Destination Borsetshire
Each one of the listeners to BBC Radio 4's The Archers, which is
close to five million, has their own view of Borsetshire, but we
would like to suggest that Worcestershire, as one of the most
quintessentially English of counties, can bring the fictional to
life.
Godfrey Baseley, creator of The Archers, lived in the Midlands,
and drew upon the Worcestershire countryside for publicity venues
to advertise the programme. Some of the key places featured in the
series were based on places he knew: The Old Bull at Inkberrow was
used as a prototype for The Bull in Ambridge and you can see
Archers' memorabilia there, dating from the fifties. Publicity
shots of villagers leaving 'St Stephens Church, Ambridge' were
actually showing the cast stepping out of St Mary the Virgin Church
in Hanbury. Several Archers weddings have been photographed there,
with recordings of St Mary the Virgin Church bells often featured
in the programme. Meanwhile
Hanbury Hall, the beautiful William and Mary house owned by the
National Trust, has often been used as a backdrop for the
Pargetters' residence, Lower Loxley Hall.
Borsetshire families have been known to enjoy a great day out on
the Blackberry line, for a similarly nostalgic journey join the
Severn Valley Railway, one of Britain's best heritage lines,
and steam through the countryside of Worcestershire.
Perhaps a little more athletic than Nigel and Elizabeth
Pargetter's 'tree top walk', Wyre Forest offers the 'Go Ape'
experience – a challenging and awesome tree top adventure.
You might not be able to join one of William Grundy's shoots,
but for a taste of country pursuits try "clay pigeon" shooting at
Marksman Leisure near Hanbury, or, if like Shula, you love horses
what about visiting one of our many equestrian centres. Marlbrook
Farm at the foot of the Malvern's as well as offering everything
from hacking to top dressage instruction even has a holiday cottage
to let. But if you want to see a blacksmith's forge and even a 300
year old cider mill you'll need to visit
Worcestershire County Museum at Hartlebury.
Before Nigel got interested in wine making English wine
production was alive and well at Astley and Tiltridge vineyards
where there are opportunities to sample and take home their own
vintages…….and, once again like Nigel, we have our very own
Falconry Centre based at the
Jinney Ring Craft Centre, Hanbury. At the moment you can even
meet Jessica at Arden Falconry - no not the Archers character, but
a European Eagle Owl one of their eight resident birds of prey.
Whilst if you visit one of the agricultural shows at the
Malvern Showground you can see if you have as good an eye for
"Herefords" as Pip does, and there are lots of other events here as
well from quilting to caravans.
Substitute Ambridge Hall and Lynda's pet llamas, Wolfgang and
Constanza for Bewdley's
West Midland Safari Park, and llamas will be just one of the
fascinating animals that you get to meet – you can feed some of
them too!
Looking for Ambridge Organics? 'A Taste of Worcestershire' and a
visit to www.tastes.org.uk
identifies many Worcestershire producers and retail outlets
selling cheese, ice creams, vegetables, organic sausages, geese,
turkeys and more. There's a good selection of tasty Worcestershire
recipes to try out as well.
Once you've found a place to stay, settle in, turn on Radio 4
and catch up with everyone in Ambridge or how about treating
yourself to a selection of Archers gifts at www.archers-addicts.com
