Upton's charms are well known and it's always a good place to start a walk, and perhaps an even better place to go back to afterwards, with its welcoming pubs and tea shops.

For anybody who appreciates beautiful buildings, Upton-upon-Severn has more than its fair share and it's well worth taking a stroll round its streets. Some of the most interesting buildings are tucked away in the background.

There are some fine buildings at Earl's Croome too. St Nicholas' Church is Norman (except for a Victorian tower in neo-Norman style) and Earl's Croome Court is a 17th-century timber-framed mansion, though you get only glimpses of it.

A few other timber-framed houses are passed or glimpsed in the course of the walk. Severn End (across the river, just before you leave the Severn Way) is particularly impressive, despite having to be partially rebuilt after a fire in 1896.

The surrounding countryside is undramatic but very pleasant, and well endowed with features of interest. There are some lovely old apple orchards for instance, at Ryall, the mature trees so much more attractive than the dwarf apples which are so often planted today.

These apple orchards are a valuable refuge for mistletoe, a plant which is in sharp decline throughout most of the UK. But there's plenty of it in this area, for Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire are the top three counties for this strange parasitic plant.

Mistletoe grows well on poplars too, and there are some particularly fine poplars to be seen on this walk. Our native black poplar has become generally scarce, though, as with mistletoe, Worcestershire is a bit of a stronghold. Don't miss these two features in the fields near Ryall.

Birds to look out for include herons and kingfishers by the River Severn, woodland and hedgerow species along the old green lane which links the Severn with the A38 and, perhaps best of all, a majestic pair of buzzards at Ryall.

Wild flowers are beginning to make an impact now, and you will see hundreds of cuckoo flowers (also known as milkmaids or lady's smock) making a cheerful splash of colour near Upton Marina.

There are violets and primroses in the hedgerows, and the first red campion are beginning to venture out too.

DIRECTIONS

Join the Severn Way, crossing the east side of Upton Bridge then taking a bridleway which tunnels under the main road and enters Fish Meadow. Walk north beside the River Severn on the floodbank.

The floodbank comes to an end as you approach a wood. Leave the Severn Way here, turning right on a footpath. After about 100m go through a bridle gate on the left and then go to the right on a newly cleared field-edge bridleway.

This is an ancient green lane, a fact which becomes much clearer after you pass through another gate to continue between ivy-draped trees on a slightly sunken route.

Two footpaths cross the old lane but don't be tempted by these. Keep going until you come to a point where another path branches right. It isn't waymarked but it's easy to recognise: there are large galvanised gates either side of the bridleway and a stile set at a right-angle to the bridleway.

Cross the stile and turn left along the edge of a wood. Once the wood has been left behind, continue in the same direction to the A38. Cross with care and walk down a lane opposite which takes you into Earl's Croome.

Reaching a T-junction, turn right. Walk to the A4104 and cross with care to a footpath opposite, signed to Ryall. Go forward by a hedge then through a gap into a huge field. Head across this to a clump of three or four trees on top of a slight rise ahead.

Cross a stile (watch out it wobbles) and go straight on along the top of a slight ridge. Cross another stile and keep going along the ridge but bear very slightly left so that you soon descend to meet a field boundary close to a cottage.

Turn right, with a copse on your left. At the end of it walk past a stile (note the massive poplar on the left here) and cross a footbridge. Go forward by a field edge and after passing three more big poplars cross another footbridge on the left (or go through an adjacent gate) and follow a track to a street at Ryall.

Turn right, then right again at a T-junction. Cross the A38 with care and turn left for a few paces to find a footpath which runs along the left-hand edge of an apple orchard.

Go through a gate in the top corner and walk along the right-hand edge of another orchard, and then a paddock. As you approach farm buildings look for a stile in the right-hand corner of the paddock and then follow a footpath which leads between gardens to emerge on a road.

Cross to a street called Ryall Meadow and follow it until you can join a footpath which leads to the River Severn and back to Upton.

FACTFILE

Start: Upton upon Severn; GR852407.

Length: 5 miles (8km).

Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: mostly level grassland.

Stiles: 8.

Parking: Upton.

Buses: Midland Red/Astons 363/364/372/373/374, daily; Traveline 0870 6082608.

Refreshments: good choice in Upton, Yorkshire Grey on A38 near Earl's Croome, Blue Bell at Ryall.

DISCLAIMER

This walk has been carefully checked and the directions are believed to be correct at the time of publication. No responsibility is accepted by either the author or publisher for errors or omissions, or for any loss or injury, however caused.