Visiting Herefordshire – A History
We decided to use our ‘half term’ as a chance to take a historic trip to visit Herefordshire. We find a lot of the groups the kids attend take a break during school breaks. So whilst we don’t technically have terms in Home Ed (we are learning all the time ;)) it was a great excuse to get away.
Visit Herefordshire had invited us to take this trip as part of the ‘Hideous History’ trail which was takes place across the county. You can see more about the trail here.
Visiting Herefordshire – Where we stayed
We based ourselves at The Green Dragon Hotel in central Hereford during our trip visiting Herefordshire. Not only is it a beautiful hotel, it was also a building steeped in history. It has been run as an inn for over 900 years and is one of the oldest buildings in the city.
Owain Tudor (grandfather of Henry the 8th) was actually held captive in the hotel in 1461. He had hoped his family connections would spare him from death but his fate was beheaded. His severed head was then placed on the steps of the market cross and It was said that a ‘mad’ woman then washed his face, combed his hair and placed 100 candles around the cross.
However being at the modern day The Green Dragon hotel (and not being prisoners) was a much more relaxed affair. The Green Dragon does have an apartment that would be fab for families. However we stayed in the two interconnecting rooms that we felt was perfect for our needs and children’s ages.
Day one on our trip to visit historic Hereford
On our first afternoon in Hereford we visited Courtyard Arts for their family fun day. We hadn’t actually booked anything other than the Orchestra of the Swan later that day, so wondered if there would be enough free activities to keep us going. Luckily there were more than enough and we spent the afternoon watching Princesses’ sing, making poetry trees and decorating biscuits! The whole place felt really family friendly and relaxed and we whiled away a good three hours just pottering about dipping in and out of activities.
Our absolute highlight of this day was watching the Orchestra of the Swan who were incredible if you ever get a chance to see them! It felt so moving watching live music and especially a live orchestra. The orchestra played around an hour of classics from all our favourite films. Then when the theme tune for Star Wars was performed the violinists wands became light sabres. Both kids lefts wanting to learn different instruments, watch this space for the future Corrs 😉
We headed to The Pizza Works for dinner, super child-friendly and delicious thick cheesy deep dish pizzas that we could barely finish they were so big! Mabli and Tom shared a vegan pizza which they also highly rated. Wilf tried his first cream soda and was very impressed, ‘how does it taste like ice cream in a can?!’
Day two in historic Hereford United Kingdom
Day two visiting Herefordshire and we set about getting stuck into the ‘hideous history’ of the area. Starting with the very impressive and beautiful Hereford Cathedral. Mabli however would have been more than happy throwing the incredible autumn leaves around for the entire morning.
Luckily once inside both kids found more than enough to explore in the Cathedral. We walked around reading about the history of the place before checking out the Mappa Mundi.
When the foundations of the museum were being built in 1993 they found 14th-century burial pits. Inside of which contained nearly a thousand black death victims!
Mappa Mundi and the Chained Library Hereford
The Mappa Mundi itself was so incredible. It’s one of the largest complete world maps to have survived from the Middle Ages. Made in the 1300’s and drawn on calf skin using goose feathers and ink from oak apple. They have the actual map on display but the above pictures are more clear for details. All the mythical beasts were fascinating as was realising they knew already the earth was round!
This was one of Tom’s absolute highlights of the trip and we’ve already decided to do lots of exploring and creating our own maps at home. You can also visit the ‘Chained Library’ there. Some say this was the inspiration for the library in Hogwarts.
Cafes in Hereford
For lunch, we headed to The Bookshop Hereford. Tom and I went for a warm autumnal salad and the kids had macaroni and cheese on toast and beans on toast respectively. It was such a beautiful and calm atmosphere and the food was so good, would definitely recommend popping in for a coffee (or cocktail!)
With a little break after lunch back at the hotel and feeling refreshed we headed out again to explore more of the city’s history. We headed to the Black and White museum which exceeded expectations. The staff were so kind and helpful. They have a fun word trail for the kids to work out whilst we explore the rooms. It was a great addition to our trip to visit historic Hereford.
The Black and White Museum
We ended our day at the ‘Beefy Boys’ burgers. They had a surprising amount of veggie options so don’t let the name deceive you if you aren’t a fan of beef! I had the mac and cheese burger which was incredible and we shared cheesy fries and a pint of 1985 larger. It was such a rainy evening and some comfort food was exactly what we needed.
Day Three – Trip to visit historic Herefordshire – Ledbury
We headed to Ledbury on the train on our third and last full day in the area. As non drivers, it was great that it was so easy to hop between the two areas being that it was only 15 minutes away by train.
Ledbury is such a beautiful little town! Full of winding cobbled streets and black and white Tudor houses. In 1645 the civil war raged between the Roundheads and Cavaliers. Prince Rupert of Rhine brought 1,600 men to the town and a ‘skirmish’ ensued.
Some of the wooden doors in the town still bear marks of musket shots. At the Talbot Inn you can see the brass plug which marks the spot a musket ball passed through the neck of a serving girl and into the oak panelling.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side that day, we skipped our planned walk in Frith Woods. Instead taking a stroll through the town and its walled gardens to Dog Hill Woods. This was literally a minutes walk from the town and had great views. We burned off a little energy (and got a little muddy!) before heading to lunch.
Lunch at the Ledberry
If you are visiting Ledbury then you have to make a stop at The Ledberry cafe. Whether it’s with the family or for a good catch-up with a friend over a glass of wine. We had the veggie sharing platter to share as well as a soup starter. Everything was so delicious and the atmosphere couldn’t have been more relaxed.
Seated in the garden felt like a little tranquil pocket and the kids spent their time drawing portraits of us whilst we were able to drink a glass of wine. Such a treat!
On our last afternoon visiting Herefordshire, we took a quick stroll down the river before the rain became too much and we headed back to the Green Dragon hotel to get ready for dinner.
Dinner at the hotel was great. We skipped starters as we had eaten so much at lunch and wanted to make sure we had room for puddings! We really appreciated that they had a plant based kids option as its often just pasta as a default. The real hero of the meal though was definitely the puddings so I’d recommend visiting if only for them!
We had a wonderful three days visiting Herefordshire and would definitely recommend a visit! So many beautiful and interesting place to explore. Not to mention all the amazing places to eat, we felt like we could have been rolled home!
We’ve already said we can’t wait to come back and explore more of the county and it’s history. Thanks to Visit Herefordshire for inviting us to stay!
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