Malupt one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

This is a good route and I 100% recommend it.

I decided to walk this one instead of Chris Baker's Malput Two because I wanted to snail (verify) it... but my hunch is that Chris knew what he was doing and Malput Two may actually be the stronger route. That said, this is still a strong way to go!

You can expect some great views of the Malverns and some lovely paths. A great way to go!

(Photos to come).

No real problems. Muddy in places. Not suitable for wheels. Enjoyable walk, took about 3hrs.

Overview
This is a relatively easy walk, in fair weather conditions, starting from the centre of Great Malvern and descending gently towards the river Severn ending in the attractive town of Upton upon Severn. The walk is not suitable for push chairs and wheel chairs, having a number of styles, steps, and one or two areas that are just wide enough to be walked. It starts by winding its way out of Great Malvern vis a series of paths and lightly used roads. Once beyond the town, the route breaks into more open countryside. Remember to occasionally look back from you where have walked to enjoy spectacular views of the Malvern Hills. In prolonged wet weather a number of the more rural paths will become boggy. From Hanley Swan to Upton there are options for avoiding these muddy routes by using the minor roads, part of which form part of this route.

We’ve suggested two minor modifications from the original slow ways route. The first provides cuts off a corner and avoids going back on yourself. The second, takes you on a more direct route to Upton and avoids the final section alongside a busy A road.

The route
Start from Belle Vue Island with Great Malvern post office (Fig 1) in front of you and the hills to your rear. Here, there are information panels, a fine statue of Edward Elgar, one of Malverns more famous residents. The town of Great Malvern itself has many shops, cafes, restaurants, Theatres, parks and a cinema. It is well served with public transport, having a rail station and regular buses to nearby towns and villages. The Hills are a delightfully scenic recreational facility and there are many reasons for lingering longer.


Fig 1 Great Malvern post office, from Belle Vue Island

The first part of the walk requires some simple but careful navigation and you begin by descending a side street to the right-hand side of the post office, keeping the Abbey Road Café to your right (Fig 2). Note the Malvern priory gatehouse with its fine arch further to your right. The former gatehouse now houses Malvern’s museum of local history. Beyond the arch is the Abbey hotel.


Fig 2 The Abbey Road Café, with the Gothic Arch
and Malvern museum in the background

Within a few tens of metres of easy descent, you will come to Malvern Priory with the Priory church on your right. Take the steps towards the main entrance of the church and follow the path that leads towards its rear. Go past the East window (Fig 3) following the path which narrows with a brick wall either side, exiting opposite the Great Malvern Theatre complex.


Fig 3 East window of Malvern Priory church
Cross the road to enter priory park through a gate directly opposite. The path follows the right-hand side of the park. Take the first gate you come to on the right-hand side and exit the park. Turn immediately to your left to pick a 10m wide passage way that runs downhill via some widely spaced steps. At the end, go right onto Priory Road, a quiet pleasant street comprising a series of elegant Victorian houses. From priory road, take the first left onto Woodshears Road and descend, going past Malvern College sports complex on your right. Just before you reach the bridge carrying the Malvern railway line, take the signposted footpath to the right (Fig 4).

Fig 4 Picking up the footpath leading out of Great Malvern

Note: From here you can connect to Great Malvern Railway station by continuing under the bridge, turning left at the T-junction at the end of Woodshears Road and following the signs to the station. Its’ less than a 1km detour. The Railway station is a treat dating back to the Victorian era and has a number of services including “Lady Foley’s” tea rooms.

Continue towards Upton by staying on the footpath which breaks out on to common land hugging the the rail line to your left. The path (Fig 5) is reasonably wide and flat, although can get muddy.


Fig 5 The path following between the rail line
and the Malvern college sports complex

The path is interrupted by a road which must be crossed picking it up on the other side. Here, there is a “swing gate” at the entrance to the path that is not suitable for push or wheel chairs (Fig 6) and you might struggle if carrying a large rucksack.


Fig 6 Swing gate

Continue, again keeping the rail line to your immediate left, although, if muddy, you can navigate a parallel route across the common land which broadens at this point. Note, the path in this section has a number of exposed tree routes. As the common land continues to broaden out take the route to the left which crosses under the rail line and then turn immediately to the right and continue until you reach the intersection of St Andrews and Peachfield Roads.

Here, we suggest crossing to the far side of Peachfield Road and turning left descending common land with fields and the some rather grand houses to your immediate right. This route also provides a nice opportunity to stop, turn around and gain some splendid views of the Malvern Hills (Fig 7)


Fig 7 The Malvern Hills from the common land
adjacent to Peachfield Road

Continue to where the common land crosses a quite busy road. Taking care, cross this road and follow the common land down to a small service road that feeds an eclectic collection of older and newer houses. Turn left along this road and then after about 50m take the signposted bridle way to the right along Hawthorn Road. After about 100m at the ned of Hawthorn turn tight through a swing gate and take the path that can be seen in front of you that cross a small field. At the end of the field the path turns left through ninety degrees and follow this path in a broadly, easterly direction. After a couple of hundred metres there is a style to the right which you take and then the path turns immediately to the left keeping up its easterly direction. There are horse paddocks to your right and you will go through a series of home-made gates (Fig 8) that are easy to navigate. Here, the path is flat and broad but can get boggy in prolonged wet weather.


Fig 8 One of the home-made gates

At the fourth gate, go over a style, continuing in an easterly direction, go onto to a further style and the path goes gently up just a few metres onto Wood Street. Not a conventional street but a low ridge path that is bordered on both sides by trees (Fig 9).


Fig 9 Wood Street

Continue along the broad path of Wood Street for around 500m where you will come to a bench on the left-hand side (Fig 10) with a large log in front of it.

Fig 10 The bench on Wood Street

Opposite the bench, on the right-hand side is a swing gate leading to a path going in an approximately southerly direction. Take this, across a small field to a further swing gate. You will cross a shallow, long liner depression, possibly used as a training run for horses (Fig 11).


Fig 11 The long, linear, shallow depression to be crossed

Go through the second swing gate and continue in the same direction. Here, the descends with a modest steepness (take care not to slip) down to a gate and then rises back up again to a gate. Go through and pick up the track which takes you past a very elegant farmhouse to your left. The track soon becomes tarmacked and you follow this all the way to its end where it comes out more or less in the centre of the pretty village of Hanley Swan. Hanley Swan is built around a cross roads and has a pub (The Swan Inn – with accommodation), a post office come general stores (closed Saturday pm and Sundays) and a village pond, complete with ducks (Fig 12).


Fig 12 Hanley Swan village pond and pub

Take the service road that passes alongside the pub to the main road about 60m directly ahead. Cross the main road and turn left, walking on the well-maintained footpath at the side of the road. Note the mile marker on the left hand side of the road indicating that you’re more than half way with about three miles to go (Fig 13).


Fig 13 Only three miles to go

After about 200m, take the footpath signposted to Gilberts end (Fig 14). This is a good flat track that takes you through two more swings gates and up to a third. Just before the third, turn sharp left and follow the right-hand edge of the field keeping the boundary to you immediate right. Go over a style in the corner of the field and bear slightly right towards a further gate, but one you can walk round the side of. Now keep the field boundary to your left and head for the far-left corner of the field you have just entered. Go over the style and enter Maisie wood (Fig 14).


Fig 14 Maisie Wood
When you come to a gate, turn right to go over a style and short narrow (three plank) bridge. Follow the broad flat track, taking the more direct permissive path. Continue to a gate and then cross a field to a visible style. Turn right at the style onto a footpath which soon becomes a well-defined track taking you down to a quiet country road. Turn left along the road for about 500 m to a point where the road does a clear, sharp right-angle bend to the left. Here, the map shows the footpath going diagonally across a ploughed field. In fact, walking along the track way next to the field down to the first boundary hedge and turning left, taking a well warn path with the hedge to your immediate right might avoid muddy boots. Continue with the hedge on your right until you reach a multi way footpath sign. Go past this continuing in much the same direction you have been following but via a break in the hedge boundary which allows to cross so that the hedge is now to your left (Fig 15).


Fig 15 Multi way footpath sign with the path
directly ahead switching so that
the field boundary will now be on the left

Continue with the hedge to your left past a farmhouse (Lodge Farm) and go through two swing gates (one is broken and you can walk round it), and on across an obvious path across a ploughed field. At the far side of the field the path descends briefly into some woods, crosses a stream via a narrow wooden bridge and then rises steeply for about 20m via a set of steps (Fig 16).


Fig 16 The narrow bridge preceding a short flight of steps
At the top of the steps, we recommend turning right as a more pleasant and direct route into Upton. However, this misses out the interesting village of Hanley Castle which boast a delightfully traditional pub (the Three Kings), a church, village cricket green and secondary school.

Turning right at the top of the steps takes along the right-hand side of a field which shortly dips down gently to a swing gate. Go through the gate turning to the right, where almost straight away there is a large gate. Go through the gate to join a track that takes you over a stream and on to a style on the other side, positioned to the left. Turn left go over the style, taking past a house immediately to your right and on to the road using the footpath which is also the driveway to the house. At the road, turn right and then almost immediately left. Continue to the T-junction at the end of this road. Here, to your left is Clive’s fruit farm which has pick your own when in season plus a farm shop and café (Fig 17).


Fig 17 Clive’s fruit farm, farm shop and café

At the T-junction, bear left and proceed along the quiet road for about 200m where the road bends to the left. Here, you will see, on the left, a signpost pointing to a bridle path on the right. Where the bridle path leaves the road, slightly concealed, there is an entrance to a footpath that follows the road to the left (Fig 18).


Fig 18 The footpath just to the right of the road

Take this footpath, which is narrow in places and care is needed, and continue along its length. Eventually, you will come to a gate on the left, a style on the left and a style in front of you. All of this will give access to the road the path has been following and turning right will quickly take into the centre of Upton (Fig 19).


Fig 19 The end of the road as you enter Upton

The waterfront of Upton is reached by turning left at the end of the road. Upton is a pleasant riverside town that boasts multiple festivals in the summer period and is generally a lively and bustling place. It has several general stores, a hotel, a number of pubs and restaurants. Fig 20 shows the famous Upton “Pepperpot”.


Fig 20 The Upton Pepperpot.

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