Vale of Evesham

The Vale of Evesham, an area famed for its orchards and horticultural produce, has for many centuries supported a number of communities that have thrived on its fertile soil. Drained by the River Avon and with the town of Evesham as its centre, the Vale includes land in south Worcestershire, south Warwickshire and north Gloucestershire. Defining its precise geographical limits is a difficult task as some would argue that it stretches as far as Stratford-upon-Avon to the north and Tewkesbury to the west, being bounded by the Cotswolds, the ridge of the Lenches and other higher ground. For the purposes of our website, however, we concentrate on the Worcestershire villages surrounding the town of Evesham are covered, including those in Evesham's immediate neighbourhood, some of the Bredon Hill villages, The Lenches and Broadway at the foot of the Cotswold Escarpment. However, we reserve the right to drag in any other areas that look interesting!

The Vale of Evesham has little heavy or even light industry, land use being mostly and traditionally agricultural and horticultural and including fruit farms, livestock farming and market gardening on varying scales from small producers to very large concerns. The sheltered climate beneath the escarpment of the Cotswolds, the light alluvial soils and the ready availability of river water for irrigation in dry weather has led to a great deal of vegetable production: spring onions, leeks, cabbages, brussels sprouts and runner beans but also rhubarb, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, beetroot, courgettes, artichokes and pumpkins. There are numerous orchards in the area, survivors of a time when the entire Vale was covered with blossom in the spring. Plums are still grown here in traditional British varieties such as 'Pershore Purple' and 'Pershore Yellow Egg'. Although orchards have declined somewhat in recent decades, they still make a sufficient show of blossom in spring that they are a tourist attraction. The plum trees blossom first in early spring with a delicate white blossom.

In the villages to the east of Evesham, such as Offenham and Badsey, there are growers specialising in asparagus production, which is even grown in the town centre on land previously farmed by the monks of Evesham Abbey. Every year there are asparagus auctions, notably at the historic Fleece Inn in Bretforton, which is now owned by the National Trust.

The Vale is served by the 150-year-old Cotswold railway line, originally known as the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway, although this was known at the time of construction as the "Old Worse and Worse", due to regular derailments and construction problems, including a riot at Mickleton on the edge of the Vale. The only surviving stations within the Vale are at Honeybourne and Evesham and these are served by trains from Hereford, Worcester and London. Other stations, such as Littleton, were closed by the Beeching Axe.