Where to Stay in Hereford, England

What is Hereford known for?

On the River Wye in the far west of England near the Welsh border, it grew as an old market and cathedral town, and it keeps the great sandstone cathedral with its medieval map of the world, the chained library of ancient books, the timbered Old House of the Jacobean age, and the cider orchards and red cattle of the county around. The green Wye winds through the town. Orchards spread over the fields.

What are the main landmarks in Hereford?

The cathedral is the pride of Hereford. The great church of red sandstone by the Wye, which holds the famous medieval Mappa Mundi and a library of chained books, stands at the heart of the town, the emblem of the city, downtown. A timbered house marks the square.

The old Jacobean Old House stands black and white among the shops, while the cider museum, the river Wye, and the orchards of the county mark the country around Hereford.

What is the history of Hereford?

Hereford grew on the Welsh march. An old English town on the ford of the Wye, it stood on the border with Wales and was long fought over in the wars of the march. A great cathedral rose by the river.

The bishops built a cathedral of red sandstone to the murdered king Ethelbert, and in it they kept a wondrous map of the whole known world, drawn on calfskin in the middle ages. The county lived by orchard and herd. Around Hereford the red earth grew apples for cider and grazed the famous white-faced cattle, and the town became the market of a rich farming shire.

The old crafts held on. In its streets stood timbered houses of the old trades, and the town kept its cathedral, its map, and its ancient chained books, while it grew as a quiet county city on the Wye. The cider presses still run each autumn.

Hereford keeps its cathedral and its orchards on the Welsh border.

Where is Hereford?

Hereford lies in the far west of England, on the River Wye in the county of Herefordshire. The city sits in a broad green valley of orchards and pasture, in the gentle hills between the Malverns and the Welsh mountains, with the Wye winding through the town and the red-soil farms rolling away on every side. The river runs green and slow.

Orchards cover the low hills.

What is the climate of Hereford?

Hereford has a mild, wet oceanic climate. Cool grey winters and warm damp summers hold in the valley, with rain in every season and mist rising off the Wye. Rain keeps the orchards green.

Frost is soft and rare.

How do you get to Hereford?

Hereford lies in western England, on the road and rail near the Welsh border. Trains and the road run to it across the shire from Birmingham and the Marches, and lanes lead west into Wales and the Black Mountains. Rail runs by the Wye.

Birmingham lies northeast up the line.