[2] Turn into the lane then immediately take the footpath on your left via a kissing gate and continue up the hill through a metal gate, a kissing gate and another small gate. When you emerge on to a track, continue up the hill, and when the track veers left, continue straight ahead on a grassy track/path near Yew Tree Cottage. When you emerge into a clear area of the Downs keep to the left and pass to the right of a building soon to reach the Downs road. Cross it and, bearing half-left, climb to the top of the ridge, choosing whatever route suits you.
Once you have gained the ridge, pause to enjoy the views of Titterstone Clee (easy to spot because it has a golf ball on top), the Bromyard Plateau, the Black Mountains and the Malverns.
Turn to walk along the ridge in a south easterly direction until you reach Brockhampton Primary School.
(A) Bromyard Downs is an exhilarating area of 800 acres of common land, and so you can walk anywhere (except through private gardens). Now you meet few people except for dog walkers but in the 19th century there was a racecourse on the Downs which attracted up to 7,000 people, many coming by train from Birmingham. The races ceased in 1905.
Turn right in front of the wood and maintain your height. You feel on top of the world as you stride along (in fact you are only 230 metres above sea level)
[3] Opposite the school, cross the Downs road and, by a telegraph pole, take the grass path downhill. Soon the path bends to the right and flattens out. Carry on until you come to an intersection of grass paths. Turn sharp left down the hill and you will eventually emerge on to the A44 just below the B4220, Malvern Road. Cross the A44 with care and take a diagonal route across grassland to join the lane that runs alongside a block of apartments.
(B) This was Bromyard Workhouse. It was built in 1836 to house 160 people who until then had housed, clothed and fed by their own parishes. Later the building became a hospital and then an old people’s home.
Follow this quiet lane for almost a mile towards Avenbury till you come to a cross-roads. This lane is gated so ensure these are closed after you go through them.
[4] At the crossroads go straight across towards Munderfield, cross the Frome and after 200 yards take a stile on your right which is well concealed in the hedge. Follow the path past the deserted church of St Mary Avenbury, continue along the path, recross the Frome and join a lane.
(Note - Recent floods have caused serious damage to the footbridge across the Frome at this point so the council have closed the path and bridge. An alternative route would be to turn right at the crossroads and proceed along the lane until you meet the point at which the closed path joins this lane).
(C) The church is said to be haunted – by no fewer than three ghosts. First, you can still hear the organ playing (I’m not sure of the tune) . Secondly, the ghost of Nicholas Vaughan is said to haunt the churchyard. He was said to have burned one of the Bishop's houses and was executed for his crime, and haunted the area until caught and buried in a silver box, under a large stone in the river. The huge stone in the river also features in the final ghost story. An elderly brother and sister who lived in Avenbury since the beginning of the 20th century believed that the stone covered the grave of a wicked woman who was thought to be a witch. The villagers refused to let her be buried in the churchyard and so she was laid to rest within site of the church.
[5] Turn left along the lane for half a mile and just pass the entrance to Little Frome Farm cross a stile on the left and go down to the river Frome (again!). Turn right along the bank, then cross the river and keep to the left bank until the path joins a track, which is also the Herefordshire Trail.
The Herefordshire Trail is a 150 mile circular route, devised by the Hereford Group of the Ramblers, and it takes in all the market towns in the county and is an excellent way to get to know the county.
Turn right along the track and you soon reach Bromyard hospital. Carry straight on.
(D) You will pass the splendid timbers of Tower House, where King Charles 1 is reputed to have stayed on his way to relieve Hereford in 1645.
Cross the A44 by the underpass, walk down Pump Street, then turn left into the High Street and you are soon back at the Bromyard centre.