Malvern Hills Walks from British Camp and Sally’s Place Kiosk

The dramatic heights, the ancient legends, the peaceful serenity. The Malvern Hills have inspired classical and contemporary composers for 100s of years and continue to do so. There’s something magical that happens when you climb the Malvern Hills, and as soon as she was able to talk, E would take in the views and say WOW!

Our favourite walks start from the British Camp car park, and end at Sally’s (or sometimes start at Sally’s for a bacon bap to take with us and eat on the bench looking over British Camp Reservoir and Little Malvern Priory).

There are great walks from here, ranging from a quick 20 minutes to hikes that will take hours, and everything in between. Just walking up as far as the first bench view is still lovely so there’s something for all states of exhaustion and toddler stomping abilities, however long you walk for, few things feel better than stomping up a Malvern, taking in the air and having a bap or an ice cream.

I’ve always loved the Malverns, when my mum proudly announced that I’d taken my first steps while dad was teaching, he drove us both to the Malvern Hills that weekend for a long walk. Of course, I managed a couple of stumbling steps and had to be carried for most of the circuit.

When E was tiny I’d carry her all the way up to the fort at British Camp. She’d have a little walk, a few steps here and there, but I’d end up carrying her most of the way up and down but she still felt she deserved her ice cream at the kiosk (Sally’s Place) once we got to the bottom again.

Now she’s bigger, too big for me to push or carry her on one of the long walks, but too little to manage the main climbs herself so we do a little circuit from the British Camp car park, up to the first plateau and back around again. We take our time at the top to have a stomp around and say hello to the cows if there are any up there. Then back down for a treat at Sally’s Place.

Everyone who’s walked or ridden the Malverns will be familiar with Sally’s Place, a hole in the wall kiosk with a small outdoor seating area, situated right at the bottom of the starting point for the British Camp walks.

Their sausage rolls and bacon / sausage / breakfast baps are legendary and they serve a large range of cakes, ice creams and treats. They also love kids and make time to chat even when they are busy.

We’ve sometimes come here for a quick walk and a coffee and snack before a session at Little Olive’s, which makes for a fun day.

You can get a buggy around most of it if you’ve got one with bigger, sturdy wheels. There are still steps to get up and down so you’ll need two grown-ups for some walks.

Fancy a longer walk? From the steps, one path climbs on up to the fort on the Herefordshire Beacon. Another heads south past British Camp Reservoir towards Clutter’s Cave (also called Giant’s Cave) and Hangman’s Hill, and you can loop back over the fort. The little detour west is worth it for the views over Herefordshire to Eastnor Castle.

Handy: the Malvern Hills Trust’s free walking and cycling map (PDF) shows the footpaths, bridleways and cycle paths across the hills and commons. For a longer walk up to the fort, Hiiker has a good route from Hollybush.