Coalhill Coppice

Hollybush Hill from the A438

Roadside cottages near Hollybush

A438 at Hollybush

Hollybush crossroads, A438

A438 near Coombegreen Common

A438 descends toward Rye Cross

Hollybush Hill

It can be quite hard to imagine that 2000 years ago this quiet spot was part of a busy town - the Midsummer Hill iron-age hill-fort. Excavations in the late 1960s by Stan Stanford showed the area full of small building plots. Each plot had been reused time and time again over the centuries suggesting continuous occupation. The buildings used four posts arranged in a square - not at all like the round huts usually depicted for this era. Evidence for similar square buildings have been found in other so called "hill-forts" in Herefordshire and the Welsh Marches

The shelter on Midsummer Hill

The shelter was built by the owners of Eastnor Castle and the hill. In 1923 the hill was given to the National Trust in memory of Captain Reginald Somers Cocks, MC who died in the first world war.

The obelisk from Midsummer Hill

From Midsummer Hill looking west across Eastnor Park to Frith Hill above Ledbury.

Trevor Rickard

Hollybush Fete, Hollybush Church Hall, 2011

An auction of donated items too good for the bric-a-brac stall is taking place. On the other side of the hall the skittles competition was taking place. On this side books, CDs, a raffle. Inside the hall, Cakes, jams, produce (I bought a box of quinces for £1!) clothes, and the bric-a-brac stall. Scrummy cakes and cups of tea served in the adjoining room.

Skittles, Hollybush village fete, 2011

At the back of the church hall. The ball return guttering is still working despite slowly deteriorating over the decades.

Farmhouse at Golden Valley

One of several timber-framed houses dotted around this part of the common. Beyond to the north is the ridge of the Malvern Hills.

Trevor Rickard

School, Bromesberrow

Village primary school and telephone box seen from the green.

Hayes Coppice

One of the many small woodlands in the surrounds of the Malvern Hills. This is a great place to visit if you like traditional old English woodland. This is the Bromesberrow Estate in Gloucestershire, just to the north in Herefordshire is Eastnor which is also well wooded and very light on the Sitka. Oaks dominate the deep soils on the sandstones. Further up the hill on thin soils above Uriconian rocks ashes, some huge are the favoured tree. Sadly the invasive sycamore is too common in the Malvern Hills, it thrived when grazing stopped.

Chase End Hill

Path junction on the southern end of the Malvern Hills. It is much quieter here than up at the Malvern end and the paths are grass or moss covered. The common is about to be grazed again and fencing has been put in to keep the stock in. In 2001 the Malvern Hills was closed off as part of precautions against foot and mouth disease. I can remember the feeling of being conned when I later found out that there was no livestock up at the Malvern end as the sheep kept getting out and trashing expensive gardens. There was of course no need whatsoever to close the place down and we were all caught admiring the King's dashing new threads. The cessation of grazing has encouraged sycamores as well as the more desirable succession woodlands. Chase End has been regularly mown.

Chase End Hill

Southern terminus of the Malvern Hills and an Uriconian foothold in Gloucestershire. The march with Worcestershire runs along the ridge with this western side being in Gloucestershire. The common is grazed again after a long period of being left.

Chase End Hill

The summit and triangulation pillar of the southernmost Malvern hill. View towards Raggedstone Hill. Very impressive scenery, great to see so much broadleaved woodland. The benchmark number is S5030. I am standing just inside Gloucestershire and there is a very good view over the flat and low lying plain in Worcestershire, the flood plain of the Avon and Severn.