The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Hartlebury

Super nice and very scenic canal section with nice views. The Staffs and Worcs Canal makes for a good detour to avoid the busy road traffic of Kidderminster. There are stunning rural and urban views to be had from the canalised.

Great place for coffee and cake . Or breakfast or lunch

Charlton Lane is very often flooded, but fords aren't too deep

Restored viaduct for the Severn Valley Railway

Good path for walking and cycling. Saw a Muntjac deer further down

Hartlebury Common is an area of lowland heath in north Worcestershire, England, situated just outside the town of Stourport-on-Severn. Hartlebury Common and Hillditch Coppice are a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which covers an area of 90.2 hectares (229 acres). The common supports many varieties of wild plants and insects, especially butterflies and moths. Hartlebury Common and Hillditch Pool are a Local Nature Reserve. The name Hartlebury is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Heoertlabyrig meaning "Hill of the Deer". Hartlebury Common lies on Quaternary wind-blown sand which covers two river terraces of the River Severn overlying Bunter and Keuper Sandstone. It is situated within the Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark which was launched in 2004. Falling within the counties of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Worcestershire the Geopark covers 3,240 km2 (1,250 square miles). The geological and geomorphological significance of the area has been recognised for many years with 13 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and 179 Local Geological Sites (LGS) present. The Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark is one of only seven geoparks in the UK. Source: Wikipedia

The ‘Old Railway Line’ cuts through the red sandstone bedrock. These sandstones are Triassic in age, belonging to the ‘Sherwood Sandstone Group’ of rocks. The Sherwood Sandstone Group, the older Permian-aged Bridgnorth Sandstone and the younger Triassic-aged Mercia Mudstone Group have one thing in common; they were deposited in a vast rift basin, called the Worcester Basin. The Worcester Basin was north-south orientated and formed during the Permian period. Its western edge, in the Geopark area, followed the line of a major fault-line, the East Malvern Fault. In the present day this fault line is most clearly marked by the Malvern, Suckley and Abberley Hills. The eastern edge of the Basin followed the line of another major fault-line, the Inkberrow Fault. Into this basin a great variety of different sedimentary rocks were deposited and formed. Some were windblown deposits, others were despotised by streams and rivers, evaporate deposits also formed in lakes and the other significant deposit was alluvial fans that formed along the edge of the basin. Each of the rocks represents the changing environments experienced in the basin through the passage of time. The rocks seen along the ‘Old Railway Line’ belong to the Wildmoor Sandstone Formation, part of the Sherwood Sandstone Group of rocks. They are around 220 million years ago and comprises soft, weakly cemented, pale red-brown, micaceous, sandstones. The well-rounded, evenly sized grains suggest reworking of windblown sands that were deposited the Worcester Basin during the Permian period. Source: geopark.org

Leapgate old railway line once carried trains between Stourport and Worcester. Now a cycle and footpath, you can cross the River Stour over this viaduct and access Stourport town as well as Hartlebury Common to the east. Both National Cycle Route 45 and the Geopark Way long-distance hiking route use the old railway line.