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Times
4 days ago
- General
- Times
What I learnt about Englishness in this bafflingly undervalued region
On the day I drive home from my bike ride, the village of Bibury in the Cotswolds shelves plans for a parking area for 130 cars and 10 coaches. As many as 20,000 visitors arrive in the village each weekend. 'We want to manage the overtourism we've already got,' a resident tells BBC Radio Gloucestershire. People keep coming, the reporter says, because social media promotes Bibury as quintessential pastoral England. I think: they're in the wrong county, though. For I've just come from quintessential pastoral England, having spent two days on lanes unknown to coach tours, among shapely hills, small farms and slumbering villages. This is the finest full-spectrum evocation of the English countryside I've experienced, in a region where the words of William Blake seem to drift through hedgerows. And it lies not in the Cotswolds but further west, in Herefordshire, a county that in 2023 received 5.87 million visitors to the Cotswolds' 35 million. I hadn't really come for a deep dive into Englishness. I'd arrived to go cycling. In early May White Heron, a collection of luxury farm stays on the Hilditch family's estate 20 miles northwest of Hereford, launched guided bike tours. 'There's lots of cycling around Ludlow and Hereford but no one comes here,' explains Gio Hilditch, husband of the farm's owner, Jo, once I arrive. 'Here' is the Welsh Marches, a fold in the map between England and Wales that Gio has been exploring with his cycling buddies for 30 years. If that suggests a trip pistoning along back lanes, fear not. First, this one uses ebikes (Ridgeback X2 hybrids, cycle geeks). Second, it's billed as a meander — over two days you cover just 30 miles. The aim is rather to reveal a bafflingly undervalued region. Before we begin, Jo wants to show off her estate. So would you if you were a fourth-generation farmer of 700 acres, scion of a great-grandfather who led an association of Hereford cattle, the hardy bovine that put the 'cow' into the cowboys of the American west. On a still evening the three of us pedal around the estate, and I learn about sustainable chicken rearing (who knew chicken poo alone could fuel three 600kW boilers?) and the minutiae of growing blackcurrants ('they all go to Ribena'). In avenues of apple blossom I'm reminded of weddings. Wood pigeons coo. Pheasants cough in hedgerows. As the sun sizzles on the horizon, nature holds its breath in a moment of quiet magic. Led by Jo and Gio, our five-strong peloton gathers the next morning. Two are regular cyclists, the rest of us are part-time pedallers. From the off it's terrific. Either side of a stripe of grass, we cycle two abreast on lanes frothy with cow parsley and bluebells. The town of Kington appears. Handsome streets, a butcher in a blue apron laying sausages in the window, a whiff of patchouli incense: it's the first intimation of the border country's split personality, equal parts yeoman farmers and alternative downshifters. What unites them is a love of this green and pleasant land. Outside Kington we ride across the roof of the Marches. The Offa's Dyke Path along Hergest Ridge provides euphoric widescreen views. Hills recede into a blue-grey haze below. A skylark warbles unseen. When we pause I realise there's no growl of internal combustion engine, no whine of passing jet. It feels a privilege to be here. • 15 of the most beautiful places in England Denys Corbett Wilson would have recognised the view, if not the silence. In 1912 he laid a wager with Damer Leslie Allen over which of them would be the first person to fly from England to Ireland. Wilson soared over Hergest Ridge before making an emergency landing at the hamlet of Colva, in what is now Powys, due to low-grade castor oil in his engine. Having waited there for his mechanic, he took off again and landed in Wexford five days later. Allen, meanwhile, was seen crossing at Holyhead — and then never seen again. Forty years earlier the country diarist Francis Kilvert visited Colva on a stroll. Along the drover's road he carried a dozen biscuits, two apples, a flask of wine and opera glasses, and reached a ''poor humble dear little whitewashed church sequestered among its ancient yews'. We ride the same road to find the historian Joe Kerr (he's heard all the gags) outside St David's: still dear, still with its yews. 'It's 13th century but by tradition was founded by the great saint himself. The church at Glascwm was and that's six miles away,' Kerr says. St David's probably replaced an earlier Celtic church, he adds. 'This feels like a place used for centuries.' • 11 of the best cycling routes in the UK For we have crossed into Wales and the land crackles with Celtic magic. In St Peter's Church at Bryngwyn, three miles south, there are kneelers embroidered with otters and plough horses, and a prehistoric standing stone roughly carved with crosses. Birds sing a hosannah outside. We travel onwards via lanes that tie themselves into knots and then we hop over the River Arrow on bridges seemingly out of Postman Pat. One slips us back into England on a track to a farmyard where a cockerel flees into a hay barn. A door in a red-brick wall opens into paradise: a hammock swings in a small orchard, swallows swoop and chitter, the Wye Valley unrolls a lush carpet to bosky slopes. Corisande Albert and her husband, Angus Grahame, appear with glasses of chilled pear cider. With their Cabalva perry estate, the farming-pottery couple hope to rehabilitate a once-popular drink. Perry farmers perfected the champagne method when fizz was just a twinkle in Dom Pérignon's eye, according to Grahame. 'Every farm once had a little orchard for perry,' he says. 'We're trying to make it approachable again.' I can't see why it isn't already. Dangerously quaffable, half the strength of wine, it's an ideal summer aperitif, which only goes to show how insouciant we can be about our heritage. Maybe it's the booze and the delicious lunch eaten outside off Albert's plates. Perhaps it's just the view. Either way, this feels as close to the good life as it gets in Britain. • 13 of the most luxurious places to stay in Herefordshire Gio spoils it rather with talk of 'Kill Pitch'. Its steep hill arrives beyond Hay-on-Wye (bunting, books and a queue outside Shepherds Ice Cream parlour). As the incline steepens I flick to the ebike's highest power and cruise uphill. Literally no sweat. I sit on the terrace of a spacious safari tent at Drovers Rest drinking a rehydration beer I don't truly deserve. The next day is May Day. In the half-light of dawn some of us pedal to Arthur's Stone, a neolithic tomb on the valley summit. A ragtag band have beaten us to it. Morris dancers jingle and clack, and a man in a costume of green ribbons like leaves pipes the sun's rise. Scratch the topsoil of Merrie England hereabouts and a seam of pagan tradition lies beneath. Who's to say they're wrong? When we return later that morning the Golden Valley glows in morning light and the Skirrid, aka the Holy Mountain, is an enigmatic pyramid above hills. It's scenery to bring out the mystic in anyone. The rest of that day is one of images. Hillsides festive with white apple blossom. Silver-green willows trailing in the Wye during a dip at Bredwardine. Among the wonky black and white houses of Weobley village square are two old boys in braces. They lean on a muddy SUV to discuss a friend's apple-growing in accents you could chew on: 'It's like a ewe and a lamb, see? The one always knows the other.' We process into Pembridge, then slip behind the 17th-century New Inn and into a handsome cobbled square. A picnic bench has been laid with a white tablecloth, fine tableware, a tureen of soup and a platter of venison pâté and sourdough bread. Lunch has arrived before us. To be honest, I'm reluctant to tell you about any of this. So many of the qualities we seek from foreign travel are outside the back door in Herefordshire — not just obvious things, like fresh air and views, but proud regional cuisines and a sense of lives well lived in harmony with timeless landscapes. Too many of us are too quick to ignore at home what we would eulogise about abroad. Who'd have guessed all it took to find them was a bike? Millions of visitors a year come to find something similar in the Cotswolds. Fortunately Herefordshire is rubbish at providing coach Stewart was a guest of White Heron, which has three nights' half-board from £750pp, including ebike hire and luggage transfer ( Next public trip June 10-13 and September 23-26; private trips can be arranged
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Elizabeth Hurley emerges from a coffin in shocking new project after taking a major step in 'lovely' relationship with Billy Ray Cyrus
Elizabeth Hurley has taken on a surprising new role - that of a dead person in a new Channel 4 reality series. The actress, 59, will appear alongside Rob Rinder in the upcoming show which sees thirteen strangers are summoned to a grand stately home. They are there to compete for part of the fortune left in the will of The Deceased, a fabulously glamourous benefactor played by Elizabeth. But winning the money won't be easy. The Deceased had a wicked sense of humour and has designed a mischievous game to ensure only the best players can get their hands on her inheritance. Overseeing the stipulations of The Deceased's will is her Executor and trusted legal counsel, Good Morning Britain regular Robert Rinder. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'It's a thrill to be part of this clever game, playing The Deceased; it all takes place on her huge estate in the English countryside and she dresses to the nines in every scene,' Elizabeth said. Rob added: 'This is a high-stakes strategy game served with a side of scheming and sabotage. 'As The Executor I enforce the rules, keep the chaos in check - more or less - and make sure our players are deserving of every glittering penny left by our dearly departed deceased.' It comes after Eizabeth and her boyfriend Billy Ray Cyrus appear to be taking their relationship to the next level. While headlining the Breast Cancer Research Foundation's Hot Pink Party in New York City on May 13, the Bedazzled star said the move would come in conjunction with her upcoming 60th birthday. 'He should be in England for my birthday. He'll be meeting my family – and my dogs – and hopefully, it'll be lovely,' she told Hello! magazine. The eternal beauty told the outlet she doesn't mind getting older. 'I love every birthday. I always get overexcited if it's a big birthday – I think people are even nicer to you, maybe give you more presents, more flowers, and generally spoil you more. I welcome it,' she explained. The couple shocked their fans when they revealed they were together, sharing a sexy snap on Easter day. 'Billy's a lovely man and we make each other very happy,' she told at the same event. Since then, the Then Came You star has provided glimpses into their life on the country singer's sprawling Nashville farm, including a recent sunset ride, on social media. She revealed the true depth of her feelings for Billy, 63, while sharing a very loved-up snap of them to Instagram earlier this month. The model revealed it's true love as she took to the comments sharing a black heart emoji before writing 'you xx'. Hurley and Cyrus met when they were working on 2022's Christmas in Paradise. 'Billy Ray Cyrus was an absolute hoot,' Hurley told the Boston Herald in an interview promoting the comedy. 'He should be in England for my birthday. He'll be meeting my family – and my dogs – and hopefully, it'll be lovely,' Hurley, 59, told Hello! magazine May 13 in New York City The friendship seemed to turn into something more after the Strictly Confidential star reached out to her former co-star after his divorce from ex Firerose in 2024. In early April, Hurley dropped a big clue about the romance when she uploaded a reel of herself on Instagram frolicking on the beach with Cyrus's 'She's Not Cryin' Anymore playing beneath it and tagging the singer. The country crooner opened up about the new relationship on Apple Music Country's The Ty Bentli Show. 'It's great that God brought them into my life when he did. It's just a good thing. It's been a long time since I've been this happy,' he said.
