Walking the Malvern Hills - Audio Trail
CDWA-1010
"The Malvern Hills"
Walking in the Malverns has always been a very special experience and in this packed audio trail, Ashley Cavers, Peter Nash and Tommy Pearson guide you through some of the best walks in the Malvern Hills.
This teeming audio production contains six main walks on the hills recorded over a complete year and four unique audio tours to famous places associated with the Hills: The Elgar Birthplace Museum, Eastnor Castle, Morgan Cars (including exclusive interview with Charles Morgan himself) and Malvern Water. There is also an accompanying booklet with pictures, routes, maps and reviews of places to eat, stay and visit.
The special design of the audio allows you to either listen to the walks in their entirety, or simply go to specific points of interest on the routes such as Malvern's water features, pubs or points of historical interest.
Contents (total 136 tracks):
| Section 1 | The Town with Malvern Hills Tourist Information | Angela Harford |
| Section 2 | St. Ann's Well to British Camp | Dr Ron Paul |
| Section 3 | Gullet Quarry Circular Walk | Sue Adeney & Rev. Carl Attwood |
| Section 4 | Morgan Cars | Charles Morgan |
| Section 5 | Breakfast at the Abbey Hotel | Patrick Jones |
| Section 6 | AONB Martin Brent Walk - Colwall | Dr James Fergusson & David Armitage |
| Section 7 | Malvern Water | Nick Turvey |
| Section 8 | Malvern Priory, Malvern Chase & Museum | Pamela Hurle |
| Section 9 | Malvern Water Cure & Springs | Dr John Harcup & Rose Garrard |
| Section 10 | The Elgar Birthplace Museum | Chris Bennett, Museum Manager |
| Section 11 | North Malvern Hills | Ian Rowat, Malvern Hills Conservators |
| Section 12 | Eastnor Castle | Simon Foster, Castle Manager |
| Section 13 | Ragged Stone & Chase End Hills | Derek Starkey, Robin Elt & John Moss |
The
Town
Ashley meets Angela Harford, tourism manager for The Malvern Hills Tourist Information Office, who gives us a little insight to the town . . .
Music and water, two issues that have always been at the forefront of the various towns around the Malvern Hills and particularly so in the main town, Great Malvern itself. Sir Edward Elgar, one of Britain's most famous composers wrote much of his repertoire on the hills and a statue to the great man stands proudly at the top of the main street in the centre of the town. Nowadays, Malvern is still graced by musicians - Nigel Kennedy lives here, and the town is home to the English Symphony Orchestra. The ESO's Elgar interpretations are used throughout the CDs and is also available separately from Nimbus Records.
From
the spectacular Winter Gardens and the world-famous Malvern Theatres to
the beautiful Malvern Priory, there are so many treats in store for the
visitor and/or walker to Great Malvern. This audio is packed with
information about this, as well as pointers as to where to go to get
more.
Angela points Ashley to St Ann's Well, a favourite stopping point for walkers serving coffee & buns, where she has an appointment with a very special guide...
Walk
1: The Hills - Worcestershire Beacon to British Camp
Having refreshed at St Anne's Well, Ashley meets up with Dr Ron Paul, a consultant neurologist who came to the area seven years ago and walks daily on the Hills with his beautiful dog, Eva. From the Well, they walk up to the breath-taking Worcestershire Beacon, some 1,260ft above sea level and along the ridge of the Malverns towards British Camp.
At various points along the walk, Ashley meets up with other walkers -
some from outside the area who are here on walking vacations. Lunch at
the Chase Inn...
At
British Camp, an ancient Iron-Age fort overlooking a number of English
counties, Ashley discovers some fascinating stories and legends about
the Hills, and the majesty of the place is conjured up through the
music of Elgar, whose 'Dream of Gerontius' was inspired by this very
spot.
Dr Ron tells tales of giants . . .
Visit 1: The Morgan Car Factory
A real treat . . .
Ashley meets the man himself, Mr Charles Morgan, owner of Morgan cars. Charles is grandson of the original owner who designed the first Morgan back in 1909. This tour of the Morgan factory reveals an amazing story of a company who uses the very latest technology to produce cars that are individually made for each customer. Mixed with this latest technology is true craftsmanship, we enter the part of the factory where the Ash cock-pits are made. There are no robots here!
Charles also dispels a few myths about the car and shows Ashley the inside, and out, of the new Aero 8 - a truly spectacular car.
Walk
2: Gullet Quarry - The South End of the Malvern Hills
Sue Adeny and Carl Atwood take Ashley on a magical tour of little-known walk at the southern end of the Malvern Hills. But first they have to get there from British Camp, and what better way to travel than in a Morgan - a real extravagance!
Joined
by Sue's dog, Bell, the walk starts at the spectacular Gullet Quarry
with its lake stocked with the enormous, and hungry, Carp! Spectacular
views of Eastnor Castle, another Victorian Folly, precede wonderful
pictures of the entire hills from the southern end. The discovery of
another (and much less known the British Camp) Iron-Age earthworks make
this a most unusual walk and endearing walk. Having heard this walk on
the CD, you will almost certainly feel obliged to walk it yourself!
Breakfast
at the Abbey Hotel!
Having stayed at the Abbey Hotel, the best and certainly grandest in town, Ashley meets the general manager Patrick Jones, for a hearty breakfast before a long walk ahead as well as a visit to the Malvern Water bottling plant in Colwall.
Walk 3: Part of The Martin Brent Walk.
Courtesy of Malvern Hills Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty
The Malvern Hills, and much of the surrounding area, lies within a
designated 'Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty' or AONB. On this walk
Ashley is joined by three members of the Malvern Hills AONB association
for a circular walk that begins and ends in the beautiful village of
Colwall. 
One
of a published series of walks within the AONB, this is part of the 'Martin Brent Walk'.
Dr James Ferguson, Amanda McCleerly and David Armitage are the guests.
We start at one of the Malverns' most renowned pubs, The Yew Tree Inn on Colwall Green.
The walk for the
audio trail is only about a quarter of the whole Martin Brent walk and took
about an hour and a half. If you want t do the whole walk, then you
should put aside the best part of a day. Also get hold of a copy
of the leaflet produced by the AONB which is a brilliantly written guide
to the walk and what you can expect to see on it.
Details, along with photos and much more, are in the accompanying
booklet.
Visit 2: The Coca-Cola/Schweppes 'Malvern Water' Plant
Malvern
has made its name around the world because of its water and we get the
chance to visit the Malvern Water Factory, owned by Coca-Cola/Schweppes.
As most people who live in Malvern will tell you, the secret to Malvern
Water is that - well, there's nothing in it! It is so pure, having been
filtered by the natural granite rock of the Hills, that it contains
nothing but water. This fact is not lost on Coca-Cola who have invested
in some extremely high-tech bottling equipment to make sure the water
you drink from their bottles is as pure as can be!
Although not open to the public yet, Malvern Water are planning to convert one of the plant's old Victorian buildings into a visitor centre. However, we are privileged, thanks to Coca-Cola to get an insight and Ashley meets Nick Turvey, the general manager, for this very unique tour . . .
All
the music on the CDs is crafted to illustrate appropriate specific
moments. For example the English Symphony Orchestra's version of Elgar's
'Nimrod' and other Elgar pieces feature on the Malvern Hills CD. (The
ESO is based in Malvern and Elgar spent much of his time being inspired
by his walks in the Malverns).
The music, courtesy of Nimbus Records, is well documented and can be obtained from all good music stores.
CDWA-1010 - "The Malvern Hills"
Audio Sample
As a taster, here is the opening from the WalkingAudio Guide - The Malvern Hills...