Three Walks in Three Woods: The Conigree, Frith and Dog Hill

Ledbury has three decent-sized woodlands: Dog Hill Wood, and the larger Frith and Conigree Woods. We’ve walked around them loads, especially back in the lockdown days when there wasn’t much else to do. Even after all that though, there are still little side paths we’ve never tried. So over Christmas we thought, why not? Let’s have a proper poke around and see what we’ve been missing. That’s the kind of thing we call fun in Ledbury, getting lost in the woods.

This time we started with Conigree on Boxing Day. The whole country was covered in thick mist, the kind of thing that makes everyone rush to post moody photos of the Malverns. I missed all that, but figured the fog would make the woods look good too, and it did. It felt kind of magical in there. Plus, now we’ve got a six-month-old baby, a woodland walk is way easier than dragging her up some massive hill with half the county crowding around for Instagram shots.

We followed the main path up to a gate that leads out into a field. Just left of there we found a twisty little trail we’d never noticed before. The mist was so heavy it clung to our hair, like when the barber sprays your head before a cut. It gave the whole place this eerie, spooky vibe, but it was beautiful at the same time.

As we moved further along the path it became more hilly and we started to see some big drops down on one side, with a fence to a nearby field on the other. It was pretty tight and slippy, which isn't ideal when you've got a baby strapped to you, but it wasn't dodgy enough for me to think there was any real danger. After we walked more, I realised where we were. We arrived above the quarry that blocked my walk in my "Secret Quarry of Disappointment" blog post where I was searching for a good view of the Malverns. There may well have been a good view beyond the fence we were walking along, but you could barely see to the other side of the field in this mist, let alone some hills in the distance. 

We carried along the top and soon reached one of the main paths through the woods. I was keen to go and have another look at the quarry, so we thought it would be a good place to have a break and a drink of Amaretto hot chocolate. It's a class little hidden gem. I don't know the history of it and can't find much online apart from a short article from local conservationists. The area around it is overgrown and it is well tucked away in this quiet part of the wood. A good place to doss for a bit of peace and some shelter from the wind. We really didn't get much peace with a couple of feral terriers absolutely desperate to attempt to catch squirrels etc, but it was still a pleasant break to the walk. 

With the warmth of Amaretto on board, we moved along the path to exit the woods, treated to more wonderful winter woodland scenery. We then headed for a drink in Ledbury where the combination of mist and Christmas lights made for a beautiful sight. It had been a short walk on our doorstep but a fulfilling one on these hidden, foggy, empty paths. The seasonal changes make the woods beautiful any time of the year in my opinion, whereas even the loveliest seaside town can look bleak on a winter's day. 

For our next walk, we would head to Dog Hill Wood. As mentioned earlier, this is quite a small wood, but there is a footpath near to it which I had never walked along. I'm not trying to become some sort of weird quarry hunter, but I'd noticed the markings of a quarry at the end of the path on my local map and despite my 43 years living in Ledbury I never knew it was there. It would have been rude not to go and have a look. It would have also been perfectly normal not to go and have a look, to be fair.

We walked along the Worcester Road, past the large carving of an owl that I see each time I drive home from work. I don't normally wave at the owl as I pass, but I might start now. The footpath starts just over the lane from the owl. It's not the prettiest path in the world but it was taking me somewhere different, which is good. 

As we walked along the path, I started to smell smoke. Then we saw a bloke on the land nearby that appeared to be burning everything wooden that he'd ever owned. I almost felt a bit worried for my owl friend and if I was an outsider I might have also been concerned about some sort of wicker man scenario. Thankfully the wind eased and the smoke across the path cleared. 

We then made it to where the quarry was, but I couldn't see an easy way to access it. It would turn out that there was a massive open entrance to it down the path to the left of us, but for reasons unknown I decided that we should head right. Again, I had a baby attached to me which made navigating over a bank covered with fallen branches and thorn bushes a bit more tricky. I got to the top and you couldn't see much of the quarry at all. If I didn't have the baby I'd have climbed down the other side of the bank to get a better look, but it would have been a bit silly. I accepted defeat and decided the quarry would have to remain hidden. 

This was my initial view of the quarry. If you try to look past the trees you can see it. Sort of...

Then when we carefully made our way back through the brambles, we walked round to the other side to find the obvious entrance. FFS...

A class little quarry, if you like this sort of thing. It obviously would have been easy for me to get past that barrier and have a proper look, but the rampant wood burning man was nearby and I didn't want to anger him, so I'd have to pop back another time. From the quarry we moved into Dog Hill Wood along a lane with lovely views of May Hill in the distance and the Conigree Wood. 

Dog Hill Wood leads back into the centre of Ledbury. It's a relatively short walk through it, but there are a number of different paths either side of this small ridge. We found a nice spot between paths to sit, eat a sausage roll, drink a can of cider (Cow & Gate for the baby) and enjoy a bit of time sat on a log amongst the trees. It was a very windy day and after a while I noticed a large tree near to us that looked more wobbly than a tree should. A widow maker basically. We moved on, headed back into Ledbury and to our home. Another quarry ticked of and a new friend in a wooden owl. I'd call that a success. One more wood to explore. 

I struggle to believe that anyone really enjoys New Year's Eve. 

I guess some people have probably had epic nights out and it might just be that I have grown to hate busy pubs and a battle at the bar to spend over a fiver for a pint. I had a great one for the Millennium at Rock City in Nottingham in fairness. However, my lasting memory of that is going to a house party afterwards where a man with a ponytail cooked about 30 cheese Crispy Pancakes and I burnt a large percentage of my chin to a scab trying to eat one of them. It was honestly horrendous. 

We had made the decision that this year, our first with a child, we'd go to bed early, get up early, go to the hills and watch the sun come up on the first day of 2025. I've now realised it's 25 years since the Crispy Pancake incident. I wouldn't get the opportunity to properly move on from that cheese horror though as unfortunately the weather wasn't going to accommodate our nice plan. It was scheduled to piss it down with howling winds, so we stayed up until midnight, watched some ridiculously crap TV and hoped for better weather next year. Stace was keen to doss in the warm on New Year's Day with the baby and was happy for me to take the dogs Dottie and Wilf out for a long walk. I would go to the Frith. 

On OpenStreetMap, I'd found a different path into the woods near to the normal routes just off Knapp Lane. When I got there, I thought it must have been an error though as I couldn't find the path. I knew where it was supposed to head though which was basically up the ridge of the hill, so I looked up a ridiculous steep bank covered with mud and leaves and decided to scramble up it. Fine for the dogs. Not much fun for me. I got to the top though, where I saw a path along the ridge and realised it existed and I must have missed it. Probably a good job that I'm exploring locally and not on any particularly dangerous terrain. 

I followed the path up the hill. To the right were fields I recognised down to the farms of Bradlow. I walked under a pylon which straddled the fence and up to Bradlow Knoll which is a part of these woods we'd been to many times before on our plods along Top Walk. I would walk down from Bradlow Knoll though to find another hidden path along the East side of the wood. I was immediately treated to a cracking view of the Malvern Hills and the eastern edge of this wonderful wood.  

The path I took from there wasn't much of a path to be honest. It was boggy, overgrown and there were a LOT of fallen trees across it. Victims of the recent storms. I absolutely loved it though. Walking through woodland is always enjoyable to me, but it doesn't feel as much like a little adventure if you just use the common routes. This felt like I'd walked from my house to a forest wilderness thousands of miles away in about an hour. Apart from the dogs being daft and taking lead tangling routes through the branches of the fallen trees, it was incredible. Just me and the terrierists as we call them, out wandering this glorious hidden corner of my town. 

I'd hoped to find some suitable places to return for some wild camping later in the year in this quiet part of the woods. You could probably stick a tent across this path and doss in it all day without being disturbed to be honest, but there were plenty of flat places tucked away off the path and some with decent views out to the hills. On my first visit to camp in these woods, I pitched up under the tall conifers. It was dark, fairly spooky and the amount of them that I had now seen fallen made me realise it was also perhaps a bit dumb that I hadn't had a proper look for unsteady trees and branches. I'd found some really good new spots though where I could relax a bit more and potentially wake up to a glorious sunrise view. 

I was now a few miles into the walk and started to reach familiar territory at the exit from Top Walk. I'd taken my time and it would soon be getting dark. I stopped at the only bench and basically necked the can of Bira Moretti in my pack which was absolutely pointless. I then continued along this well-trodden route through the wood. Away from the secret wilderness and into civilisation. 

Those were my three walks in three woods over Christmas. I hadn't gone further than three miles from my house at any point either, but at times it had felt like I'd travelled to the other side of the world. England is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, but Herefordshire isn't anywhere near as busy as most of the other parts. In these hours of wandering, we'd only seen that one bloke with his big fire. I'd done some more exploring of the local area and had more joyous time in the outdoors with my baby daughter. Not everything had gone to plan with the shite weather, but it had been a wonderful first Christmas as parents and a glorious start to 2025. Happy New Year.