In the first of a new series focusing on the UK's most delightful counties DAVID WICKERS highlights the best attractions of a region often overlooked

HEREFORDSHIRE is England’s fast-track county. Despite its exceedingly lovely countryside, historic towns and peaceful villages, it is usually skipped on our journeys to Wales or the West Country.

In guidebooks it is often paired with Worcestershire as a two-for-one county package, rather than allowed to stand on its own two feet.

Yet it is a world that’s low on industry and high on hedgerows and with more byways than highways. In fact, its most imposing artery is the River Wye which snakes through the heart of the county.

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TOWN
The official county town (actually a city) is Hereford, best known for its cathedral which houses the Mappa Mundi – a 13th-century world map – a library with the world’s largest collection of medieval books and a copy of the 1217 revision of Magna Carta.

Ledbury, on the slopes of the Malvern Hills, is a great choice too thanks to its Tudor buildings and cobbled streets, little changed since they saw fierce combat during the Civil War.

Essential sights include the timber-framed Market House squatting on its stout legs of oak, the 16th-century frescoes in the council offices’ Painted Room and the Norman Church of St Michael & All Angels whose bells peel at 9am, noon and 3pm. There’s also a
good stock of quality shops, such as Tinsmiths (on Tinsmiths Alley) specialising in natural and hand-woven textiles, and Butler & Sweatman (64 The Homend) for designer homeware.

A Wednesday market has livestock, while there is a high-street cluster of stalls on Saturdays and Tuesdays. Lovers of literature should head to Hay-on-Wye, which boasts the world’s largest collection of second-hand bookstores.

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COUNTRY
Herefordshire must have been hiding when the Industrial Revolution came, its rich red soils still a cornucopia of prize agricultural produce. It is England’s Big Apple, the traditional home of cider with presses that are the biggest squeezers in the world.

Follow the official Cider Route (www.ciderroute.co.uk) which links several of the county’s producers who make a gallon per head of the population every year.

You’ll also eat well as you journey around this larder of a county, memorably so at the rustic Stagg Inn (01544 230 211 /www.thestagg.co.uk) at Titley, near Kington, which has a Michelin star and offers dishes such as crispy duck leg with duck breast and
gooseberry and elderflower sauce.

For a more modest but characterful hostelry, try the 16th-century Lough Pool (01989 730 236/www.loughpool.co.uk) at Sellack.

Dishes such as carpaccio of Herefordshire beef fillet with three-mustard dressing and potato salad have gained it an entry in Michelin’s Eating Out In Pubs guide.

One particular pocket of pastoral pleasure is the Golden Valley, named after the River Dore (as in Norman “D’Or”), where you’ll find a number of circular, well-mapped walks, the routes of which are available through pubs and guesthouses. If you then follow the
road over Dorstone Hill, which divides the Golden Valley from the Wye, you can inspect Arthur’s Stone, a neolithic tomb, and visit one of the country’s oldest pubs,

The Pandy Inn (01981 550 273/ www.pandyinn.co.uk).

It dates from the 12th century and has heavyweight timbers, worn flagstones and an enormous open fireplace.

EXPLORE
With a density of quiet country roads, gentle gradients and tearoom pit stops, Herefordshire is ideal cycling country. Wheely Wonderful (01568 770755/www.wheelywonderfulcycling.co.uk) offers a variety of self-guided tours that include accommodation, bikes and luggage transportation.

A two-night, 35-mile tour of the county’s nine Black and White villages costs from £170 per adult, £120 per child (two sharing), B&B.

Canoeing is another option, with novices perfectly capable of tackling River Wye waters that never get beyond grade-one ripples. The most scenic stretch is the 13 miles between Ross-on-Wye and Symonds Yat, a 400ft rocky promontory which presides over
a mighty turn in the river.

The Canoe Hire Company (01600 890 883/www.thecanoehire.co.uk) can arrange canoes and transport to the start point for this perfect day out from £30.

STAY
Ledbury’s The Feathers Hotel (0800 074 9377/www.feathers-ledbury.co.uk) is a 16th-century half-timbered coaching inn on the old Royal Mail run to Wales.

The rooms in the old part (bring crampons to tackle the sloping floors!) are hard to beat for atmosphere. Doubles from £135 per night (two sharing), B&B.

DON’T MISS
Eastnor Castle (01531 633 160/ www.eastnorcastle.com) is a 19th-century medieval fantasy, loaded with character and much used for period dramas, including the 1995 BBC TV series Little Lord Fauntleroy. Thanks to the number of weddings that take place here, it is often closed on Fridays and Saturdays so check the opening times carefully. It also has an adventure playground, maze and woodland walks.

● INFORMATION:
Visit Herefordshire: 01432 260 621/ www.visitherefordshire.co.uk