Weekend away
A TREEHOUSE IN A FORGOTTEN PART OF HEREFORDSHIRE IS AN ESCAPE IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD
Finding an ‘undiscovered’ beautiful corner of your home country can make your weekend and this little pocket of Herefordshire, near Bromyard – north of the better-known Wye Valley and west of the famous Malvern Hills – is just such a find. If you’ve been no further than your county, or even your neighbourhood recently, the rolling countryside and big views here encourage you to drink it all in, to refresh and recharge. Staying in an eco-treehouse, just one of three built from scratch on a patch of woodland saved for, bought and managed by locals Dale and Heather Badman, places you right in the rural heartland, with walks from the door and barely any need to stray further afield.
Where we stayed
Among the treetops at The Rookery Woods, near Norton. The Rook’s Nook rises elegantly on stilts, its balcony and picture windows making your very own wildlife hide. Inside has a Moroccan feel, with a bedroom for two opening off the living space and kitchen area. A wood burner keeps things cosy or there’s a firepit on a seating area on the ground below. Follow the path a little further and The Rook’s View has an outdoor bath-with-a-view overlooking the farms and fields that border the woodland. Dale and Heather planted new trees and bulbs, coppicing and pollarding the neglected woods and also built the treehouses themselves. They opened The Rookery Woods between lockdowns in August last year. Eventually, they also hope to live on site in their own self-built lodge.
Local produce abounds here among the orchards, hop fields and farms. We stopped off to stock up wherever we saw a sign. We were particularly well served with the Wye Valley Brewery at Stoke Lacy, Chase Distillery, which makes potato vodka (from the fields that make Tyrells crisps), and Little Pomona cidery, near Bromyard. Frome Valley Vineyard also had an onsite shop. Meanwhile, we declared the pork pies from Legges of Bromyard (deli, butchers, pie shop and local institution) to be the best we’ve ever had – and the sausage rolls were right up there, too. For local food, you don’t have to cook, Green Cow Kitchens at Crumplebury serves dinner in an elegant dining room, once the estate pigsties. And the tasting menu at Pensons, a few miles north, well deserves its Michelin star. Both plan to re-open in May.
What we did
Mainly, we pottered. Bordering
The Rookery Woods is Bromyard Downs; on the map it’s a slither of open access land. In reality it’s 500 acres of ancient common with views that the locals may take for granted but will leave visitors breathing deep of the far-reaching vista (without needing to climb a mountain). In an hour’s walk we saw three different birds of prey
– buzzard, a falcon and, up close flying straight towards us, a hawk. A little further down the road is the Live and Let Live, a 16th century inn on Bringsty Common, where girls tie their ponies up outside. Also worth a potter is Bringsty Vintage Living for painted gardenalia, dairy churns, troughs and furniture. The National Trust delivers, too, with beautiful Brockhampton, a moated manor, pretty chapel and unique gatehouse surrounded by orchards. It’s a picturesque walk to the estate from The Rookery Woods.
We also liked
Bromyard is in a triangle of rural loveliness between the Malverns, Hereford and Ludlow, all of which make an interesting day out ( Dr
Who fans will also want to stop off at the wonderfully eccentric Time Machine Museum of Science Fiction
– featuring props from the series
– in Bromyard itself). We opted to see the Mappa Mundi and Chained Library at Hereford Cathedral. Made in around 1300, it’s the oldest complete medieval map in the world and makes you realise the patchy knowledge of the wider world at the time. The Chained Library is straight out of The Name of the Rose, but is still used by scholars today, with the oldest manuscript dating back to the 6th century.
The best thing
Every corner and rise and fold of land offers views and charm and a link to the past that has increasingly disappeared in better known parts of England. Landmarks abound; you can see Clee Hills in Shropshire, the Malverns’ distinctive peakscape and views of distant Welsh mountains, as well as the Vale of Evesham laid before you. Perhaps the best view, though, was from the tree house, with the flickering light cast by the canopy and standing under a full moon hearing owls hoot in a countryside at peace with itself.
The Rookery Woods treehouses (therookerywoods.uk) cost from £181 per night. Not suitable for dogs. Book through Canopy & Stars (canopyandstars.co.uk).