Upton-upon-Severn is a delightful small town very popular with summer visitors.

At this time of year it's much quieter, which makes it easier to appreciate the Tudor, Jacobean and Georgian buildings which grace its streets.

The White Lion, currently resplendent in a fresh coat of yellow paint, is probably the most obviously impressive building, but there are many more which are worth admiring, including those tucked away on back streets which are missed by the casual visitor.

The surrounding countryside has a great deal to offer too. This walk provides a small sample of what's on offer and also includes the village of Hanley Castle.

Small and peaceful today, it was once much more important and might easily have grown into a town had Upton not overtaken it.

The old centre of the village, known as Church End, is a place of great charm, with cottages, a church and a 15th Century inn clustered round a huge cedar tree.

The church is unusual, being partly 12th and 14th Century stone, partly 17th Century brick.

Next to it is the Old Grammar School, established in the Middle Ages, and there are some almshouses too.

Thriving pottery

The village once had a thriving pottery industry, the products of which were exported from a busy quay on the River Severn, at the end of what is now Quay Lane.

Hanley Castle takes its name from a castle built in 1206 for King John, who used it as a hunting lodge and an administrative centre for Malvern Chase.

It later belonged to the Earls of Warwick and then to Richard III, but it fell into disuse and was eventually destroyed, most of the stones being used to build a bridge at Upton in 1608-9.

The remaining masonry was taken in 1795 to repair a bridge over Pool Brook, a tributary of the Severn.

Today there are only traces of a moat and a grassy mound overgrown by trees.

At two different points in the walk you will encounter the course of a dismantled railway, built in 1864 to link Upton with Malvern and Tewkesbury.

In the early years, Upton Station saw 10 passenger services daily, and at least three freight trains.

Local farmers made good use of the trains to transport their produce, which they brought to the station in horse-drawn carts. The line was closed in 1952.

The owners of Clives Fruit Farm have laid out a nature trail along part of the line where it runs through a cutting.

DIRECTIONS

Walk north along the west bank of the Severn using a riverside path until you come to Pool Brook, at which point you must join Hanley Road.

Just after passing the Renaissance Spa turn right on a footpath which runs along the edge of riverside fields to reach Quay Lane. Follow this to the main road and cross to a "no through road" opposite, which leads into the churchyard at Hanley Castle.

Leaving the churchyard, turn left past the pub to join a footpath along the edge of a cricket pitch. When you come to a clump of trees go through a gate on the left then continue in the same direction along a fenced path.

Turn left when you reach a lane and continue to a bend by Gilbert's End Farm. Two footpaths are signed on the left, and you can use either of them as they both lead to the same point.

However, if you choose the right-hand one you won't have to cross the bare earth of a ploughed field.

Follow the path along the edge of the field for nearly 200m until you meet a hedge which comes from the left, at right angles to the field-edge path. Stand with your back to the hedge then go diagonally right across the field, aiming roughly towards the church at Hanley Castle.

As you approach a point at which the far hedge increases in height you'll see a gap where you can step through into the next field. Turn right by the field edge and keep going until you see a waymarker post. Continue in the same direction but on the other side of the hedge.

Pass through a kissing gate into a field and go diagonally across to the furtherest corner. Go through a gate in the corner and turn left to cross a stile. Turn to the right past a hazel coppice and when you come to a junction go straight on. The remains of Hanley Castle and its moat are now on your right. Continue straight on, passing a converted watermill to meet a lane.

Turn right, then left, and shortly right on a footpath signed to West Bank, which takes you along a green lane then across the railway cutting. Climbing out of the cutting on the other side, go through an orchard to a lane.

Join another footpath almost opposite and cross another orchard to a bridge beneath a large oak tree. Continue to a lane and turn left, then left again at Old Orchard, just after a playground. When the road swings right bear left on a grassy bridleway (Cut Throat Lane).

Follow this to a road then turn right on a footpath which runs along the top of an ancient floodbank into Upton.

FACTFILE

Start: Upton Bridge, GR852407.

Length: 5 miles/8km.

Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: mostly level and undemanding; pasture, arable and orchard.

Stiles: 13.

Parking: Hanley Road car park.

Buses: 363/364 and 372/373/374 on Mondays to Saturdays; 373 on Sundays and bank holidays; Traveline 0870 6082608.

Refreshments: good choice in Upton; Three Kings Inn at Hanley Castle.

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.