Days of wine and rosehips: my car-free break in Herefordshire

The market town of Ledbury is the picturesque starting point for a nature trek through a county for all seasons

Moreton-in-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore … The names of the stations along the Cotswold Line railway are familiar as a nursery rhyme from childhood journeys. I grew up near Oxford, but it’s years since I last travelled west on this line and the distant hills have a blue, remembered air. The little River Evenlode meanders through sheep-dotted fields outside the train window before the wider Avon winds through plum and cherry trees. We cross the Severn among the spires and towers of Worcester and race under the Malverns to emerge near gnarled orchards, overgrown with mistletoe.

Herefordshire is a county for all seasons: once the leaves have fallen, there are glowing church windows, local jams and chutneys, original museums. There are wintry walks to enjoy, before the orchards blossom again, and mulled cider by log fires in half-timbered pubs. All Herefordshire buses are free for everyone at weekends until (it’s hoped) August 2022, with extra services on Sundays. It’s a scheme aimed at encouraging sustainable trips to local towns. I hop on a bus into Ledbury from the railway station, passing cobbled alleys and striking timber-framed houses. “A little town of ancient grace,” the Ledbury-born poet laureate John Masefield called his home town.