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Nestled at the foot of the Malvern Hills, the Victorian spa town of Great Malvern has long been a popular tourist destination with visitors travelling from far and wide to take the Malvern spring water for medicinal purposes.  In more recent times the town has become a foodie hotspot with numerous high quality bakeries, cafes, restaurants and breweries springing up around the town. These have become so popular that Visit The Malverns have put together a series of Foodie Itineraries creating tours around local businesses so we decided to drive over to the Malverns and follow a couple of them ourselves.

Getting there:

Great Malvern is located a short distance from the M5 motorway, accessed either via Worcester or the M50 spur from the North and South respectively.  The town also benefits from good rail connections with direct Great Western Railway services to Birmingham, Oxford and London making it an ideal destination for a weekend break.

Malvern Breweries and Bakeries Itinerary

Breakfast

We arrived into Great Malvern bright and early and following the Breweries and Bakeries suggested itinerary we headed straight down Church Street to the Malvern Bakehouse for our morning cappuccinos accompanied by one of their irresistible freshly baked pastries. This family run cafe/ bakery has seating both indoors and outside and is clearly the go to place to buy bread as there was a constant stream of people popping in for their weekend loaves with the traditional Polish sourdough and rye bread being extremely sought after. Not only was the bread selling out fast, their pastries and coffees seemed popular too.

From our window table in the cosy cafe we started the day with a flaky almond croissant and a fruit danish both of which tasted divine and with the aroma of freshly baked bread coming from the rear of the shop, our morning couldn’t have got off to a better start. Malvern Bakehouse

On leaving the bakery we then decided to walk off our breakfast by following the ‘Route to the Hills‘ up to St. Ann’s Well on the Malvern Hills. On reaching the Rose Bank Gardens before a climb of 99 steps we paused to take a photo in front of the Malvern sign. We then huffed and puffed our way up the old stone steps which led on to a zigzag path taking us up to the historic St. Ann’s Well in around 15 minutes. The historic building dates back to 1813 and houses an elaborately carved Sicilian marble spout and basin. It is now the home of the St Ann’s Café offering light refreshments alongside some far reaching views.

We decided to extend our walk by continuing slightly further uphill along the eastern slopes of the Malvern Hills from where we were rewarded with even more stunning views over Great Malvern and the Worcestershire Plain.

After retracing our steps back to St. Ann’s Well we then returned to the town centre by a different route which took us down St. Ann’s Road for a change of scene.

Lunch

Conveniently located not far from where our walk had just ended at the top of Great Malvern we headed to our suggested lunch spot on Belle Vue Terrace. Created out of a former department store Faun is another independent bakery/ cafe. The cafe extends through several rooms creating a cosy atmosphere and also boasts a covered outdoor seating area to one side.

Just like the Malvern Bakehouse where we’d started the day, both the bakery and cafe sections were busy with friends and families enjoying lunchtime get togethers. It was just as well that we’d reserved a table in advance otherwise we might have been disappointed or needed to wait awhile.

With lots to choose from on the menu which celebrates the best of local, seasonal produce we were spoilt for choice but we both finally settled on chalk stream trout served with dill butter, pickled cucumber and dark rye bread. The trout tasted fresh and flavoursome and although at first I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat all of the bread, it was so delicious that I found it impossible to resist. We accompanied our lunch with glasses of ginger beer and kombucha and although the pastries and cakes looked very tempting we decided to leave those for another visit. Faun Bakery and Cafe

Afternoon shopping and sightseeing

What better way to spend an afternoon than by exploring Great Malvern’s beautiful town centre sights and shops.

Great Malvern Priory

The priory is a former Benedictine monastery and is free to visit.  With its perpendicular architecture and Norman pillars the interior of the 900 year old church is absolutely beautiful.  The choir stalls took our attention with their small carved shelves to the underside of the seats.

These are known as misericords and were designed so that when the seat was tipped up the choristers could rest back on the shelf. The priory contains the oldest stained glass windows along with York Minster and has literary connections to C.S. Lewis. Great Malvern Priory.

Abbey Gateway

This archway is now home to Malvern’s museum and was formerly the gatehouse to Great Malvern’s Benedictine priory which was constructed in 1480.  The small museum documents the town’s history and development. Malvern Museum

Priory Park

Our afternoon stroll then led us to Priory Park which is a beautifully laid out green space that was originally an arboretum and contains some fine examples of specimen trees providing both colour and shade. Paths lead through the gardens with an ornate bridge crossing the pond. To one side of the park stands the Malvern Theatre which runs a varied programme throughout the year attracting well known actors. A recent addition to the park is a splendid wooden children’s adventure playground which was proving popular with young families. Over on the Victorian bandstand, a full programme of music in the park runs each Sunday from May to September from traditional brass bands to folk music, light rock and jazz.

Shopping

It was then time to browse the shops. Malvern has a thriving high street with numerous interesting small independent retailers including the ever popular Malvern Bookshop which has been serving its loyal customers since 1954.  There’s also a good selection of household names including Seasalt and Crew Clothing.

The Weavers Real Ale House

Still keeping on the theme of yeast but now turning our attention from bakeries to breweries, the first one to mention is Great Malvern’s newest micro bar situated close to the priory. This ale house serves locally sourced ales, ciders, craft beers, wines and spirits in a relaxed, contemporary styled interior. Weavers of Malvern

Night Owl Brewery

Back to the car, it was just a 10 minute drive over to the Night Owl Brewery. This artisan micro brewery is located in the village of Storridge and has just celebrated its first anniversary. Established by Emily and Miles Stephens, we received a warm welcome and enjoyed samples of their three cask ales. There’s a cosy indoor seating area with a large beer garden to the front and side of the building.

The first beer we tasted was a golden pale ale called Flight which we followed up with a sample of Forest which had a richer and fuller flavour and rounding off the trio we tasted Moonbather their ‘Storridge Stout’ which had a distinctly dark appearance with a complex flavour. Surprisingly I didn’t expect to enjoy the stout as I don’t normally drink dark ales but with its bitter orange undertones and subtle juniper and chocolate notes it was actually very pleasant. Night Owl is open between 12.00-18.00 Thursday to Saturday and holds a Beer, Burger and Band event on the first Saturday of each month whilst at other times locally made pies and snacks are on offer. Night Owl Brewery

The Hop Shed

For our evening meal we headed over to The Hop Shed in Suckling. This award winning brewery and tap room is one of the most popular places around Malvern at weekends especially on Friday evenings when they host street food pop ups. Approaching the Hop Shed along narrow winding lanes we hardly saw a car in sight yet when we arrived at the venue at around 6.30 p.m. we couldn’t believe how many vehicles were parked across the road on the edge of an apple orchard.

The Hop Shed has a relaxing, friendly atmosphere with a large seating area outdoors with ample room inside where you can sit around the brewing vessels in the very farm where the hops are grown. We ordered glasses of their Golden Ale and Worcestershire Redcap then found space on the end of one of the picnic tables where we chatted to the other people sitting near us who told us that it was their favourite weekend haunt.

We’d timed our visit well as on Friday evenings the brewery hosts street food pop ups ranging from Fish and Chips through to Japanese cuisine and Pizzas. On the evening of our visit, burgers were the order of the day but not just any old burgers but some very special ones.

Hillbilly’s Street Kitchen has built up such a good reputation for their street food that they were recently serving food from the VIP section of the Oasis concerts in Manchester. Our smash burgers and fries were delicious and up with the best we’ve tasted. These weekend pop ups attract all ages from families, to couples and groups of friends with dogs. The Hop Shed

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We were guests of Visit The Malverns and as always, all views and opinions are entirely my own.