04/08/25 - Upton-Upon-Severn to Tewkesbury

The Pear and the Pulpit

A monthly newsletter comes courtesy of Walk Midlands. A man with a beautiful web site and a penchant for walks accessible by public transport. Upton to Tewkesbury appealed and both towns are well worthy of spending a day. Upton, in particular, must be up for the prize of most public houses per capita. 

With AI at our disposal, I can actually tell you that prize would go to Rhayader - a town for another weekend.

Today, I don't hang about in Upton - despite being tempted to spend time in the Map Shop. That's the sort of town it is - a whole shop, just dedicated to maps. More reasons to love it.

I'm straight down to the River Severn - my handrail to Tewkesbury, rendering GPS largely superfluous.

Down by the River

This is the section of "hams" that may be familiar to those using the M5. Whenever it rains for two days, the landscape turns into an inland ocean. As a result, there is very little on the map of interest. It's more or less empty space, with just a walk under the pillars of the M50 to break up the monotony.

This makes a detour to Bushley a necessity before dying of boredom. The church spire spotted from the Severn Way and a single geocache seals the deal.

St Peter’s Church, Bushley was rebuilt in 1843 in Victorian style, using local blue lias stone from Sarn Hill and Postlip stone from the Cotswolds for the spire and decorative features. Inside, it retains several 17th-century Dowdeswell family monuments. The chancel, rebuilt in 1857 by Sir Gilbert Scott, reflects 14th-century design. A font, possibly 12th-century, was once used as a farm drinking trough before being returned. Nearby are the brass figures of Thomas Payne, a woolstapler and retainer of the Earl of Warwick, and his wife Ursula, originally located in the old church’s chancel.

Bushley Church

Gargoyles

Payne Brasses

Into Tewkesbury on a Monday. The more I visit, the more I fall in love. The Black Bear impressing on my last visit but is closed at the start of the week. The Cross House Tavern - the king of micro pubs - is open.

A favourite

A lengthy chat with the Scouse owner - I was impressed with the Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild that was on offer but more impressed with a recent beer. Three types of Spingo beer from the Blue Anchor in Helston. So good, he delivered a barrel to the Roscoe Head in Liverpool.

It seemed more fitting for me to choose a cider or a perry - what with it being Cider Pub of The Year. Couldn't find my chosen drink on untappd. I think it was called Mid Severn and firmly placed in the middle ground of ABVs detailed on the chalk board. It was poured from a bag in a box hidden in a crate.

Information on the Cross House

The Back Room

With 90 minutes until my (cancelled) train, I have time to check out a couple of interiors. Despite the 'spoons being a medieval banqueting hall, it didn't make for good internal photos. Summer holidays ain't it. Kids running around and babies screaming.

The abbey looking magnificently photo friendly.

Saved from Henry the VIII

Walk Details

Distance - 7 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration

02/08/25 - The Good Beer Guide Pubs of Kingswinford

Crooked and Bored

Latest walk from the "Best Pub Walks in the Black Country" takes me from unloved Gornal to unknown Kingswinford. The reason for a yomp through the deserted post-industrial landscape?

Lean in - From the Guide Book

Ah - the Crooked House. The one time cause célèbre of pub closures, which was destroyed in the space of days, allegedly by ruthless land developers wanting to expand their scrap empire. For those that don't know of the place.

The Crooked House near Himley, originally built in 1765 as a farmhouse and later converted into a pub around 1830, became one of Britain’s most distinctive and beloved landmarks. Known for its dramatic tilt—caused by 19th-century mining subsidence that sank one end of the building by about four feet—it earned nicknames like "Siden House" and "Britain’s wonkiest pub." Inside, marbles appeared to roll uphill and furniture seemed off-kilter, drawing visitors from around the world who came to experience its quirky optical illusions. Despite its popularity and historical significance, the pub closed in 2023 and, just weeks later, was destroyed by a suspected arson attack. In a controversial move, the building was demolished without planning permission shortly after the fire, prompting public outcry and legal action.

In truth, it wasn't a great pub. I am glad that I visited it again relatively recently but the beer and service were dreadful and access was via a grim fly-tipped lane, rather reminiscent of today's walk.

Not long out of Gornal and I am picking up a disused Pensnett railway. Should I be scared? It certainly looked like a good place to dispose of a body. Other items had been disposed of.

Suzuki Jimny?

If I hadn't have been earphone engrossed in a discussion on whether Anora was a worthy oscar winner or soft-core porn, I would have heard the machinations of the nearby scrap yards. According to the podcast, both. I am awaiting my son's return so he can explain to his mother why he recommended it for family viewing.

I have completed my research pre-walk and this proved worthwhile. Holbeche House can be included into the walk and this has some meaningful history.

Holbeche House, near Kingswinford, was the final refuge of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators after their plan to blow up Parliament in 1605 failed. As they fled London, the group, including ringleader Robert Catesby, took shelter there and tried to dry out damp gunpowder in front of the fire—causing an explosion that injured several. Days later, the house was surrounded, and a gunfight broke out in which Catesby and others were killed. Bullet holes from the battle can still be seen in the walls. The surviving plotters were captured, taken to London, and brutally executed for treason.

Former nursing home, all boarded up now.

What happens when you dry gunpowder in front of the fire

Kingswinford (Kings Pig Crossing?) reached at Wall heath and a little like Amblecote, a triangle of Good Beer Guide 2025 ticks await. Unlike Amblecote, the pubs are disappointing and the best, not included in the bible.

The Bridge a Black Country Ales take-over first licenced in 1845. 

All smart enough

I think I've shared my thoughts enough about the uniformity of BCA Pubs eough. Sat in front of the standardised TV Screen menu, I couldn't help but yawn at such a similar beer offering and again, ask myself why?

Golden, amber, golden, golden, blonde, golden, golden, golden, pale, stout, cider, tramp juice.

The Cottage next. My research suggesting not to eat there. A recent reopening after environmental health found dead mice and fresh droppings in the kitchen and closed it down. I guess environmental health not too great at finding live mice.

I'm not here for the food (scracthings excepted), so felt safe but after the choice available at the BCA, I now get to moan about the sole cask on offer. Wye Valley HPA.

Star Taverns looking for new owners?

A community local, I was greeted with a perfect Black Country "Hello My Mon!" on arrival and there was a lovely Chesterfield to enjoy the HPA in. 

An odd choice for the Good Beer Guide, I thought. But certainly better than the Ale Hub.

Walked passed it twice without noticing it

These are part of a chain springing up around the Midlands - usually in unloved corners of urbanisation, where they will be next to a Spar Local and a Chinese restaurant.

For me, converted shop Micros have to offer unusual beers to make the experience of drinking in a soulless space worthwhile. Ale Hub does not do this - and when my Oakham Bishops Farewell was a short measure, I properly disliked the brightly lit place before I had even sat down. Couldn't even be bothered to argue. I'll just moan on a blog.

I appreciate this has been a little downbeat on pubs and you could think I don't even like them. With 20 minutes (turned out to be 40) to wait for the 17 bus to take me back to Stourbridge, I couldn't resist waiting in the bus stop adjacent Cross Inn. A packed to point of bursting Wetherspoons, where cask Jaipur is just £2.29.

Pint of the day and pub of the day in a place deemed unspecial by the CAMRAs. 

Walk Details

Distance - 4.5 Miles

Walk Inspiration - Best Pub Walks in The Black County, Walk 19

Geocaches - 0

01/08/25 - Witley Court and Abberley Hill

Britain's Finest Baroque Church

Tomorrow's walk takes me to the heart of the Black Country. A nice coincidence that today's takes me to where the gentry spent their gains. Witley Court built by the Earl of Dudley - owner of the Gornal coal seams.

A very overgrown start to the walk - fields packed with geese suggesting that turkeys will be rather passé this Christmas. A new path up through Abberley School, with the views off the clock tower unavailable until we are a distance away. The trig-point a great vantage point.

Looking down on the school and clock tower from the Trig Point

Ridge Walking on Abberley Hill

Witley Court, once one of England’s great country houses, stands today as a dramatic ruin in the Worcestershire countryside. Originally built as a Jacobean mansion, it was transformed in the 19th century into an opulent Italianate palace by the Foley and later the Dudley family, surrounded by grand terraces, formal gardens, and spectacular fountains. In 1937, a catastrophic fire—believed to have started in the kitchens—destroyed much of the main house. The damage was never repaired, and the estate was abandoned, leaving behind a haunting shell of its former grandeur. Remarkably, the adjoining Church of St Michael and All Angels survived untouched. Built in the mid-18th century by architect James Gibbs and lavishly decorated by the Italian artists Giovanni Bagutti and Antonio Bellucci, the church is a rare example of English baroque design. Its richly adorned interior—complete with gilded stucco, elaborate ceiling paintings, and ornate decoration—makes it one of the finest baroque churches in the country.

And they've got a teashop. Running at London prices. £16 for two coffees and two slices of cake.

Open 12-3pm daily

Look to the heavens

The ruins - where you were free to explore in the 80s

Walk Details

Distance - 6 miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - Jarrold 74, The Malverns to Warwickshire, Walk 24

30/07/25 - A Bayswater Bimble

Trivia and Pubs

A new guide book - Joolz Guides - Rather Splendid London Pub Walks. I've got to say, the book and associated videos are beautiful. So much trivia packed into a 4-mile walk. I know some of the pubs and will wait till the end of the blog to comment on whether he knows his boozers as well as he knows London. Although saying that, three of the five pubs are right at the walk's start.

But he does start the Bayswater walk at a beauty - The Victoria, Strathearn Place. Built 1837, the year Vic came to the throne, and largely unchanged since. A rare surviving example of mid-Victorian design, recognised as one of Britain’s Real Heritage Pubs. Inside, you'll find ornately gilded mirrors mounted above a crescent-shaped bar, decorative painted tiles set into wall niches, and numerous portraits of Queen Victoria. A Fuller's House and Good Beer Guide stalwart, of course, I have been here before.

The flatiron shape of the Victoria

Half an ESB resting on mahogany

Most people who visit Hyde Park will be unaware of the Pet Cemetery. Hidden away behind a lodge house at Lancaster Gate and surrounded by hedges. In 1880 the park keeper agreed to bury a dog and Victorian society thought this a fine idea. It quickly got out of hand and is now packed with over 1,000 gravestones.

A gap in the foliage

Home to dogs, cats, birds and three monkeys. George Orwell described it as "perhaps the most horrible spectacle in Britain". Maybe that's why they built a nearly impenetrable hedge.

Pubs 2 and 3 in quick succession. The Swan a bit of a tourist haunt on the Bayswater Road. Always packed with families and staff that are keen to hunt you down with an iPad to take an order on your arrival. Joolz tells a nice story in the video about the dandy highway man, Claude Du Val, who had his last drink there on the way to his execution at Tyburn.

Now purveyors of Fish and Chips 

But that is better than his next choice, the Young's house, The Mitre. It's one of London's Real Ale Heritage pubs but I found it rather soulless if not immaculately clean. Those two sentiments may be related. The Young's special was below average.

Undoubtedly externally handsome  

Back to the Trivia - the false fronted houses of Leinster Gardens hiding a railway line. The wonderful looking Porchester Baths that really deserve a review of the video. Must bring my trunks on my next London visit. 

Rather wonderfully, Joolz points out the door to an underground Austrian cellar bar that I simply have to go to. In fact, I have offered a £5 bounty to the first member of my extended family to enjoy schnitzel, Stiegl beer and an octogenarian on an accordion.

Oompah 

Music and film locations. This is the part of London with those white, colonnaded, stucco fronted four story houses that are as gorgeous, as they are similar. 

Stiff Records at 32 Alexander Street.

With the Damned outside the Front

Rachel Weisz's single mother, textile designer in About a Boy lived at 1 St Stephen's Crescent.

Textile designers are well paid in the movies

Micheal Caine's Alfie lived around the corner at 29 St Stephens Gardens. A location chosen for its run down and gritty appearance, matching the tone of the film. Ha!

And not a lot of people know that

Another pub stop - the instantly forgettable Prince Bonaparte. A pub that belied it's posh art-deco interior by smelling dreadfully of Sunday lunch cabbage on a Wednesday. At least they had Timothy Taylor Landlord on.

Prince Bonaparte

Incredibly, Bayswater was also the location for the flat in Withnail and I. The steps at 57 Chepstow Road used for the publicity shots.

Really do need to watch this, doing the drinking game

And the final trivia point for me - Sting's first home in London. The cellar of 28 Leinster Square now covered in scaffolding. I believe he lives in several castle's with massive driveways now.

Luggage label on his guitar case. If only Laker Airways could have just lost one piece

A couple of churches - one standing in for a Russian Cathedral in Goldeneye and the walk is over at the final pub. The Phoenix is externally covered in scaffolding and internally is that boring that I cannot be bothered to bring you photos. To be fair, Joolz does have the "Rule of Ted". A rule that means "just use any pub that is handy, as often you will spend ages looking for something better.

The "Rule of Ted" does not apply to caskless Greene King pubs.

So - 10/10 for the walk and maybe 6/10 for his pub selection. But maybe Bayswater is poor hunting ground.

Walk Details

Distance - 5 Miles

Geocaches - 5

Walk Inspiration - Rather Splendid Lodon Pub Walks - Walk 17