Hereford City (and surrounding cider country)
Sitting on the River Wye, Herefordshire feels more like a quiet town, than a city. Surrounded by lush countryside, people here still nod hello, and sup cider in local pubs, made with apples from local orchards.
Farmers’ markets spill onto ancient streets, and even the cathedral has a lovely green, where people sit outside and enjoy chat and picnics.
Inside the cathedral is housed the Mappa Mundi, a stunning map from the 1200s, that tries to show the entire world, as it was known then. It also houses one of the world’s oldest chained libraries; you can still see the iron links that once kept books safe from thieves, centuries before borrowing cards!
Herefordshire is a lovely county, quiet and quite small, next to the Welsh border. Even the main city of Hereford is more like a leafy town. Like Cumbria and Northumberland, it has more sheep than people!
If out walking, follow the Countryside Code to keep all creatures safe. Herefordshire has more sheep than people!
Learn how to right an overturned sheep or it will die. Just firmly turn it back up, then hold upright until rain has drained off).
Like Somerset, This is Cider Country!
Thanks to enormous amount of fruit orchards in these parts, apple and pear ciders are abundant. Cider is to Hereford, what wine is to Bordeaux. Pickers go out early morning to harvest baskets of fruits, before being pressed and fermented into cider.
There are even towns that celebrate apples, with orchard walks, barn dances and sampling of cloudy juice. Cider is sold alongside chutney, jam and fresh bread in markets. And there are even cider competitions, with entertainment from local Morris dancers.
Edward Elgar’s (Midland) Musical Footprints
My, that’s a fine moustache!
Edward Elgar may not be a familiar name to many, but it’s likely you know some of his compositions. He wrote ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. His grand-daughter married the pioneer of the Sunday School movement.
If you’re a fan of Last Night of the Proms, you may like to know that it was in Herefordshire that he wrote the Pomp and Circumstance March. If you think you don’t know it – you do! Take a listen.
One of the first composers to embrace recorded music, he was also quite eccentric. He named his bicycle (Mr Phoebus) and created handmade soap (a bit dangerous, due to caustic soda).
He was an avid fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, and would cycle 40 miles from his home in the Malverns, to watch them play. He even wrote England’s first national anthem (no doubt more lyrical than ‘It’s coming home, it’s coming home, football’s coming home!.)
He had a very happy marriage to his wife (who was cut off from her family, for marrying a Catholic). He adored dogs, and even wrote music dedicated to them.
Elgar first discovered Herefordshire as a young man. He often travelled by bicycle from his home in Worcester, soaking in the rural scenery. Locals still remember stories of Elgar sitting under the trees, jotting down themes that would appear in his music.
