Mortimer Forest is a forest of just more than 1,000 hectares in Herefordshire on the border to Shropshire in the north. The Mortimer family came to England as part of the invading army of William the Conqueror in 1066 and ten years later Ralph de Mortimer was granted lands in Shropshire and Herefordshire. The family base was the castle of Wigmore, see an earlier post on my website about Wigmore Castle. They had their heydays in the 13th and 14th centuries and tried to lay claim on the English throne in the early 15th C.
The forest that we can walk in today was mainly planted by the Forestry commission a hundred years ago. It provides lovely walks and in the spring the bluebells are in abundance everywhere. The forest was given its name after the Mortimer family.
I went there guided by Rowena Craig and her two children, Islay and Sandy. Sandy has figured prominently in a couple of my other posts, latest in the Go-Karting race. Islay shares her mother’s interest into everything equestrian. Rowena brought us up on the hills from Richard’s Castle, where we entered the Mortimer Forest. Rowena, her husband and children had lived in the forest for many years before moving to Eardisland, and criss-crossed the land on both foot and horse-back.
We started the walk up on the hills above Richard’s Castle, where Rowena parked her car on the field before venturing into the forest.
When we reached Climbing Jack Common at the top of the hills, the fields were completely covered in bluebells as far as you could see (see the first image in this post and the one below here).
