Herefordshire is one of England’s least-populated counties, the small city of Hereford known for its half-timbered houses and the cathedral which houses the biggest surviving medieval world map (800 years old) and the biggest chained library (books used to be locked up due to being so precious). Elgar wrote his most famous work here (the Pomp and Circumstance March, played at The Last Night of the Proms).
packed with fruit orchards (for juice & cider)
Like Kent, this county is home to many orchards for apple juice and cider, and sits on the the River Wye, which empties into the Severn Estuary.
pretty landscapes near the Welsh border
The market town of Ross-on-Wye (with a foot in England and Wales) sits near the Black Mountains near Worcestershire’s Malvern Hills and the Welsh border, and has many cottages that were originally home to local blacksmiths, carpenters, coppicers and wheelwrights.
one of the best counties for dark skies
Like Northumberland, lack of light pollution means Herefordshire is one of the best places to gaze at the stars, and also good for local birds and wildlife (abroad, sea turtles are leaving the sea to ‘follow the moon’ and end up laying eggs in artificially-lit car parks). Our skies are now so ‘light-polluted’ that millions of people have never seen the Milky Way.
