A Walk round "Archer's" Country..

Yesterday we went for a lovely long walk through the Worcestershire lanes that are home to the fictional 'Ambridge'.  It's an area called Hanbury - tucked away in the east of the county, on the border with Warwickshire.  Maybe it's a little strange to describe an real area as the 'home' of a radio 'soap' but Hanbury church has been used for all the recordings of the Archer's weddings.  There's a small display in the church all about it's links with the series, but people outside the area don't tend to know about the connections. 

Amyway, here's our walk...

We started off on the canal bank, near the little village of Stoke Priors. 

 We walked past a flight of locks then took a lane a towards the church.

 I couldn't get over how bright the fields appeared to be, given that it's mid-winter.

 The lane climbed gently.

And then we climbed the final steep section of hillside, up to the church. 

 The view from the east side of the churchyard - looking towards Warwickshire.  There's also a superb view of the Malvern Hills in the south-west, but the low sun prevented any pictures!

 We then walked down the hill and across some National Trust parkland - part of the Hanbury Hall estate.

Finally we picked up the canal bank again and walked back to the car - just as the sun was starting to set.

We think it must have been about 5 miles in total.  Fortunately I didn't have to worry about cooking last night.  My sister is back from Derbyshire and she made a meal for the whole family.  A really nice end to a fabulous day!