the ground beneath. Down into the Fishpool valley. Long cones are hanging from a towering Douglas Fir. A Wren, Blue Tit, Robin, and Blackbird are all in song. A Grey Wagtail bobs on one of the newly restored dams. Across the dam by the pump house and over a foot bridge which crosses a newly restored stone lined channel taking water from one pool to the next.
Up through the Beech wood, Highwood Bank. A new fence has already been damaged by fallen limbs from the ancient trees. It is pleasing to see the twin-trunked Beech clasping a tall Conifer is still intact. Up the steep bank to the top ride. Good numbers Blue and Great Tits are both on the ground and in the trees. Ravens cronk overhead. The track leads to Bircher Common, entering beside the ancient enclosure. A long dry ditch heads south east across the common. Skylarks are singing high overhead but I am unable to locate them. A Common Buzzard circles high above the common. Suddenly a singing Skylark launches itself from the ground and rises rapidly up into the blue and grey sky. Southwards a panoramic view of Herefordshire opens up.
Many more Skylarks ascend as I cross the common. The map and GPS states I have reached another enclosure though the vague bank on the ground is hardly convincing. Sheep are dotted across the common. Shrivelled, leathery remains of Giant Puffballs lay on the grass. Along the edge of Oaker Coppice a Chaffinch sings loudly. The ground is littered by falling branches, old and new. A flock of Redwings fly up into the trees.
Around the top of the wood and then back down towards Bircher. The track cuts through line of former hedge topped by ancient gnarled Hawthorns, pale green with lichen. Bircher Coppice is mainly Larch. A fallen tree blocks the track. A female Crossbill, the first I have seen for some years, is on the edge of the wood. Several more are deeper into the wood. On down along a green track through brown piles of dead bracken. Through the middle of another enclosure and again it is difficult to make out very much given the most of it is covered in piles of dead bracken and the bare bank is somewhat ephemeral.
Down to the bottom of the common. A Chiffchaff calls. An Ash tree still has plenty of branches and buds despite a tunnel formed by decay passes right through its base. Pollarded Willows stand around the pool. Several trees and scrub have been removed from from the back of the pool. Along the southern side of the open grass area of Bircher Common. Down the slope is Bracken and Gorse. Many patches are waterlogged as it drains the hillside. Down to a track which passes an old quarry.
Path leaves the track and crosses to Highwood. Past Croft Lodge, a large Georgian house. A very muddy and horribly slippery path drops down to the first and lowest pool of the Fishpool Valley. A track then leads back up to the long driveway and back to the castle.
A bright copper flash in the garden which settles on a black bucket. Jagged outline of copper and black patterned wings. The first Comma butterfly of the season.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – A mild grey morning. Blackbirds, Dunnocks and Robins are in song and a Green Woodpecker yaffles from the woods. There is a whooshing beat of Mute Swan wings as four fly over heading east. A Pussy Willow is covered in creamy yellow blossom. Blackbirds feed beside the track and Robin bobs snatching at morsels in the mud. A few tattered whiskers of Old Man’s Beard remain on the bushes it is clambering over, many of which are putting out new leaves. A Chiffchaff calls as it moves rapidly from branch to branch in the trees.
A Mute Swan and an Oystercatcher are on one of the islands. Around them are a good number of Canada Geese, another Mute Swan, Mallard, Tufted Duck and a Goldeneye. The water level in the lake is still high submerging a lot of the islands. A cacophony of Canada Geese comes from one of the big islands. A pair of Mallard are on the edge of the meadow but fly off to the lake as I approach. Through the Alder plantation. A large bumblebee buzzes past.
Into the hide. Two piping Oystercatchers fly past. Another pair of Mute Swans are in front of the southern hide with a single one at the western end. A Moorhen searches the rotting reeds. A Great Crested Grebe is in the middle of the lake. It is joined by a second and although they stay together there is no sign of the complex bonding rituals. A pair of Greylags squabble. A Cormorant is in the trees large white breeding patch on its lower flank and a white and black head. At least two more Great Crested Grebes are present. The sky is darkening.
Back through the meadow. The pair of Mallard and now on the north side, under the long hedgerow. A Song Thrush sings from the hedge. Nearby a Dunnock, a Chiffchaff and a Goldfinch are all in song and there is a white flashes rump as a Bullfinch disappears. It starts to rain. A couple of Fieldfares are still in the cider orchard but most have now returned north.
Thursday – Trellech – This village is in Monmouthshire to the south of Monmouth on a plateau above the Wye. In the 13th century it was one of the largest towns in Wales. The town was probably established by the de Clare family to exploit local supplies of iron ore from the Forest of Dean, and charcoal produced in the surrounding woodlands, for the production of weapons, armour and iron work for their military advances in Wales, including the building of Caerphilly Castle. By 1288 there were 378 burgage plots recorded in the town, which would have made it bigger than Cardiff or Chepstow at the time. Trellech was largely destroyed in 1291 by savage attack from the neighbouring Marcher lordship of Chepstow, then owned by Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, and one of the most powerful subjects of the English king. It was in retaliation for the fact that some of the citizens of Trellech had been accused of stealing deer from the forest belonging to Chepstow, nine miles to the south. The Black Death struck in 1340 and again in 1350. Subsequently, the ravages of Owain Glyndŵr and his men in the early 15th century further reduced the prosperity and in consequence the importance of Trelleck. Unusually, there were some thirty different variations of the name, of which four are still commonly used. On each of the three roads entering the village, signs give a different spelling: Trellech, Trelleck and Trelech.
We park by the Methodist Ebenezer Chapel, built in 1839 in coursed stone a small, one-cell building with a slate roof. It is a beautiful spring morning – bright sunshine with a light breeze. A Wren is singing on a fence post opposite. Past a tree stump carved into a windmill sundial. A short distance outside the village, in a field, are Harold’s Stones. These are three standing stones, probably late Neolithic or early Bronze Age. They are a conglomerate, known as puddingstone. They derive their name from a legend that they mark the spot at which three chieftains fell in battle with Harold Godwinson, who defeated the Welsh in Gwent in 1063. In another legend the stones were flung from Skirrid by the mythical Jack o’ Kent in a competition with the Devil. The name of the village is derived from them, the meaning three and lech meaning stones. Oddly, it is believed there was a fourth stone destroyed in the 17th century. Dunnocks and Robins sing. Back alongside a clear stream flowing out of a large modern culvert. A marsh is a former fish pond.
Beyond is a large farm house. Believed to have been the principal house of the village and was lived in by the Seymours. It is 17th century with much larger early 18th century additions and later alterations. The estate was taken over by John Rumsey soon after 1697 and the additions to the house will be due to him. It was downgraded to an ordinary farmhouse in 1846 when the Rumseys left. There is also a mid 19th century rear wing. Past Trellech Farmhouse built in the early 18th century. On the former village green is a large late 18th century house, formerly The Crown Inn. There is an old millstone with an old sign stating parking cars on the green is banned. However, the “green” is gravel and lined with cars! Past The Croft dated on the front wall as 1686 and 1908. There is no clear evidence of pre-19th century structure visible outside or in. The house is said to have been the village school founded by Zachary Babington in 1691. The school continued here until around 1820 when it moved to the new building. Up a small lane to the church of St Nicholas.
In the churchyard is a 15th century preaching cross on a base of large sandstone blocks. The church appears to be of one build of the early 14th century and is almost all in a simplified Decorated style, apart from the west window in the tower which has reticulated tracery. It had a major restoration in 1893, with changes in 1903, and another restoration in 1992 when it was re-roofed, re-floored and redecorated. Inside is a Celtic font which would have stood by the entrance. Unbaptised people were refused entry so they could receive an “instant” baptism from the font. There is also an early piscina, Norman font, half a carved stone showing a woman’s dress and feet and a mediaeval font. The arms of Charles II are above the west door, given by the king for the area’s support for the Royalists during the Civil War. Nearby is a fine sundial dated 1689 in stone which once stood in the centre of the village and was removed from the school in 1895.It was donated by Lady Probert, of The Argoed, Penallt, and shows three of the main attractions of Trellech; Tump Terret, with the inscriptions MAGNA MOLE (“Great in its Mound”) and O QUOT HIC SEPULTI (“Oh! How many are buried here”); Harold’s Stones with the inscriptions MAIOR SAXIS (“Greater in its Stones”) and HIC FUIT VICTOR HARALDUS (“Here Harold was victorious”); and the Virtuous Well, with the inscription MAXIMA FONTE (“Greatest in its Well”). It is a copy of this sundial that has been carved in the stump at the other end of the village. There are numerous monuments to the Rumsey family. The pulpit is early 17th century. The glass is all Victorian.
Near the church is the Lion Inn, still a going concern. It was built as a house around 1700. Next to it is the old vicarage from the late 18th century. Back down the main road to a footpath past the large farmhouse. This leads to Tump Terrett, the motte of a castle. The castle is mentioned in 1231 but referred to as “site of” in 1306. It was a wooden fortress, probably built by the de Clares and may have been destroyed in the 1291 raid. Legends state it was the burial mound of King Harold’s men slain the 1063 battle or those who died of plague. It was believed to be cursed but that did not stop the Rumsey family building a summerhouse on its summit in the 19th century.
Up the Llandodo Road to the Virtuous Well. In a field on the way are gambolling lambs, somehow the quintessence of spring. The well has a medieval basin in a probably 18th century stone surround. The name “Virtuous Well” refers to the medicinal properties of the iron rich waters. It had a high reputation as a healing well in the 18th and 19th centuries, being particularly beneficial for eye and women’s conditions. The well was probably a shrine to Annis, Celtic Goddess of Rivers, Water, Wells and magic. The church would have Christianised it to St Anne’s Well. It is believed a stream of the well runs under Harold’s Stones.
Raglan – We pay a short visit to Raglan Castle. We are staying at the Beaufort Arms Hotel. There has been a building on the site in view of the castle well before the siege of Raglan Castle in 1646 when Parliamentary soldiers used the inn to refresh themselves during the length of the siege. Underground wells and vaulted enclosures, not now in the public domain of the building, indicate possible passageways to the castle itself. Local myth has it that pre-1914 a stash of vintage champagne was lodged here. Stonework, including a large fireplace were taken from the castle after it was abandoned.
Sunday – Leominster – Another bright spring day with a blue, cloudless sky and a light breeze. A Robin sings. Jackdaws chack from the chimney stacks. Further down the street something has excited the Jackdaws, About twenty chase around the rooftops with more flying in from every direction. Behind the White Lion a Chiffchaff calls and a Goldfinch sings from the very top of the Silver Birch. A male Blackbird lands on a string of lights and stares at me seemingly in annoyance that I have disturbed its morning ruminations.
The water level in the River Lugg has fallen. The trees seem rather quiet, just a single Blackbird in full song and a distant Chiffchaff. Red catkins have appeared on the Black Poplars. A Common Buzzard flies off of the rough area upstream harassed by two Carrion Crows. Suddenly there seems to be birdsong everywhere particularly Wrens which have burst forth on either side of the river.
Through Pinsley Mill. Chiffchaff, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Wrens and Blue Tits all call from the far side of the railway. Into the Millennium Park. Another Chiffchaff calls and a Long-tailed Tit searches a shrub for food. Into the churchyard. Patch of Ransoms hidden under the trees is growing well so I gather some leaves for the chickens. A Magpie is exercised by two Jackdaws in its tree and makes some effort to chase them out. At the west end of the churchyard a Nuthatch flies out of a Yew into a young tree with a peep peep.
Home – The chickens make short work of the Wild Garlic leaves. The first potato trench is dug. I am going to dig one every few days in an attempt to protect my back. Purple Sprouting, collards and cabbages have germinated in the greenhouse. The first batch of broad bean seedlings will need planting out soon. The Chiffchaff calls a few doors down and a Robin is in full flow in the Holly tree. I can see the pond has a very thick layer of leaves in the bottom which is probably why there are no frogs. I am loathe to empty it but the leaves need to come out and the water freshened. The grass will need cutting soon. A number of Snake-head Fritillaries are about to flower in the meadow strip.
Monday – Leominster – The equinox morning starts cold with ice on the bird baths. The sky is overcast but slowly the sun is forcing its way through the cloud. Through the town, which is quiet, and up Ryelands Road. Modern buildings give way to a row of Victorian cottages. Opposite are interwar houses on the site of orchards. Behind them is the large council estate. A large house opposite the end of Westfield Walk was formerly partly a shop. From Westfield Walk the area to the north west is 20th century housing, again built on old cider orchards. A short terrace of Victorian houses is at an angle to the road once looking out over the orchards. Opposite a few modern buildings lead up to the large former children’s home, erected in 1873 by a charity founded by Henry Stanley Newman at a cost of £1250. It was closed in 1955 and the building is now flats. In front, a magnolia is on the verge of flowering. By the old toll house is Cockcroft Lane.
Into the lane, now just a path. High above Lesser Black-backed Gulls yelp. Chiffchaff and Nuthatch both call. A number of Ivy laden old trees have fallen and have been sawn up. A large, long abandoned quarry lies below the path. More Nuthatches and Chiffchaffs are joined by singing Wrens and chattering Magpies. Nothing is showing on the recently ploughed fields. Views to the west of very hazy the black mountains can be barely seen. Out onto the open fields. A Dunnock sits atop the hedgerow between the fields.
The path curves down and heads towards the Hereford Road. Two Skylarks fly low over the ploughed fields emitting a broken song. A Common Buzzard flies up into the trees that lead to Cockcroft and the houses on Passa Lane. A tractor is on the big field leading down to Hereford Road and is drawing a soil into ridges presumably for potatoes. Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a couple of Herring Gulls, Jackdaws and Pied Wagtails all search the disturbed earth for grubs and worms. The soil must be hard on the plough as there are a large number of relatively large stones, some freshly broken. At the bottom of the slope three Stock Doves search the freshly turned soil.
Into Gateway Lane, here just a path, once a route to the hop yards. The path runs behind the gardens of the houses in Hereford Road. In one garden, a large area of broad beans is doing very well, clearly autumn sown. The side of the path is covered in Lesser Celandines in flower and Cleavers growing rapidly. Past the entrance to the school and on to the path which has now been asphalted. The path ends at the Mortimer estate, former council houses. A short lane leads to South Street. The backs of some houses show their timber frames; they are rendered at the front.
Home – Using a long handled net, leaves are dredged out of the pond. However, the last load is rather heavy and I realise there is a very large glob of frog spawn in it!
Wednesday – Home – Much noise comes from a Holly tree in the garden as two male Blackbirds engage in a furious fight. The local Chiffchaff is in a small tree behind the compost bins calling loudly. Later in the morning a bed is weeded and the broad beans from the greenhouse are planted out. Each receives a stake which will make keeping them upright much easier – they are usually falling over before I get around to staking them. I go into the shed for some blood and bone and hear a furious buzzing from the window. A spider has caught a bumble bee and is busy wrapping it in silk. Shortly the buzzing ceases and the wrapping is complete. The body is then winched up into the crack between the walls and roof. On checking, the spider turns out to be a Noble False Widow, Steatoda nobilis, which can give a nasty bite. Another potato trench is dug and, in hope of spring, the patio table and chairs come out of the summerhouse. In the afternoon the grass is cut for the first time this year. It is a very rough cut. The area left for the wild flower meadow is enlarged a bit.
Friday – Upton-Upon-Severn – The sun is bright in a blue sky. I park on the outskirts of Upton-on-Severn by the Upton Bridge. Upton was an Anglo Saxon settlement, the name meaning Upper Village. In 897 a Worcester charter records five hides in Uptune. Domesday states Upton Upon Severn as an estate in the manor of Ripple in the land of the church of Worcester. And a port for Hereford and Monmouth. A ferry was recorded in the 14th century but a century later was “vacant” probably by the construction of a bridge. The town developed on maritime trade and agriculture. In the 18th century it grew as a market town as evidenced by the large number of Georgian buildings.
The Regal Garage has been here for some years; large old lorries, military vehicles and a rusting mobile crane stand beside it. Opposite the end of the bridge is the old manor house originally constructed for the lord of the manor about 1450 as a timber-framed hall house. Around 1550 floors and chimneys were installed and in the 18th century the whole place was redesigned in the fashionable Georgian style, possibly by Anthony Keck who designed the cupola on the church opposite. A pair of late 18th century cottages stand at the foot of the tower of the church.
A cross, formerly the market cross, stands at the entrance to the churchyard. The mediaeval church of circa 1300 had a new, larger nave in the mid 18th century and the cupola replaced its tower. A new Gothic style parish church was consecrated the other end of town in 1879 and the nave of the old church eventually collapsed and was demolished in the 1930s. A small, relatively modern Georgian style building stand the foot of the tower housing the tourist information centre. A rather splendid topiary dog sits outside. A bronze statue of the head and shoulders of Admiral Sir William Tennant stands on a marble plinth. He was a senior naval officer at Dunkirk then the Captain of HMS Repulse during the first couple of years of the Second World War. He was then Rear-admiral at Mulberry and Pluto D-Day landings and the flag officer in the Levant and east Mediterranean until the end of the war. He went on become the Commander in Chief in America and the West Indies before in 1950 becoming Lord Lieutenant of Worcester. He died in 1968 aged 78.
Across the road is the museum in a fine timber-framed Tudor house. Nearby a plaque states that on the 29th August 1651 Oliver Cromwell was greeted here “with abundance of joy and extraordinary shouting” after the Battle of Upton. Opposite the entrance to the churchyard is the Star Inn, a late Georgian building and the old Anchor Inn, a building marked 1601, a date agreed by Pevsner; part of which is now an Indian restaurant. Into the High Street which is mainly Georgian occasional older timber frame building, one of 1604. The White Lion is a fine Georgian inn and hotel, supposedly the “Inn at Upton” of Fielding’s Tom Jones. The central front door, with large projecting Roman Doric porch surmounted by a lion was once a carriage entrance. A majority of the shops are independents. The mid 18th century Talbot Head pub looks long closed and is an eyesore. On the junction with New Street the former bank is now a café and bookshop.
New Street continues with independent shops. Stocks House is substantial three storey Georgian building. Modern apartment blocks houses stand either side of the old fire engine station. Opposite are two more large Georgian houses and a short terrace of late 18th century frontage on a 16th century range. A Methodist chapel of 1891 became the Old Comrades Hall before conversion into a garage in 1926. A short lane leads to the old pump house built in 1908 by the nuns of Stanbrook abbey appalled at the unsanitary conditions within the town. It had two steam engines which were later replaced by electric and served the town to the 1970s. It is now residence. A lane leaves the town. A water-filled ditch runs beside the road. Lesser Celandine and a few Cuckoo Flowers are on the verge whilst flowering Blackthorn rises above.
One side of the road pastures, the other is wet scrub. A Chiffchaff and a Wren call. The lane is lined by gnarly old Oaks. A bridle path leads to a small brick enclosure which is the Upton cholera burial ground. The outbreak of cholera reached England firstly in Sunderland in October 1831 and came up the river from Bristol to Upton in July 1832. The privy council had recommended that a separate burial ground established for cholera victims and this was established here as part of Parsons Field, glebe land owned by the rector. Over 50 people are buried here, ranging in age from babies to 80 year olds. Although the victims names are recorded in a register, here there are no markings or names to their graves.
A path runs along the route of the old railway. It was the Midland Railway’s Tewkesbury and Malvern Railway between Great Malvern and Ashchurch, opening in 1864, becoming part of the LMS in 1923 and closing in 1961. White Dog Violets grow among the arrowheads of Wild Arum. Dog Mercury is coming into flower, insignificant green flower heads above green leaves. Nearby work is being carried out on a large water treatment plant. Beside the path are more white and some purple Dog Violets. Across the field, standing on a hill is a large house of 1760-70, The Mount, surrounded by scaffolding. Bright yellow Dandelions stare up at the sun. The track crosses a bridge over a muddy stream beside which a cock Chaffinch searches the mud. The stream empties out into a sizeable pond. The track is now on a high embankment which comes to an abrupt end and steps lead down onto large playing fields where we camped when visiting the folk festival. Across the field towards the A4141, the Welland Road. A road running beside the fields has numerous drainage ditches under small bridges along its length. This line joins the Welland Road opposite the modern fire station, built on the site of the old railway station.
Along the main road for short distance towards the town is a short terrace of Georgian cottages. They stand next to the parish church of St Peter and St Paul built, as mentioned above, in the Gothic style in 1879 by Arthur Blomfield. The church is locked. Opposite is a car park with a mobile bank van. Back along the road. A Goldfinch sings from a Silver Birch. Into the summit amusingly named Minge Lane, (which the spellchecker on my phone takes exception to and replaces with asterisks). Past modern bungalows and an enlarged Georgian or Victorian farmhouse. Opposite is a substantial Georgian house with iron fencing and framework around the door dating from around 1820 and a large coach house behind.
Into Rectory Road. One side is the rear of a large industrial estate, the other 20th century housing. An unusual grey stone lodge in the Gothic style with a mansard roof stands at the entrance to extensive graveyard. The graveyard chapel is also in the same stone and was erected in 1867, designed, as was the lodge, by local architect George Rowe Clarke. It is in fact, two chapels, a T plan, with the Anglican Chapel oriented east-west with office and Dissenters Chapel in attached range running north. Stone is cracking and eroding so it is not surprising to see a plastic crack sensor in the porch.
Back along the road and across Minge Lane into School Lane. Another lodge coach house stands behind a rendered house which stands close to a very large Georgian house. In both cases, these are the backs of these houses. Their frontage both have bay windows facing the church which is some several hundred feet away. Other housing here is 20th century. Upton-upon-Severn CE primary school is an extended Victorian building. A plaque records that George W Jones 1860-1942, printer laureate was born and schooled in in Upton-upon-Severn. Opposite the school is a house of 1840. Further along is St Joseph’s Catholic Church designed by Charles Hansom and built in 1850. At the end of School Lane is a long barn converted into residences and several other farm buildings all converted. On the junction is a row of small houses on a curve is The Old Court House, once the County Court House, attached to the Old Constables House and the Clerks Cottage. In Oak Street a converted chapel has a plaque claiming John Wesley preached there in 1770. A narrow street of Tudor cottages winds round to the High Street and New Street junction.
Into Old Street which is the A4141. Again this street is largely Georgian with independent shops. The Memorial Hall has brass plaques outside commemorating the war dead. The hall is also the town council offices. Several shops have uncovered old gold on glass shop names – “The London Meat Company” and the “Worcester Co-operative Society”; both are second-hand shops now. A number of shops are closed, odd for a Friday morning. The Baptist Church built in 1734 is down an alleyway. A sign says it was established in 1653. The Manse stands on the corner of the alley. Along the High Street to the River Severn. Several pubs are on the waterfront. A barge passes carrying a large load of sand and gravel, taking several lorries off the road. Expensive cabin cruisers are moored, another passes. Mallard, several with white breasts indicating they have come from partly feral stock, are squabbling below. A Lesser Black-backed Gull yelps for no apparent reason. Route
Saturday – Home – Another fine spring day, although a cool wind encroaches in the afternoon. The garden is getting more beautiful every day. Daffodils, primroses, hellebores, periwinkles, violas, anemones are all in flower. I replace the water in the birdbaths. A female Blackbird does her best to empty two of them on the patio with her energetic washing. She retreats to a branch from the old pear and sorts out her feathers. A Wood Pigeon and Jackdaw sit next to each other on a branch of the Ash tree. They eye then ignore each other. A Grey Squirrel leaps through the trees and scurries down the Ash tree to seek anything the birds have dropped from the feeders. The cone-shaped baffles on the feeder poles has been a great success in keeping the squirrels off – the feeders need filling a couple of times a week instead of everyday!
Seedlings are appearing in the greenhouse – collards, purple sprouting, lettuce and the second sowing of broad beans. The broad beans planted out are looking good. A row of radish are just beginning to sprout.
Sunday – Leominster – The sky is cloudless and the sun shines down. It is, of course, an hour later than last week because of the change to British Summer Time. The great Plane tree opposite The Chequers pub has been pollarded. It looks strange but it has given the tree new life. One major limb had to be removed earlier this year as it had cracked and others were at risk of falling. A Blackcap is singing in the tree in the garden of the White Lion.
Over the railway bridge. A Carrion Crow flies overhead, its beak full of nesting material. A Chiffchaff and Wren sing beside the river. Water level in the log continues to fall. A Dipper is a short distance upstream. Buds are beginning to fatten on most trees but few if any yet have leaves. The Dipper returns downstream to join another near the water monitoring block. One flies off whilst the first flies up to stand on the railings of the steps down to the water and sings. He remains on the railing whilst the other is very active flying to and fro across the river. A Mallard flies over. Cloud is beginning to build in all directions which is disappointing.
Back over the railway and into Pinsley Mill. Four Wood Pigeons are pulling buds off a young tree. Chiffchaffs call, a Robin and Dunnocks sing. Into the Millennium Park. A Long-tailed Tit is in the same apple tree as last week. The water level in the Kenwater has also fallen and it is flowing less swiftly. Into the churchyard. Someone has scrubbed all the algae off of the Polish heroes’ grave. The hour is tolled by the priory bells followed by the Compline bells. The churchwardens arrive. By the time I reach home, the sky is overcast and it feels colder.
Monday – Pembridge-Eardisland – The morning is grey but mild. I park by the bridge in Pembridge. Jackdaws are picking up pieces of mud presumably for lining their nests. Up onto the bridge. The River Arrow is wide and shallow here. A Dipper stands on a tree branch out over the water. It whirrs off upstream. Robin, Chiffchaff and Wren are all calling. Beyond the bridge a footpath heads east. A sign states that “Fishing in these waters is restricted to parishioners only”.
Through a gate and onto Long Meadow. The footpath is dedicated to soldiers of Eardisland who fell during the Great War. Several Great Tits ring out their two-tone song. A Great Spotted Woodpecker undulates its way across the meadow towards the river. The river enters a wobbly loop. A line of boundary stones once crossed Long Meadow but they are now gone. A footbridge crosses a wide drainage ditch and the path enters an open field. Across a stile and over a field of autumn sown grain. Is the constant song of Blackbirds, Great Tit and Wren. Suddenly a Skylark bursts into song high above. Through a gate and into a pasture surrounded by trees. Yet another Robin sings. White clouds of Blackthorn blossom are at the far end. To the north a Weeping Willow is in glorious pale lime leaf. There is a deep drainage channel on the south side of the field. In the field beyond ploughing is being undertaken. Through a brand new gate and around the edge of a field of maize stubble. The river has meandered back and now noisily descends a weir. A mill leat runs off from the top of the weir. A fish hatchery once lay between the weir and leat. Beyond to the north is Folly Farm. The path continues beside the leat for a distance before they diverge. A woodpecker drums nearby. The bird song now is Chiffchaff, Chaffinch and Wren. Up steps to a higher field of maize stubble. The village of Eardisland comes into view. Into a small pasture where Moles have been busy.
Across another pasture and out into the main street of the village. Northwards to the river and leat bridges. Past the Swan Inn and The Cross Inn. Is surprising that this village can maintain two pubs when so many have none left. Broome Lane heads west between the bridges. In the water below are River Pond Skaters, Aquarius najas, noticeably larger than the normal Common Pond Skaters. The lane winds past Georgian and mediaeval houses. Chiffchaffs chase through to ornamental cherry trees just coming into blossom.
A trailer park is on the far side of the river arrow. Hay Bridge crosses the river which is constrained by a river wall of large stone blocks. A notice on a broken gate states that “Footpath ED6 has ceased to exist due to erosion”. A line of sandbags lies at the edge of the road above the river where the bank is shifting away. A Song Thrush is singing in an Ash although the song is more of a mutter. The hedgerows and trees are busy, Dunnocks and Great Tits proclaiming their territory, Blackbirds squabbling and Blue Tits quietly seeking food. Past Folly Farm. A disused artesian well stands on a field. Several very large fields have a crop of a dried grass, Miscanthus I think, standing 7 or 8 feet tall. Wrens tick crossly at me as I pass. Long-tailed Tits fly up into the trees. Behind a hedge is a compound of rusting lorries, trailers, diggers etc. After half a mile the fields of the grass crop finally come to an end. Little Broome farmhouse is a largely extended partly timber-framed 17th century. Nearby Broome farm house is large, 17th century rendered timber-framed building in an H-plan. Shobdon industrial estate lies across the fields. A helicopter comes to land at Shobdon airfield. A small bridge takes the lane over a lost stream. Beyond is an overgrown and dying orchard. A large rabbit makes a bolt for it. The GWR Leominster and Kington Section railway ran across the fields a short distance to the north. A hoverfly darts around flowering White Dead Nettles. Past another dying orchard, just a scattering of mistletoe laden trees and dead stumps.
At Twyford a footpath crosses firstly a field of horses then a field of sheep. The farmhouse is a very substantial building with a large white verandah. A sizeable flock of winter thrushes flies up from the sheep field into trees. They are mainly Fieldfares. A pair of Goosander fly downstream. A bridge crosses a near dry drainage ditch and the path crosses a field of autumn cereal to the Pembridge to Shobdon Road near the car park.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – A cool grey damp morning. There is plenty of bird song around the car park and up towards Westfield Woods. A pheasant croaks loudly from near the lake. Goat Willow leaves and catkins have appeared. The water level in the lake has dropped exposing much more of the islands. Mallard, Canada Geese Tufted Duck and a pair of Oystercatchers are in the sailing bay. A Red Kite disappears over the top of Westfield wood. Several Chiffchaff and good numbers of Blue Tits are active in the hedges and trees. A Blackcap moves through the bare lakeside trees pausing regularly for an outpouring of song.
More Canada Geese, Mallard and Tufted Duck are on the main lake along with Mute Swans, Greylags, a pair of Great Crested Grebes and a pair of Teal. The air is filled with the cacophony of Canada Geese. A Robin alights on a Gorse bush covered in bright yellow flowers. A Wren searches the grass in front of the hide. A Moorhen moves with precision along the base of the bank on the edge of the water, staring intently at the mud. There appears to be a complete absence of Cormorants and Coot. A pair of Canada Geese seem to have taken great exception to a third, heading towards it with their necks outstretched along the water before flying rapidly towards it and chasing it off. There are several other Canada Geese around so why they are upset about this particular individual is unclear. Two pairs of Mute Swans take to the air and fly off in the opposite directions. A Moorhen has made a nest in the fork of one of the few remaining Willow saplings.
Back to the orchards a few trees are beginning to show leaf and even fewer have a little blossom on them. One pear tree however is far more advanced and is covered in white blossom.
Thursday
My second attempt at parking is in Seymour Road opposite the City Church, a happy-clappy in the former Methodist Mission Hall, Wesley Hall, erected in 1909, for a Wesleyan Methodist congregation who had been meeting informally since 1891. It was closed for Methodist services in 1965. The road is one of the many Victorian terraces with later 20th century infill. A building on the corner with Linden Road has ornate mouldings around a porch with a scroll with hand holding a spade and the words “Labore et Honori” on one side and another with a cartouche on the other. A West Country Ales plaque is on the wall. It was The Seymour Hotel, a Godsell & Sons Ltd house. The building is now apartments. Former corner shops now services or fast food. There is however a post office in a former house in a terrace dated 1898. The rest of the houses are short late Victorian terraces or semi-detached often with names and called villas built for the aspiring middle classes. The street ends with middle to late 20th century housing.
Into Tuffley Avenue. Here the houses are mid Victorian and Edwardian. Into Podsmead Road. On one side the houses are late Victorian and early 20th century semi-detached. On the other side, the area was allotment gardens until the 1930s when houses were built. Strangely, space between each semi-detached house has has been filled with later houses, all identical. Onwards and the houses are now mid to late 20th century. The Midland Railway Docks Branch ran through here, linking the GWR at Tuffley Junction with the timber yards on the docks. Past the Blackbridge Jubilee athletics track. The road joins the busy A38 beside the large Crypt School. To east is the wooded Robinswood Hill. Along the A38 passing a large estate a former council houses. Across the road is the Roman Catholic church of English Martyrs a modernist building of 1980.
An industrial estate and then car dealerships and hardware chains line the road as it approaches a major junction. The A38 heads south. From the north comes the A430 and the Bristol Road which then runs parallel to the A38. My route is north on the A430. Over Daniels Brook Pollution Control Barrier leads into to the Gloucester and Sharpness canal. A blocked off short section of road leads to large inlet of the canal. A number of Greenfinches are very noisy in a bramble thicket. Along Secunda Way. Over a large swing bridge across the canal. On past the Barn Owl Centre and a short area of scrub and open fields. To the east are large industrial sites. Red Dead Nettle and Dandelions are in flower on the verge. There appears to be rain in the west.
At Hempsted Bridge, a lane leads into Hempsted village past interwar housing. At top of the rise is Home Farm House surrounded by late 20th century housing. Fairmead House, once called Dudstone, is a large Victorian building of 1801 and Landseer House, once called Milocroft, was built for a Gloucester solicitor by W B Wood in 1892. Between them stood Hempsted Court, home of the Lysons family, lords of the manor, demolished in 1962. Into Saint Swithuns Road. The housing is all modern. At the junction with Rea Lane is a cross, presumed to be that originally standing in the churchyard for which William Franklin left money in 1417 before setting out on pilgrimage to Compostella. In the early 19th century only the steps survived. The shaft, found buried in the churchyard, was restored to its place in 1839 by the Revd Samuel Lysons, who provided a new top stage in 1850. Opposite is a small area containing two allotments, once the courtyard of Newark Farm. A few houses look older than the majority of modern dwellings. The old school house has been much extended. The modern primary school stands behind it. The large Hempsted House Rectory is dated 1671, with 18th and early 19th century additions and alterations. It was built for Sir John Scudamore, Viscount Scudamore and stands next to St Swithuns church. The west end of the churchyard looks out over the Severn valley.
The church was built in the 14th century and rebuilt between 1467 and 1477 for Henry Dene, Prior of Llanthony Priory. It was restored and refitted 1837-9 by G V Maddox. Further restoration, including the removal of most of Maddox’s work, took place in 1885-6 by F S Waller. A chest tomb ‘Cavalier’s Tomb’, is the grave of Captain John Freeman, slain during the siege of Gloucester in 1643. The church is locked.
Back down Hempsted Lane and across Secunda Way. Opposite a lane leads down to a swing bridge over the canal to Bristol Road. The single leaf swing bridge replaced a double leaf swing bridge. Up the Bristol Road. A large bridge crosses over what is now a timber yard and a vehicle lot. The Midland Railway Dock Branch mentioned above passed under the road here. Down the other side of the bridge past a new development of houses. A very large Victorian pub, The Avenue stands at the junction of Tuffley Avenue. Opposite Lidl stands on a site that firstly was the Roman road then farmland before being incorporated into the grounds of Hempsted Court as part of the gardens. In 1869 timber yard and joinery works was established on the side by Nicks and Co, timber merchants which imported timber from the Baltic and Canada. During the First World War Nicks and Co became part of National Sawmill established by the Ministry of Munitions based at Bristol Road. At the end of the war the mills were returned to their owners. The business continue to trade on this site until fire destroyed much of the premises in 1987. Nicks Timber continues to trade to the south of the site. Opposite are terraces of late Victorian houses. One has illegible advertising on its end wall. Another has a repainted Sunlight Soap advert. The parish church of St Stephen, (formerly St Luke the Less) is surrounded by fencing and weeds. It was begun in 1898 and consecrated in 1900, built of brick with stone dressings and was designed by Walter Planck in late Gothic style but remained incomplete for some time. It originally had a chancel with north vestry rooms and organ chamber and south chapel and an aisled and clerestoried nave with temporary west front. The church was finished between 1928 and 1930 to a modified plan by H. A. Dancey. The Shanghai restaurant was formerly The Bristol Hotel built around 1900 by J Fletcher Trew. It has a large arched entrance, now mainly bricked up, at the front and a peculiar rounded, rather oriental, stunted corner tower. A few flakes of snow fall. Along Lysons Avenue to Seymour Road. Route
although many new saplings have been planted. It has been reported that Ash Dieback has hit Croft hard and many Ash trees have had to be removed. A Song Thrush sings atop of one of the remaining Ashes. Dunnocks chase through the brambles and undergrowth.
undergrowth. Blue Tits flit from tree to tree. Along the track through the valley between Lyngham Vallet and Bircher Common. Many trees here are marked for felling. They are all Ashes that are dying or dead. Streams of clear water pour down from springs in the hillside. Dark green leaved Wood Spurge with dark red stems are yet to flower. All the way up the track stand hundreds of Ash trees marked with orange dots, to be felled. There are fresh leaves on a Honeysuckle climbing all over a small tree. A few sheep graze on the far side of the valley. A pair of Fallow Deer just a few yards from the track stare at me for a moment before bounding off up into the darkness of the Conifer plantation on Lyngham Vallet. Large Buckler Ferns stand under the conifers.
interesting mansard roof. The probable 17th century Church House looks abandoned. Opposite is a very large timber framed farmhouse, Church Farm, dated early 17th century with a large late 18th century cider house attached, now residences. The map marks a moat behind the building. Houses continue to be modern with the occasional Victorian building in between. Gitnal Farm looks mainly Victorian. Opposite is Madley Methodist Church, a fine late 17th century building formerly a house. Behind Rose Cottage is a decent size rookery occupied by number of pairs of Rooks. Under a small branch on which a Dunnock is singing and has no intention of moving for the likes of me.
opposite Little Brampton, several houses of varying ages, including a former smithy.
Past a large modern commercial site belonging to ETL, a radio-electronics manufacturers. The lane joins the B4348 from Hay-on-Wye.
children at the large comprehensive school rings across the fields. The majority of the housing here is modern, the village being a dormitory for Hereford now. At the main road junction is the Bull Ring pub and several older properties. Up towards the church of St Michael and All Angels, where again there are some old timber-framed houses. The manor was held by King Edward before the Conquest, and by King William in 1086. It was assessed at 4 hides, and contained a wood called Treville that rendered customary dues in venison. The tithes of the manor were held by Sainte-Marie de Cormeilles, and Ibert FitzTurold held 2 hides from the king as a manor. During the Second World War, Kingstone became home for a large contingent of RAF personnel, associated with the Madley airfield. The temporary accommodation left behind after their departure, served to provide housing for families and also to provide the start of what is now a school complex for infant, junior and senior pupils. The village was the home of Robert Jones who, in 1879, won the Victoria Cross for evacuating patients from a hospital whilst under attack from Zulus at Rourke’s Drift.
valley. Long cones are hanging from a towering Douglas Fir. A Wren, Blue Tit, Robin, and Blackbird are all in song. A Grey Wagtail bobs on one of the newly restored dams. Across the dam by the pump house and 
over a foot bridge which crosses a newly restored stone lined channel taking water from one pool to the next.
loudly. The ground is littered by falling branches, old and new. A flock of Redwings fly up into the trees.
There is also an early piscina, Norman font, half a carved stone showing a woman’s dress and feet and a mediaeval font. The arms of Charles II are above the west door, given by the king for the area’s support for the Royalists during the Civil War. Nearby is a fine sundial dated 1689 in stone which once stood in the centre of the village and was removed from the school in 1895.It was donated by Lady Probert, of The Argoed, Penallt, and shows three of the main attractions of Trellech; Tump Terret, with the inscriptions MAGNA MOLE (“Great in its Mound”) and O QUOT HIC SEPULTI (“Oh! How many are buried here”); Harold’s Stones with the inscriptions MAIOR SAXIS (“Greater in its Stones”) and HIC FUIT VICTOR HARALDUS (“Here Harold was victorious”); and the Virtuous Well, with the inscription MAXIMA FONTE (“Greatest in its Well”). It is a copy of this sundial that has been carved in the stump at the other end of the village. There are numerous monuments to the Rumsey family. The pulpit is early 17th century. The glass is all Victorian.
installed and in the 18th century the whole place was redesigned in the fashionable Georgian style, possibly by Anthony Keck who designed the cupola on the church opposite. A pair of late 18th century cottages stand at the foot of the tower of the church.
pump house built in 1908 by the nuns of Stanbrook abbey appalled at the unsanitary conditions within the town. It had two steam engines which were later replaced by electric and served the town to the 1970s. It is now residence. A lane leaves the town. A water-filled ditch runs beside the road. Lesser Celandine and a few Cuckoo Flowers are on the verge whilst flowering Blackthorn rises above.
part of Parsons Field, glebe land owned by the rector. Over 50 people are buried here, ranging in age from babies to 80 year olds. Although the victims names are recorded in a register, here there are no markings or names to their graves.
and several other farm buildings all converted. On the junction is a row of small houses on a curve is The Old Court House, once the County Court House, attached to the Old Constables House and the Clerks Cottage. In Oak Street a converted chapel has a plaque claiming John Wesley preached there in 1770. A narrow street of Tudor cottages winds round to the High Street and New Street 
junction.
once crossed Long Meadow but they are now gone. A footbridge crosses a wide drainage ditch and the path enters an open field. Across a stile and over a field of autumn sown grain. Is the constant song of Blackbirds, Great Tit and Wren. Suddenly a Skylark bursts into song high above. Through a gate and into a pasture surrounded by trees. Yet another Robin sings. White clouds of Blackthorn blossom are at the far end. To the north a Weeping Willow is in glorious pale lime leaf. There is a deep drainage channel on the south side of the field. In the field beyond ploughing is being undertaken. Through a brand new gate and around the edge of a field of maize stubble. The river has 
meandered back and now noisily descends a weir. A mill leat runs off from the top of the weir. A fish hatchery once lay between the weir and leat. Beyond to the north is Folly Farm. The path continues beside the leat for a distance before they diverge. A woodpecker drums nearby. The bird song now is Chiffchaff, Chaffinch and Wren. Up steps to a higher field of maize stubble. The village of Eardisland comes into view. Into a small pasture where Moles have been busy.
bank is shifting away. A Song Thrush is singing in an Ash although the song is more of a mutter. The hedgerows and trees are busy, Dunnocks and Great Tits proclaiming their territory, Blackbirds squabbling and Blue Tits quietly seeking food. Past Folly Farm. A disused artesian well stands on a field. Several very large fields have a crop of a dried grass, Miscanthus I think, standing 7 or 8 feet tall. Wrens tick crossly at me as I pass. Long-tailed Tits fly up into the trees. Behind a hedge is a compound of rusting lorries, trailers, diggers etc. After half a mile the fields of the grass crop finally come to an end. Little Broome farmhouse is a largely extended partly timber-framed 17th century. Nearby Broome farm house is large, 17th century rendered timber-framed building in an H-plan. Shobdon industrial estate lies across the fields. A helicopter comes to land at Shobdon airfield. A small bridge takes the lane over a lost stream. Beyond is an overgrown and dying orchard. A large rabbit makes a bolt for it. The GWR Leominster and Kington Section railway ran across the fields a short distance to the north. A hoverfly darts around flowering White Dead Nettles. Past another dying orchard, just a scattering of mistletoe laden trees and dead stumps.
filled with the cacophony of Canada Geese. A Robin alights on a Gorse bush covered in bright yellow flowers. A Wren searches the grass in front of the hide. A Moorhen moves with precision along the base of the bank on the edge of the water, staring intently at the mud. There appears to be a complete absence of Cormorants and Coot. A pair of Canada Geese seem to have taken great exception to a third, heading towards it with their necks outstretched along the water before flying rapidly towards it and chasing it off. There are several other Canada Geese around so why they are upset about this particular individual is unclear. Two pairs of Mute Swans take to the air and fly off in the opposite directions. A Moorhen has made a nest in the fork of one of the few remaining Willow saplings.
extended. The modern primary school stands behind it. The large Hempsted House Rectory is dated 1671, with 18th and early 19th century additions and alterations. It was built for Sir John Scudamore, Viscount Scudamore and stands next to St Swithuns church. The west end of the churchyard looks out over the Severn valley.
mentioned above passed under the road here. Down the other side of the bridge past a new development of houses. A very large Victorian pub, The Avenue stands at the junction of Tuffley Avenue. Opposite Lidl stands on a site that firstly was the Roman road then farmland before being incorporated into the grounds of Hempsted Court as part of the gardens. In 1869 timber yard and joinery works was established on the side by Nicks and Co, timber merchants which imported timber from the Baltic and Canada. During the First World War Nicks and Co became part of National Sawmill established by the Ministry of Munitions based at Bristol Road. At the end of the war the mills were returned to their owners. 
The business continue to trade on this site until fire destroyed much of the premises in 1987. Nicks Timber continues to trade to the south of the site. Opposite are terraces of late Victorian houses. One has illegible advertising on its end wall. Another has a repainted Sunlight Soap advert. The parish church of St Stephen, (formerly St Luke the Less) is surrounded by fencing and weeds. It was begun in 1898 and consecrated in 1900, built of brick with stone dressings and was designed by Walter Planck in late Gothic style but remained incomplete for some time. It originally had a chancel with north vestry rooms and organ chamber and south chapel and an aisled and clerestoried nave with temporary west front. The church was finished between 1928 and 1930 to a modified plan by H. A. Dancey. The Shanghai restaurant was formerly The Bristol Hotel built around 1900 by J Fletcher Trew. It has a large arched entrance, now mainly bricked up, at the front and a peculiar rounded, rather oriental, stunted corner tower. A few flakes of snow fall. Along Lysons Avenue to Seymour Road.