The Feathers Hotel was a well-known coaching inn in Ledbury and still maintains those traditions of hospitality which made it a welcome staging post en route from Cheltenham to Aberystwyth. Its friendly ambience, informal atmosphere and comfortable, peaceful lounge make it an ideal place to meet friends for coffee or tea, (as I did this morning)  and Fuggles Brasserie serves good, locally sourced food. There are open fires in Winter and a small beer garden for the Summer. The Guardian from June 2009 says that there is “great local beer”, and the hop-hung brasserie (Fuggles is a variety of hop) is an attractive place for a meal. Click on the photos to take you to The Feathers website where you can see menus.

The Hereford Country Fair is a popular event in August each year, displaying, as it does, all sorts of country pursuits, field sports and  information on conservation  as well as providing shopping opportunities and activities for all to try. This year it is being held in the glorious grounds of Hampton Court near Leominster and there will be the chance to see equestrian and dog events, a motor cycle stunt team or even to try clay pigeon shooting or fly fishing. Profits go to charities operating within Herefordshire, so it’s a wonderful occasion to support. Click on any of the pictures above to take you to the website.

Now that The Three Counties Show is over, (it was last weekend), we can look forward to the Malvern Autumn Show in September. It will provide a wonderful mix as you would expect, of vegetables, flowers and fruits to exemplify a bountiful harvest, but will also have hundreds of stands devoted to shopping, forgotten rural crafts and animals from around the world. A highlight is sure to be The Good Life Pavilion, which will concentrate on just that - attaining the good life through running smallholdings, edible gardens, and cookery, including demonstrations and talks. Click on the vegetable pictures to take you to the website. Click on the asters to take you to the website of Old Court Nurseries and Picton Gardens, very close to Malvern and home to the Plant Heritage National Collection of Autumn Flowering Asters and very well worth a visit or several.

Our neighbours have again this year brought some of their horses into the field in front of our house, which is  popular with younger guests in particular. Another neighbour has brought some of his sheep into one of our other fields. I’m not sure what breed they are but the sheep in the photo below are Ryelands. They are one of the oldest breeds in the UK and originated in Herefordshire. They were called Ryelands because they were fattened up on areas of ground growing rye (ryelands), and in fact were used to thicken up the sprouting grain by their nibbling. Once in danger of dying out, they have been recognised by the Rare Breed Survival Trust and are now exported to Europe and beyond as well as proving popular with smallholders for their ease of care, excellent wool and meat and success at mothering! Click on the photo to take you to the Ryelands sheep website.

Ledbury’s Market house makes a wonderful venue for some events in its renowned poetry festival. Shown here are John Masefield and Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, two of Ledbury’s earlier poets. There was one still earlier than either of them - William Langland, author of Piers Plowman, who, some say, may well have come from this area. At any rate, the poetic tradition continues, and Ledbury is host annually to a festival which according to Andrew Motion, is the best of its kind in the country. Recent years have seen varied contributors to the festival, from home and abroad, including Roger McGough and Benjamin Zephaniah. Great fun can be had by all ages, with events ranging from live readings to talks, workshops, competitions - and on Sunday July 11th, a town party. There will be Cuban Combination for dance music, food, drink and street poets. Click on the photos to discover more.

With the weather set to be in the mid 20 degrees Celsius this weekend, picnics in the countryside and barbecues in the garden spring to mind.  We provide picnic rucksacks in all the cottages, along with picnic rugs and all the gardens have their own barbecues and garden furniture.  Herefordshire is a very sunny county, and your travel plans are unlikely to be disrupted by volcanic ash! These are a few photographs taken from a website called picturesofengland.com. The first was submitted by Stephanie Jackson, the second by Lawrence Davis and the third by Jason T.

Click on the photos to take you through to see more images of our beautiful county.