Worcester/Gloucester Border - MHDFS Boundary No 3

By car: Park on quiet roadside verge in Playley Green. NB The small layby in front of  houses on east side of road is considered by residents as 'their' parking.

By bus: The only really practical way of getting to the start point is by car.  However, there is a Newent Community Bus Service (service 643, 677, 678, 679 & 693) of one or two buses a day Monday to Friday but not allowing sufficient time to complete the walk.

There is a Malvern to Cheltenham bus service (377) on Saturdays that stops at Pendock Post Office, near [2] in the walks description, that would allow about 5 hours in which to do the walk.

[1] From car parking and facing council houses, turn left to T junction and then right on road towards Red Marley D’Abitot.  In about 200 yards, at crossing footpath, turn right through kissing gate and follow hedge on left to stile in hedge on left. Cross and in next field go diagonally right to far corner and gate. Follow fence on your left to lane and turn left along lane for about 100 yards before turning right at finger post and up through farm gate. Follow fence on your right to end of field and cross stile. Now turn right (not over stile to your front) and follow hedge on your left past pond. Continue about 200 yards with hedges on yourleft across two stiles until you reach lane. Cross lane and continue to your front, and through gate to go north east across field to A417. Cross A417 and through farm gate to follow path by hedge on your left to footbridge in field corner.  Continue with hedge on your right over two stiles until you reach farm track at Park Farm. Turn left along track to reach minor road and then right and follow this minor road for about 600 yards, crossing M50 on road bridge. Turn right down Cook’s Lane for about 0.5 miles ignoring the first footpath on your left but  taking the  second footpath on your left at (dual) finger post. Take the right hand footpath across three fields for 600 yards and just past barn and caravan site on your left turn left over stile, cross stile to your front and then do a U turn through gate to follow hedge on your right and soon past a pond. Continue easterly in this direction through gates and over a stile, sometimes with hedge on left and sometimes on right, for 700 yards to reach Carpenter’s Farm. Go through farmyard and follow track uphill to reach B4208.

[2] At B4208 turn right and follow road to first minor road to right. Turn right and in 300 yards turn left down another minor road signed ‘To Pendock’. Follow this minor road under M50 to T junction, turn left, cross road bridge and in 50 yards take footpath (dual fingerpost) to right. Follow right-hand path, about 50 yards from field right hand edge, aiming for a tall oak tree, to go through two gates and on far side of third field near farm bridge, cross stream on adjacent footbridge. Now bear diagonally left to far corner and farm gate onto minor road near Farm Mill. Turn left along road, ignoring minor road to your left, to go to right of main farm buildings and after a few yards turn left up farm drive between buildings to reach a field gate, near farm house on your left. Cross centre of field, slightly downhill, to footbridge then uphill to top left of field at minor road at Dobshill Farm. Immediately turn right to follow path up track and over stile into alleyway between fence and hedge to your right round Dobshill Farm barns on your left. At end of alleyway and orchard area on your left, do not go through gate to your front but turn left through gate on your left and follow right hand hedge downhill through one hedge/fence to minor road. Turn left and follow road past the Mormon Chapel (A) to cross roads. Turn right along B4208 towards Staunton.

[3] After 700 yards, just past large house (The Elms) on your left, turn left over stile and follow left hand hedge to end of hedge at top of ridge. Continue forward downhill to obvious gap in far hedge and in next field bear slightly right to gap and farm bridge in far hedge. Cross centre of next field to footbridge onto a minor road. Turn right along road and at first road right (a cul de sac) turn right again. Follow this cul de sac road past The Barnards, continuing down a green lane for 700 yards until, near a bend you see a permissive path on your left and  a plank bridge and stile on your right. Cross plank bridge and stile and turn left to follow left hand hedge/wood to cross two more stiles. Bear right to far corner of third field (to right of house and barn conversion). Go through two gates and continue across centre of field to double farm gates and the  B4208.  Turn left along road and in 100 yards take signed farm road to your right. Follow farm track to gate on your right  just past the first hedge on your right (300 yards). Go through gate and diagonally across field to corner of hedge and  stile. Continue diagonally right across next field to gateway a little beyond a fine house (B), Vine Farm on your right.

(B) Vine Farm is a quintessential 15th century house surrounded by mature trees. It is open to tour parties and small groups by arrangement only. It offers lunches / teas with all homemade produce to groups and gardening clubs and courses on vegetable growing. It also has a “Box scheme” running selling fruit and vegetables to local pubs and businesses.

Do not go through gateway but turn hard left to go diagonally across same field to footbridge in far corner. Cross footbridge and continue forward to farm gate in far hedge and then slightly uphill to the left of the farm buildings (The Hill).

[4] Continue forward through farm yard with pond on your left and main buildings on your right to gate into field subdivided into several paddocks. Bear diagonally right across the paddocks to gateway in far hedge and join driveway. Turn left and in 100 yards turn right at finger post through farm gate to cross fields to join a minor road by the Old Rectory. Turn left along the road for 200 yards and just after corner take the track downhill to the right through two gates, towards Glynch Farm. In a 100 yards, after crossing a small bridge, leave track at way mark post and turn right to plank bridge near pedestrian gate. Cross next fields through farm gates, generally following stream on your right to find a wooden footbridge  (ignore first metal gated footbridge) and cross stream and up bank to stile. In field follow right hand hedge to stile and alleyway to minor road at Forty Green, Lowbands (C).

Turn left along minor road for about 400 yds, cross another minor road and continue down the cul de sac road (Parson's Lane) to your front. Near its end you will see finger posts on both sides of road, just before a bungalow on your left. Turn left and follow this alleyway path between a fence and hedge to stile. In next field continue forward across centre to stile and then gently downhill to gateway towards right hand end but not in the corner of far hedge.  Through gateway bear slightly right to gap in field corner and the A417 near the Rose & Crown pub. Turn right along the A417 and, a little past the pub, take the road forking left towards Red Marley. Turn right in village to return to your parked cars.

(A) Gadfield Elm Chapel was of great significance in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the British Isles, acting as the focal point of Church activity for thousands of Latter-day Saints until the majority emigrated to the USA to fulfil their dream of building a new Zion in the United States of America. In 1840 President Brigham Young preached at Gadfield Elm which, at the time, was the only Latter-day Saint chapel in the world.

 The chapel was built in 1836 by a fundamentalist Christian group, the United Brethren, and was deeded to Wilford Woodruff, on behalf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1840 by John Benbow and Thomas Kington. Almost the entire congregation of the United Brethren joined the church by baptism in 1840.  As the new converts heeded the call to gather to Zion the building became redundant and was sold, with the proceeds being used to assist with the emigration of the Saints.

 Gadfield Elm chapel, built of native stone and standing in the quiet countryside of Worcestershire, is the last surviving memorial to the United Brethren, a religious group who joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints en-masse upon hearing the 'restored gospel' message. It had a seating capacity of just 100 people.

 After many years of private ownership and dilapidation the property was acquired by a group of private members who established the Gadfield Elm Trust, a charitable foundation, in 1994.  With limited resources they lovingly restored the ruin stone by stone to its present state, as near as possible to how it may have been in the times of Wilford Woodruff more than 160 years ago. Today it is the oldest Mormon chapel in the world still standing and the last surviving memorial to the United Brethren.

See  http://www.mormonnewsroom.org.uk/article/gadfield-elm-chapel for more information and detail about contact numbers, parking and access

(C) The Chartists had, as one of their objectives, the enfranchisement of the working man. The chartist Feargus O'Connor focussed his energies on enabling working-class people to satisfy the landholding requirement to gain a vote in county seats. In his single minded pursuit of this objective he diverged from the mainstream of Chartism. Under the Reform Act of 1832 the franchise rights of 'forty shilling' freeholders were extended to various other owners and holders of land.  In 1845 the National Land Company was founded as the Chartist Cooperative Land Company by O'Connor to help working-class people satisfy the landholding requirement to gain a vote in county seats in Great Britain.

O’Connor declared that Great Britain could support her own population if her lands were properly cultivated. He had no use for cooperative tillage; his plan was for peasant proprietorship. In his book 'A Practical Work on the Management of Small Farms' he set forth his plan of resettling surplus factory workers on little holdings of from one to 4 acres He had no doubts of the yields obtainable under such spade-husbandry.

170 acres of land at Lowbands was bought in October 1846 for £8100. Compared to the first site at Heronsgate in Hertfordshire, water was more readily available, lime was half the price, sand was free for the taking, labour was cheaper at 10s/week, and bricks were 17s per 1000 cheaper. The ballot was held on 1 August 1846 for the allocation of 15 2-acre plots; 8 3-acre plots; 23 4-acre plots; a 10-acre water meadow and a common, "Forty Green". A visiting day was held on 28 May 1847, and Location Day was 16 August 1847. However, the company was wound up by Act of Parliament by 1851 and the estate was auctioned on 2 June 1858.

This is Malvern Hills District Footpath Society (MHDFS) Boundary Walk No. 3. In 2006 the MHDFS developed 30 circular walks, each of approximately 10 miles, to walk the boundary of the Malvern Hills District when it had included both Worcestershire and Herefordshire parishes. These 30 circular walks were actually walked by the Society between February 2009 and November 2011.  It is hoped to publish all 30 boundary walks through the RamblersRoutes website during the next few years.