OUR leisurely loop this month might suit walkers who are just starting out in the countryside.

It follows bridleway, country lane and one crop field edge. There are no stiles, no cattle, route-finding is easy and it’s a level walk to one of Herefordshire’s most remarkable veteran trees, the Great Oak of Eardisley.

Eardisley is en route for motorists and cyclists on the Black and White Trail.

The lively village first began to thrive as a medieval rural settlement around the castle and church in the 12th century, but its character and shape were set in the next century when long narrow tenement plots were laid out at right angles to the road going north. You can still see this pattern in the village today.

After once walking the six miles to a garden party at Eardisley Vicarage, Francis Kilvert was offered a transfer from Bredwardine to Cannes as permanent chaplain. Church Elders thought it might be a good idea for Kilvert because of his troublesome health, but the vicar fatefully declined the position in the following week.

Part of the Tram Inn, with modern award-winning amenities, is the original 14th century hostelry. The unusual name recalls the early 19th century, horse-drawn tramway on cast-iron rails which first brought Welsh coal from Brecon to Eardisley in 1818. Its success led to an extension to Kington and in the 1860s stretches of the tramway were adapted and converted to standard gauge for the new steam railway. Eardisley junction station connected the Leominster and Kington (Great Western) Railway with the Hereford, Hay & Brecon (Midland) Railway. So by this route Kington kept up its long-established relations with South Wales via Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil.

As well as extra services for sheep and their drovers, a special compartment was occasionally made available on the “Kington and Eardisley”

for the renowned opera singer Dame Adelina Patti (1843-1919). The most popular and highly-paid soprano of her day and Giuseppe Verdi’s favourite, Patti had a country residence at Craig-y-nos in the Valleys, where she entertained the likes of Edward VII in her own theatre.

In the 1920s the staff at Eardisley station consisted of the stationmaster, a booking clerk, six signalmen, two porters and a weighing boy - a considerable amount of staff for a small rural station.

The tramway wharf and the Midland railway station were at the southern entrance to the village. The old wharf now provides sites for small industries but the only clue to the station is the road bridge. During the Second World War an extra railway line was added just outside the station to reach an extensive petrol and oil dump supplying the American forces at Kington’s Hergest camp. A small garrison looked after the site situated east of the main road through the village. Like so many others, the railway was eventually closed in 1962.

Eardisley station was taken down piece by piece and rebuilt at Welshpool, where it forms part of the restored Welshpool and Llanfair Railway.

Francis Kilvert died from peritonitis at 38, a year after agonising over the position in the south of France. At much the same time, the Great Eardisley Oak was saved from fire by Charles Nicholls, a labourer who lived at neighbouring Rose Cottage.

Rescued from fire again in the 1930s the mighty pedunculate oak has stood the test of time – it’s about 900 years old and can be seen at point three on our walk.

à If you are interested in joining others on leisurely walks, like this one from Eardisley, please contact Anna Ward, Let’s Walk Herefordshire co-ordinator, at Herefordshire Council on 07792 881 590, or email award@ herefordshire.

gov.uk.

Garth Lawson has teamed up with the Council to devise a series of walks adapted from those originally published in the Hereford Times to offer people of all fitness levels a little country walking experience. They may include unsurfaced rural paths.