Two Frome Valley Churches

At first sight the Church of St Giles at Acton Beauchamp is unremarkable, sitting comfortably on a hillside. Parts of it are Norman, but it was largely rebuilt in 1819. However, if you move to the left of the main door you will see a doorway that leads into the tower. The lintel to this doorway is nothing less than a re-used 9th-century stone sculpture, depicting a bird, a lion, and probably a goat - there is nothing like this from the Anglo-Saxon period in Herefordshire.

Through the gate into the churchyard in Acton Beauchamp, a grassy path slants up to the church. Your eye may follow the shiny black line of the handrail that assists people to and from the church door, but right in front of you is an excellent specimen of a wild service tree. It must have been planted there. Wild service trees actually in the wild are relatively rare nowadays, although it is quite fashionable to plant them in urban settings. Their leaves are easily confused with those of a plane tree, but the latter's bark is very distinctive.

It is rare for the seeds of the wild service tree to have the opportunity to germinate since they are eaten and, genetically, destroyed by wasps. (This is in contrast to the consumption of hawthorn berries by birds, for example, where the expulsion of the seed, intact, after digestion of its juicy berry coating, is an effective form of dispersal.)

Academics are uncertain as to the significance of the name 'service'. Most likely it is a contorted Anglicisation of its Latin name Sorbus torminalis. Before multiple varieties of apples became available, wild service trees were grown in orchards because their fruits are edible. My dictionary says that a 'sorb' is a wild service tree, and that its fruits are called 'sorb-apples'. (In the southern counties of England they were called chequers.) Other less convincing theories are that 'service' derives from the Latin 'cervisia' for beer - not far from the contemporary Spanish 'cerveza' - since the wild service fruits were fermented to make a beery drink, really as a predecessor to cyder. Alternatively, it could have some association with the French word for cherry, 'cerise', since, although a kiwi-fruit brown, not red, wild service fruits are of a size and shape comparable to cherries.

In Stanford Bishop, St James' Church is similarly isolated, but has a hilltop position. The stonework is of a similar vintage to that in Acton Beauchamp - Norman and 13th century. Several yew trees dominate the churchyard, the mightiest of which is said to be 1,200 years old; inside, you'll see a certificate to this effect. Also here, nestling in a corner, is the strikingly well preserved, capacious wooden chair said to have been used by St Augustine in the year ad 603.

What to look for

Apart from orchards you'll also see hop fields on this walk and, in the vicinity of Paunton Court, look through the hedgerows for vineyards. They belong to Frome Valley Vineyard. Established only in 1992, the product of a modest 4 acres (1.6ha) goes into the making of four dry wines, one medium sweet and a rosé.

While you're there

Over 300 rose varieties are at nearby Acton Beauchamp Roses. To the west, south of Pencombe, is the fabulous Shortwood Family Farm. Younger children will happily consume a whole day at this complete hands-on livestock experience and in its play barn. Everything the farm produces is organic and you can join in collecting eggs, feeding the young animals and milking cows and goats. In late October horses work the cider mill. Bromyard, a 'black-and-white' market town for centuries, has recently acquired a veneer of eccentricity with the launch of a Public Art Trail - it's certainly contemporary, in that it combines the appropriate with the frankly silly. Lastly, don't forget Bishop's Frome's Hop Pocket Craft Centre.

Where to eat and drink

Such is the effort required to find the diminutive Majors' Arms at Halmonds Frome that you might hope that drinks would be on the house. It's worth paying for the views alone. On the B4214 through Bishop's Frome, the Chase Inn has Bulmers' Original, Wye Valley's beer and Frome Valley Vineyard's wine. Dogs allowed in the beer garden. Behind it, hidden from the B road, the family-run Green Dragon sells Theakston's and Foster's. Hot drinks and jacket potatoes at Shortwood Family Farm are very reasonably priced.