If you live in Worcestershire, you already know things are rosy in Redditch and brilliant in Bromsgrove – but there are those still waiting to discover its delights. There are 195 towns, villages, hamlets and a stunning city. And if it’s countryside, things to do, shops and places to eat you’re after – Worcestershire has it all.
Its location in the centre of England means it’s easy to get to and also easy to escape from, if you fancy a change of scenery. But why would you when it’s the best place in the UK?
READ MORE: Eight fairytale cottages in Worcestershire which could be straight out of a Disney film
With its great road and rail transport links, Worcestershire is a sought-after location. It’s also a popular place to visit too – with tourist attractions aplenty in the county.
We are a bit biased, but we think Worcestershire really is the bees knees and one of the best places in the UK. Here are 17 reasons why it’s so fab.
1) It has views to die for
There are plenty of high points in Worcestershire where a walk will be rewarded with a breath-taking view. The best place to stand and gawp is the Malvern Hills, but other vantage points include Clent Hills, Clee Hill, the top of Broadway Tower and Bredon Hill near Evesham.
The stunning Malvern Hills have wonderful views
(Image: flickr / Paul Jonathan Briscoe)
But you don’t even have to climb up very high for a wonderful vista. Because it’s so rural with lots of fields and countryside, you’re spoilt for countryside views – even if it is just looking over a field of sheep.
2) Its cheese on toast is the best in the world
If you’re partial to a cheese toastie then Worcestershire is the place for you. Aficionados of the snack swear by adding a dollop (or three) of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce.
Worcestershire Sauce can make a cheese toastie very special
Like that well-known yeast concoction, the Worcester-made brown sauce may not be for everyone. But those who do like it say adding it to cheese on toast takes it a higher culinary level. And hearing Americans trying to pronounce it still makes us laugh.
3) It gave the world culture
Among the famous people linked to the county are the composer Sir Edward Elgar, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. Elgar was born near Worcester and raised in Malvern and it’s said both locations inspired many of his famous works.
The Malverns are also said to have given Tolkien and CS Lewis inspiration for their literary works. The Lord of the Rings’ Middle Earth is supposedly based on the area around the Malvern Hills.
While these facts won’t change your life, they’re pretty impressive things to drop into conversations you have with posh friends.
4) It has the most beautiful city in the West Midlands
The county’s capital is Worcester which also happens to be (we think) the best-looking city in the Midlands (Lichfield comes a close second). Its best feature is undoubtedly Worcester Cathedral which not only is lovely to look at, you can go always inside it, go down into the crypt and (if you’re fit) climb to the top of the tower.
Worcester Cathedral with cricketers in the foreground
(Image: Getty Images)
The rest of the city isn’t too shabby either, with historic and beautiful buildings everywhere you look. It also has a vibrant shopping and nightlife centre, riverside walks and lots of houses to choose from, if you want to live there.
There’s a good train service from its three stations and a stunning viaduct spanning the city centre and River Severn.
5) It’s the only place in the UK where you can spend the night in a safari park
Not only does Worcestershire have the Midlands’ only safari park, you can also spend the night there. West Midland Safari Park is the only attraction of its kind offering overnight stays.
Situated between Bewdley and Kidderminster, two years ago it opened the first of its safari lodges and now it has expanded. Visitors can pay to spend the night in the luxury lodges, right next to the cheetah, elephants, giraffe, tiger and rhino enclosures.
One of the safari lodges at West Midland Safari Park
(Image: West Midland Safari Park)
Last year two new cottages overlooking the red panda enclosure opened. More lodges featuring different animals are planned in coming years.
6) It has a splendid steam railway
This makes anywhere good, in our book. Severn Valley Railway is a thriving, popular, well-maintained and innovative steam train line.
Running between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth, the railway passes through beautiful countryside. It also runs special themed events (such as 1940s and gin trains), and its Christmas excursions are legendary. One is narrated by national treasure Dame Julie Walters.
Severn Valley Railway
(Image: PA)
The railway’s Kidderminster station has been restored to its original vintage look and is often used for movie scenes. One of the most recent featured rising star, Millie Bobbie-Brown, in a Sherlock Holmes movie, Enola Holmes.
7) Its football team were very nearly giant killers
Kidderminster Harriers won the hearts of the nation earlier this year when they reached the fourth round of the FA Cup. They were just seconds away from beating West Ham – a team more than 100 places above them in the league.
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The Carpetmen – the nickname for the Harriers – belied their lowly sixth tier position to take the game against Premier League side West Ham to extra time. In doing so, they generated hundreds of thousands of pounds in extra revenue and TV fees.
They also gained a whole new fan base as the game was broadcast to more than 150 countries around the world. And their under-dog position and plucky fighting spirit endeared them to British sports fans too.
8) It’s cream tea heaven
If scones, finger sandwiches and dainty cakes are your thing then head to Worcestershire. Tearooms, cafes and restaurants serving the very English meal are dotted all round the county.
Afternoon cream tea at the Stourport Manor Hotel
(Image: Stourport Manor Hotel)
From the many National Trust properties, to local family-run tearooms, if you hanker after the tasty treat, you’ll have no trouble finding one in Worcestershire.
And you won’t get penalised for putting jam on before cream as we’re not that fussed, unlike our Devon and Cornwall friends. As long as both are on the scone, that’s fine by us.
9) It makes and grows a lot of things
There’s a good chance that at least something in your home was made in the county. A lot of your food also comes from Worcestershire too.
At one time Kidderminster was the carpet capital of the world, and Worcester was famous for making gloves. Redditch once made virtually all of the globe’s needle supplies and the salt you sprinkled on your fish and chips came from Droitwich.
Worcestershire grows a lot of the country’s asparagus
The porcelain plate you eat your dinner off was made by Worcester Porcelain and if you own a Morgan car it was made in Malvern. The asparagus in your salad was probably grown in Worcestershire, as are the plums you eat.
10) It gave the world Harry Styles
The former One Direction singer and international heart-throb is a Redditch lad. He was born in the town and moved with his family to Cheshire when he was a child.
He got his big break on X Factor and enjoyed a stellar career with the boy band One Direction. But the band split up in 2016 and since then the 28-year-old has gone on to enjoy a very successful solo career and also ventured into acting.
Harry Styles was born in Redditch
(Image: Helene Marie Pambrun / Getty)
He is now such a global superstar that pretty much anything he does makes international headlines. But remember – he’s from Redditch so we claim him as our own.
11) It has a King buried there
Not every county can claim to have a bona fide real-life king buried in their midst. Worcester can though as it’s the final resting place of King John who is buried in the city’s cathedral.
Unlike Leicester, which only recently discovered King Richard III buried in a supermarket car park, Worcester has always known it has a dead king beneath its feet. The infamous “bad”‘ King John – villain of every Robin Hood tale and the guy who sealed the Magna Carta – lived from 1166 to 1216.
King John, whose tomb is at Worcester Cathedral
When he died no-one mourned him as he was an unpopular monarch, with France and England both in open rebellion against him. For some reason he was very fond of Worcester and spent the Christmas of 1214 in the city.
In his will he stipulated that he wanted to be buried in Worcester Cathedral, between the shrines of St Wulfstan and St Oswald. That will – the oldest remaining Royal will in England – is still kept in the cathedral library and can be seen by appointment. King John is buried in a place of honour in front of the High Altar.
12) It has made your visit to the gym more comfortable
The founder and owner of the trendy fitness wear company Gymshark was born and raised in Worcestershire. Ben Francis came up with the idea of his innovative stretchy clothing in the garage of his family home in Bromsgrove.
Ben Francis at the Gymshark HQ in Solihull
(Image: Gymshark)
Gymshark’s leggings, tops and shorts revolutionised working out because they are seam-free, very stretchy and bend and move with the human wearing them. Ben, aged 29, devised and made the clothing with his then business partner Lewis Morgan using his gran’s sewing machine at the family home before branching out production to factories.
Gymshark has made Ben a multi-millionaire with a fortune of £700 million and he now features in the Sunday Times Rich List. Last year he married stunning fitness influencer Robin Gallant and the pair live in The Cotswolds, although he retains his Midlands roots as the company HQ is in Solihull.
13) It has the M5 running through it
What’s so special about that, you may well ask, don’t many areas have motorways running through them? Many do, but what makes Worcestershire’s bit of the M5 special is that it takes Brummies and Black Countryfolk to lots of nice places – such as the seaside.
Once you hop on the southbound M5 at any point between Junction 3 (Rubery) to Junction 8 (the M50) then you’re on your way to somewhere very nice indeed. You can go to the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Devon and Cornwall.
The M5 is the main route for Brummies when they pack their bucket and spade and head off on their summer holidays to the coast. Any Midlander will tell you, once they get to Junction 7 they know they’re just a few hours away from a stroll by the sea.
14) It’s got the biggest woodland in England
If “forest bathing” (a fancy name for walking among trees) is your thing then Worcestershire is the place for you. It contains the Wyre Forest which has now officially become the largest woodland National Nature Reserve (NNR) in England.
Wyre Forest near Bewdley – the largest natural woodland in England
NNRs are designated by Natural England as being “rare, precious areas” containing some of the country’s most important places for wildlife and geology. The Wyre Forest, which starts on the outskirts of Bewdley, dates back to at least the year 900 and straddles the Worcestershire and Shropshire border.
It has now been extended by almost 900 hectares so that it now spreads over 1,455 hectares – the equivalent to 1,700 football pitches – making it the largest of its kind in England. It is open to visitors all year round for walking, cycling, running and various other activities.
15) It has so many pretty houses it should be on the top of a chocolate box
Despite having many urban, built-up areas, Worcestershire is also very rural. Even if you live in a conurbation such as Redditch or Kidderminster, you’re never more than a 10 minute drive away from countryside.
And dotted around these country lanes are homes so pretty they really should be adorning the top of a chocolate box. From grand Georgian mansions and stately homes, to quaint cottages with roses around the door, if you want to pretend you’re on an Agatha Christie set, you won’t be disappointed in Worcestershire.
Chocolate box-pretty cottages like this are dotted all around Worcestershire
Prettiest of all is the village of Broadway. This is classed as being the Cotswolds, but is technically in Worcestershire, so we’re claiming it. The whole of Broadway is straight out of the pages of a Jane Austen novel and attracts thousands of visitors every year, all open-mouthed and swooning over its picture perfect houses and streets.
16) WAGs would love it there
It’s not just Cheshire and the Little Aston/Four Oaks areas of Sutton Coldfield which are catnip to footballers’ WAGs (wives and girlfriends). The chic village of Barnt Green in north Worcestershire is also a popular haunt and until recently was the home of Aston Villa’s golden boy, Jack Grealish.
Situated next to the Lickey Hills just a few miles from the Birmingham border, it would suit the swanky ladies-who-lunch lifestyle the partners of the millionaire footballers enjoy. It also has a lot of the massive million pound mansions they like to live in.
A big posh house recently up for sale in Cherry Hill Road, Barnt Green
(Image: Rightmove)
But it’s not just WAGs who flock to Barnt Green, if you’re well-heeled and want the hybrid of country life with all the benefits of modern amenities then put your name down with a local estate agent now. Unsurprisingly, given its perfect location, bustling High Street, stunning countryside and good train links, homes here sell quickly – and for a lot of money.
17) It has a dinosaur with its own Facebook page
Dennis the Dinosaur lives in the Playland adventure park in Stourport-on-Severn and has become a local celebrity and also now a social media star. The9ft tall velociraptor watches over the Dino Land ride at the park and has always been popular with locals.
Dennis the Dinosaur during the recent floods
(Image: Dennis the Dinosaur Facebook)
But during the lockdowns, because the park was closed Playland staff decided to keep visitors updated of Dennis’s exploits by making him a Facebook page. It’s become a huge hit and now has nearly 1,500 followers.
Because Dennis is just yards away from the banks of the River Severn, whenever it floods, so does he. During the recent floods his Facebook page was filled with pictures of the submerged statue “drowning” in the flood water.
But via the magic of Facebook Dennis kept his fans abreast of his fate, telling them he was “just fine”, but a “little wet”.
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