Distance: 6.5 miles

Difficulty of the terrain: hard

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

Walk from Colwall Railway Station up and along the Malvern Hills range to the Worcestershire Beacon and then down via St. Anne’s Well to the centre of Great Malvern.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

Malvern the Great

Whilst it has ancient, and indeed mystical, origins; the south west Worcestershire town of Malvern is primarily a creation of the early and mid 19th Century when it was a popular spa.

In fittingly Victorian fashion it is strung out along its railway line which runs from Hereford to London Paddington via Worcester and Oxford. Something doubtless also encouraged by the town’s position at the foot of the majestic and iconic Malvern Hills.

It was this railway line, and the lure of those hills, which used to bring J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis to the town for Weekend holidays. One of which it is reputed gave rise to the inspiration for The Chronicles of Narnia. Arguably the mise en scène as a whole, along with many other locations across the Midlands, provided inspiration for aspects of the Middle Earth books.

Malvern is in fact several towns joined together in a mini conurbation each with quite a different character. It has three town centres. Malvern Link is where much of the town’s population live, however; Great Malvern the historical heart of the spa is undoubtedly the town centre.

In addition to grand Victorian buildings, including inns, former spa hotels and a small but impressive railway station is Great Malvern Priory. Once home to a religious order, since the Reformation in the 1530s it has been the town’s main church. Few traces of the Monastic past remain besides the church itself, but there is a truly spectacular Priory gate.

Above Great Malvern stands the Worcestershire Beacon. Made of Pre-Cambrian rock which is 600 million years old, and 425 metres above sea level at its highest point, it is the tallest peak in the Malvern Hills range and the highest point in Worcestershire. The town nestles on the lower slopes and in its shadow.

The Walk

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

I use the Ordnance Survey app to create and follow the Walk Midlands routes. Get your own subscription via the banner above.

To start the walk, from the southbound platform of Ledbury Railway Station head for the exit.

Out on the station’s little forecourt turn left following the direction of a footpath waymark sign.

Just after the sign, steps up to a bridge across the line become visible.

Once you have crossed the bridge head down the steps on the other side.

Then head down another set of steps on your left into a small area of woodland. In the middle of this there is a nature reserve.

At the bottom of the steps walk to a fork in the path and then turn right heading towards an opening in the trees which leads out onto a field.

Presently you reach a gate which you pass through to enter the field beyond.

Follow the clearly defined path across the field to a gap in the hedge where there is a gate.

Head through this gate as well and follow the path across the next field.

The path passes through another gap in the hedge into the next field.

At this point you take a hard turn to the left and follow the line of the hedgerow for a short distance.

From this vantage point it is possible to see the Malvern Hills rising up above you, and the tall British Camp Hill which was a major Iron Age hill fort, in the distance.

Soon you come to another, smaller gap into the hedge which leads into a large field.

Having crossed into this field you have a great view of British Camp in front of you, and if you look behind the northern part of the ridge looking towards the Worcestershire Beacon behind you.

As you follow the path, presently you come to a place where it forks.

Take the right hand fork here walking towards a cream coloured house.

Upon reaching the cream coloured house take a short, steep path to your left leading up to a lane.

Walk along the lane a short distance passing the cream coloured house.

Soon on your left there is a style and a gate.

Cross over this and then also cross the second style and gate immediately on your right.

This leads into a small clearing surrounded by thickets of bushes and trees. There is a clear path across it leading up a short sloping hill.

At the top there is a style cross over the style and you find yourself standing above a country lane.

Walk down to the lane and more or less immediately opposite you there is a footpath waymark and a sign in gothic script saying “The Hartlands”.

Cross over the road and head through this gate.

On the other side there is a path leading through a stand of scraggly trees near a brook.

Near the edge of the trees there is a footbridge. Cross over the footbridge and head through the gate just after it.

This leads onto a plank bridge immediately after the gate. Cross over this bridge as well.

From here walk in the direction of British Camp Hill and a line of trees on one side of the field at the top of the bank of the brook.

Once you reach the trees and the side of the brook, follow the line of the stream for a very short way.

Just after you get to this point there is another crossing over the stream, to your left.

Head across here – taking care – because it can be quite muddy, you enter the field on the other bank.

Having made it into the field, walk diagonally across the field.

Presently you will observe a tree which is standing quite near the centre of the field, away from the clusters of trees on either side. Aim roughly for the direction of this tree.

Presently the route you are travelling merges with another path across the field.

Follow this route until you reach another plank bridge.

After crossing the plank bridge walk towards the hedgerow on the other side of the field you are crossing.

Here you will find a style, cross over it.

Once into the field beyond, walk up the grassy slope in front of you, heading for a line of trees beyond.

At this stage you are aiming for a stand of younger trees, immediately adjacent to where a householder has cut down the trees and vegetation immediately in front of their property.

Near the top of the slope as you approach the tree line it makes sense to pause and look back across Herefordshire towards Wales from where you have climbed to.

On entering the thicket you walk up a steep, but well trodden path through the trees.

At the top of the slope you reach a style, cross over it.

On the other side turn right and follow the path up the remaining section of the slope.

At the top you come out near the bottom of Jubilee Drive, opposite the Malvern Hills Hotel and Restaurant.

Here turn left and begin walking along Jubilee Drive.

After a short way along Jubilee Drive a footpath begins on the right hand side of the road, following this you can make your way back up onto the top of the ridge.

From this point if you look to your right you can look down onto Castlemorton Common, where in late May 1992 between 20,000-40,000 new age travellers and other ravers descended to hold the largest free parties held in the UK during the rave period. It was the largest example of a free festival seen in the UK since the Stonehenge Free Festival. This affront to middle English sensibilities was by all accounts a wonderful thing to be part of, but led to the arrest of 13 members of the Spiral Tribe sound system and proved a prime mover for the legislation that became the 1994 Criminal Justice Act which essentially outlawed unlicensed music events.

From this point the walk becomes a ramble up and down a series of undulating peaks and summits, including the aptly named Perseverance Hill. Ahead of you the Worcestershire Beacon looms increasingly large. The Beacon, one of the largest sumits in the entire West Midlands region is believed to have had a religious significance for the pre-Christian inhabitants of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Like the Malverns as a whole it continues to inspire fascination amongst artists and creatives of all kinds. From the mentions of the Malverns in Piers Ploughman, one of the earliest examples of secular English language fiction, and a meditation on class struggle in late 14th Century agrarian communities following the Black Death. Through to a more psychedelic kind of radicalism where the Malverns and the Beacon in particular features prominently in Ken Russell’s 1962 biopic of Edward Elgar, and 1974’s even triper and more overtly revolutionary Penda’s Fen, where key scenes take place on the hillside.

Approaching the Beacon you descend a fair way, crossing over one of the few roads over the hills and coming upon a long car park which you can follow up the hill. Near the entrance to the carpark can be found a public toilet block, as well as the Malvern Hills GeoCentre which has an exhibition and information about the hills. If you follow the road round through a gap cut in the hills then you come to Wyche Inn which serves drinks, food and has a few rooms which can be rented overnight.

Continuing up towards the Beacon the carpark gives way to a tarmacked road, which turns into a semi-made path in time. Keep climbing up the hill you are eventually presented with several routes up the hill, one which is moderately steep, potholed but tarmacked, another is semi-made and winds up gently, whilst the third is a scramble up rocks.

I opted for the first (paved) route and soon reached the Beacon’s summit.

From here after admiring the view, how far I’d come and how high I’d climbed, I began my descent down the steep slope from the top of the hill.

There’s quite a few routes down, with a heavily used semi-made path marking the centre of the ridge. In front of me the Sugarloaf Hill loomed almost as large as the Beacon, but I’d more or less reached my final destination, Great Malvern.

In my haste, rather than following the well-made path round to a junction at the foot of the Sugarloaf I instead chose a steep descent that was more than my shoes could cope with. This meant that I couldn’t easily stop myself and at one point actually slid down part of the hill. I didn’t go over and someone better attired would have been fine, but it’s always best to be careful, even on hills as well trod as the Malverns.

Presently I did make it to a proper path which I followed down the hillside.

I began my descent through the trees. Whilst the tops of the Malverns are quite windswept and rugged, further down the hills are ringed by quite thick woodland. Walking down a well-made but steep path I passed a sturdy Malvern Hills Conservators signpost to the Beacon and some of their seating before coming across the St. Anne’s Well Cafe.

Alongside the hotels and a few other buildings in the town like the theatre, this building is a survivor from Malvern’s spa town heyday. Built in 1813 the current St. Anne’s Well building is open as a cafe Thursday – Sunday each week, probably the most interesting place to get food and drink on the walk, and it has a great terraced seating area. Inside when the cafe is open you can see (and drink if you fancy it…) water from the St. Anne’s well.

Inside when the cafe is open you can see (and drink if you fancy it…) water from the St. Anne’s well. People have drawn water from the spring on the site since at least St. Werstan in Anglo-Saxon times, evidence of a medieval chapel including ecclesiastical drawings, an undercroft and human bones were discovered in the 1820s when an old cottage was pulled down near the site of the well. And of course, the Christian place of worship was only the most recent devotional presence on the site; it’s believed that the well was dedicated to St. Anne because the Britonic inhabitants of Malvern had already named the spring Anu in honour of one of their water goddesses.

Leaving St. Anne’s well you come to the Narnia part of the walk. That is to say a very steep, wooded, and rocky valley illuminated by gas lamps. Reputedly C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were trudging back to their accommodation near here one snowy night in the depth of winter, having spent the evening in the pub, which led C.S. Lewis to remark “this scene would make a fine opening for a book”. Which in the environs feels apt, but I feel it may be too good to be true.

At the bottom of the path you come to a set of 99 steps, these lead down to a small hillside park which stands on the edge of Great Malvern Town Centre. Having walked down these and paused (or not) to read the information boards which explain the C.S. Lewis and Narnia connection in the park, you are in the bustling centre of Malvern and have finished the walk.

There are numerous good cafes, restaurants and pubs including a Wetherspoon’s which also has accommodation if you need refreshments or rest, and there’s several nice parks and a historic abbey to see in Malvern as well the spa town atmosphere.

Getting Back

Alternatively if you’d like to head home Great Malvern Station is a 10 minute walk down the hill from where the walk ends and there are buses to Worcester and other surrounding towns nearby as well.

Trains heading north to Worcester and Birmingham are roughly hourly for much of the day and a similar freqency heading west back towards Colwall and Hereford.