This lovely walk takes you through the lush green country to the north of Bromyard, providing glimpses of the secluded valley of the River Frome, and visiting the site of the deserted mediaeval village of Edwyn Ralph.

As you walk through a field towards St Michael's Church at Edwyn Ralph you will notice that the field contains earthworks, including the moated site of a motte and bailey fortification.

This is just to the left of the footpath, while other earthworks border the lane north-west of the churchyard.

The village may have been abandoned after the Black Death in 1349 (when a third of England's population died) or routine poverty may have been the cause. A new village later developed on the Tenbury road, leaving only Pound Farm and the 12th Century church on the original site.

In the same field there are some very old ash trees which are regularly pollarded (cut at about head-height).

They were done this April so they are just ungainly stumps at the moment but will soon start putting out new growth.

The one that you pass as you approach the church is enormous and must be many centuries old. Pollarding can prolong a tree's life almost indefinitely and some pollards have been estimated to be over 1000 years old.

The church is currently swathed in scaffolding, and not looking its best. Inside, however, it contains one of the most important collections of mediaeval effigies in Herefordshire. These represent members of the Edefen family, from whom the name Edwyn Ralph derives, along with nearby Edvin Loach.

DIRECTIONS

Where you start will vary according to whether you arrive by car or bus so directions are given from the High Street. Walk to the top of it then turn right to the Heritage Centre. Turn left, and proceed along a "no through road" before turning left at a footpath sign. The path brings you out on the Tenbury road where you turn right.

After 200m cross to Lower Hardwick Lane. When it bends left go straight on instead, following a footpath into a field. Proceed to a path junction and fork right into the lovely valley of the River Frome.

Cross the river at a footbridge and turn left. The path is very slightly overgrown and you will need to climb over a fallen tree. Go through a gate and up a bank to meet a track. Turn right.

The track climbs past a newly planted wood then bends left by a heap of scrap metal. Leave the track here, going straight on to a stile half hidden by the scrap heap. Cross the ensuing field and turn right along a lane.

Turn right at the main road, crossing to a verge on the other side. Turn left on a bridleway, then immediately left again on a footpath. Head north beside field edges.

When you come to a junction cross a track to a stile next to the entrance to Wychewood Cottage. Go diagonally left across a meadow to a stile in a row of trees. Turn left, guided by a series of waymarked stiles as the path heads north towards Edwyn Ralph.

In the penultimate field, as you approach the church, bear left to a footbridge which gives access to the final field. The path enters the churchyard and you turn leftto a lane, then left again, but only for a few metres.

Join a footpath at a gate/stile on the right and cross a paddock to a stile near the far right corner. Continue to the corner of the next field, cross a stile and then another on the right. Keep left through the next field, following a brook to Brickhouse Farm.

Join a lane at the farm and turn left. Ignore a bridleway branching right, staying on the lane, which itself soon becomes a bridleway. Ignore a footpath branching left and follow the bridleway past the woodland of Tilbury Plantation towards a farm at Black Venn.

When you reach a Y-junction by a garden, fork left, then straight on towards a gate marked with a blue arrow. Don't go through the gate, but turn right.

The bridleway is fenced and waymarked as it runs past the farm to reach a junction. Turn left here, crossing a brook into a large field. Go diagonally across to the far right corner and then by the left-hand edges of two further fields, heading for Buckenhill Manor.

The bridleway bends right to skirt a walled garden then continues past a farmhouse to meet a rutted grass track. Turn right. When the track ends, the bridleway proceeds across two fields. Towards the end of the second field leave the bridleway, bearing left to a stile next to a wood to join a footpath which heads towards Bromyard.

After leaving the wood behind, the footpath follows a brook until joined by another path coming from the left. After this, the waymarkers direct you away from the brook to meet the River Frome, which is crossed by a humpbacked stone bridge. The path leads up to a road - just before you reach it you will find another path on the left (unsigned) which bridges the road. On the far side, you can either go straight on into Bromyard or turn left on a path high above the road (which occupies the former railway cutting). Either way, it's only about 300m to the High Street.

FACTFILE

Start: Bromyard, GR654546.

Length: 5.5 miles/8.8km.

Maps: OS Explorer 202, OS Landranger 149.

Terrain: gently undulating, mainly pasture.

Stiles: 23 (and one large fallen tree).

Parking: public car park in Bromyard.

Buses: Worcester-Hereford services 419/420, daily; Traveline 0870 6082608.

Refreshments: Bromyard.

DISCLAIMER

This walk has been carefully checked and the directions are believed to be correct at the time of publication. No responsibility is accepted by either the author or publisher for errors or omissions, or for any loss or injury, however caused.