Castle Coppice, Eastnor and British Camp
Grade - Moderate with a couple of short climbs
Map - O.S. Explorer 190 (Malvern Hills and Bredon Hill)
Suitable for - Anyone in reasonable health but strenuous in a couple of places
Start - Car parking on Castlemorton Common at Berrow Down, Grid Ref. SO765381 (Click
here for large scale map or here for detail)
Refreshments - Pub and cafe at British Camp - sometimes Ice Cream van at Castlemorton
Common!
I suppose that in many ways this walk is a re-hash of Walk 4 but I make no apologies
at all as this walk takes you past what is surely the most densely carpeted bluebell
wood I have ever seen - Castle Coppice. Its slightly out-of-the-way location means
that it is visited less often than it might be - a good thing in respect of the bluebells
who live an undisturbed life. Also present is a variation on the last part of the
walk. In all I guess it goes to show that, even in an area as relatively small as
the Malvern Hills there is enough variety to provide endless hours of enjoyable and
interesting walking. Anyway, let's get on with the walk!
As in Walk 4, start from Berrow Down car park. Since I wrote up Walk 4 some years
ago, the car park has been improved immensely. It's now a 'pay-and-display' but the
charge is small and the benefits large, so do cough up! We walked this route in late
April 2007 on a flawless late-Spring day. If the weather is clear, take a few minutes
to look back over the Severn Valley towards Bredon Hill, last outlier of the Cotswolds,
with the Cotswold scarp a little further over to your right.
Having taken on board as much of the Worcestershire outdoors as is safe at one time,
make your way up the road towards Gullet quarry (Pic. 1). As mentioned in walk 4,
the quarry has been disused for some time and is slowly being reclaimed by nature.
On reaching the quarry wall, take the path that leads along the left-hand side of
the quarry (Pic. 2) to reach a path that heads off uphill. (Pic. 3)
Continue climbing up through the Gullet, as this valley is called. Upon reaching
a path junction, carry on forward through a kissing-gate by the side of the metal
gate and take the path to the left (Pic. 4). Now just a point. This takes you off
the line of the public footpath that heads up towards the obelisk and beyond. As
far as I'm aware there is no problem with this (indeed the walk later goes along
another non-public footpath that's been used by walkers for years). Just please bear
in mind that you are now walking on the landowner's suffrance - please respect this
and be aware that, if you are by any chance asked to leave, you must do so.
Dire warnings aside, I have to say that I have never, in all the years I've been
trudging around Eastnor, had any person show me anything but a friendly wave - so
please don't worry too much! Anyway - carry on down this track to soon enter a small
valley. There now follows what can only be described as an idyllic stroll between
banks simply stuffed with flowers, a true bluebell carpet. Of course, there's only
a fairly small window to enjoy them - mid-April to early May - but the effort to
get here is worth it.
A little further along, Castle Coppice appears to the left. It's completely fenced
off - please respect this and just enjoy the view from the outside. And what a view.
I have only put one picture in (Pic. 5) because, frankly, I'm no great photographer
and I just can't do it justice. There is a large photo of this image that you can
see by clicking here. Someone told me that the age of a wood can be determined by
how it has been colonised by flowers. I don't know if this is true but, if it is,
Castle Coppice must have been there for a long, long time.
Don't rush this experience. You may well say 'Wow, bluebells. So what?' I don't know
- but there is just something about the place. Try it and see. If you don't leave
feeling even a bit uplifted, you've really no poetry in your soul. Sorry!
All good things must end, unfortunately. When you have gone deep into idyll overload
and are in grave danger of turning suddenly into a Hobbit, carry on down the path
to leave the coppice behind. Come back next year, though. I've been going every year
for about ten years now and it just keeps getting better. At a path fork, take the
right-hand fork to head uphill (Pic. 6).
Head up this quiet track (heard cuckoos here, by the way), which climbs quite steeply
at times over the shoulder of the hill. Arriving at a t-junction, turn left and then,
after about fifty yards, right across grass by a burnt tree (Pic. 7). There's no
path here as such but just head straight across the grass for about seventy yards
or so until you hit a well-made track running to left and right. Here turn left (Pic.
8) and keep along this track as it descends towards Eastnor Park's camping area.
Arriving at another t-junction at the bottom of the track, look ahead for a small
bridge that crosses the stream in the centre of the park. Head for this, being careful
not to trip over any guy-wires or other impedimenta, cross the bridge and head straight
up the hill toward the small and now, sadly, empty lodge (Pic. 9). At the lodge,
turn right over the cattle grid and follow the broad track as it swings left into
the trees (Pic. 10).
Follow this track, which trends uphill at a gentle gradient, for about a mile. Along
the way ignore all cross-paths and forks, especially one where there is a public
footpath arrow pointing right (Pic. 11 below, waymark ringed in red). As I said above,
this is another path that isn't 'official' - yet the day we walked it a chap in an
Eastnor Estate Land-Rover went past us and gave us a cheery wave. Just goes to show
that not all the country landowners are 12-bore carrying grumps!
Keep ahead until the path bears left. Follow this around and uphill. In walk 4 I
mention a footpath that heads off right near the end of the track. When I walked
this route I couldn't see this footpath. Maybe I missed it, maybe it's been diverted,
or maybe the waymark has fallen off the post.
In any event, you can gain access to the main A449 road by just following the track
to a gate by another gatehouse that is by the roadside. From here turn right and
follow the road until you reach British Camp car park, with its pub and other refreshments.
If you prefer to leave the road, look for a fingerpost on the left-hand side and
follow the instructions below from Walk 4:
'From here follow waymarks to turn first left down a wooded slope then head off across
a field - all well waymarked - until reaching a T-junction of footpaths at an obvious
fingerpost. Here turn right and follow the track as it climbs uphill to again meander
through a wooded area - can be a bit slippy in the wet! - until you emerge just opposite
the side of the Malvern Hills Hotel. Refreshments can be obtained here from the Hotel
or from the tea and ice cream kiosk to the right.'
Suitably full of the kiosk's most excellent tea or the pub's beer, head off through
the gate almost opposite the kiosk (Pic. 12). The track climbs quite steeply though
only for a very short way, then levels out to arrive at a fork (Pic. 13). Here take
the left fork unless you wish to go to the top of British Camp - if so, take the
right fork, a big lungful of air and head off up the hill - the path is unmissable.
When you've had the cobwebs blown away, retrace your steps and take the left fork
to resume your walk. Simply follow this path, enjoying some truly outstanding views
over the Severn plain. The track comes to a sudden end by a bank - here keep straight
forward along a narrow rutted gravelled path to gain the ridge of Broad Down (Pic.
14). The views from here are extensive and it's usually breezy - a great place to
just simply be.
Now follows a grand stride along Broad Down, with the Red Earl's Dike - nowadays
just a few feet tall - to your left. Towards the end of the Down the path veers right
and descends (Pic. 15). Take care when descending here - it's not too steep but the
surface can be a bit loose.
At the bottom you meet a t-junction - here turn left and descend fairy steeply to
a path junction (Pic. 16). Take the left-hand path to descend along the flank of
Swinyard Hill via a broad track (more bluebells here!) until the Berrow Down car
park comes into view off to the left. Either keep along the track or head off across
the grass to regain the car park and your starting point.
