An unusual micro-cache set in the Vale of Evesham between Lower Moor & Fladbury on a public footpath called “The Porters” running near to the main railway line from Worcester to Paddington. This point & the two bridges at either side of this crossing are very popular with enthusiasts when steam trains use the line. Should you fancy combining a cache with spectacular views of trains then this might just fit the bill. The timetable for main-line steam trains is, at best, sporadic, & we think the best link is www.uksteam.info/tours. If you know of others let us know & we will be pleased to add them to this page. During your visit you may like to know a little about the area. As you look across the line from the crossing Bredon Hill is straight ahead, and to the right you will see some large buildings, Springhill Farm, this has for many years been a “market garden” producer of all kinds of vegetables & fruit that was washed, cooled & chilled there. It was sufficiently busy to have its own rail link for horses to pull the wagons to Fladbury Sidings, which closed in 1966; some of the rails are still visible today. The farm also had hop kilns & a brewery using barley and hops grown on the farm. The hop pickers were known as “The Dudleys”, as they travelled from that area for their working holidays. The market gardening land surrounding you is part of the farm & they now pack and distribute both local & foreign produce from there on an industrial scale. Going anti-clockwise you see Fladbury, a pleasant village with the river Avon running close by. It once had a monastery, now long gone, a water mill that is now a private house, & was a stop-off for Drovers with their animals. If you turn further around some ariel masts on a wooded hill are visible. Below this is Wood Norton, very famous, in broadcasting circles, as a training centre for the BBC until a few years ago when it had to pay for its self, RF Engineers from all over the world are now trained there. This is also the location of Wood Norton Hall, until recently, an up-market venue for weddings & conferences and the like, the BBC even filmed two episodes of Dr Who there! Interestingly, it was once the residence of French royalty, the Duc d'Orleans, who built the earlier buildings on the site & the grand gates leading from the Hall to the main road to the south of the more recent main entrance. They are worth a look if you are going towards Evesham. Turning further north, just over the skyline is the Second World War Pershore airfield, now closed to aircraft but still used by private companies for defence research. This area became well known during the 2001's Foot and Mouth epidemic when millions of animal carcases were buried here. On a more positive note when the pits were being excavated Medieval and Roman settlements were found, even making the dizzy heights of a “Time Team” television programme. The field between the crossing & Lower Moor often turns up lesser Roman finds and it is thought to have once contained a Roman Farmstead. Finally, Lower Moor is to the west. This has always been the poor neighbour to Fladbury, & was a working village, whose occupants were known years ago as “Moor-un's”. For those interested in Nature, the scarce Corn Bunting can be found in the area & Skylarks sing overhead during the summer, Golden Plover can often be seen in these fields in winter, & the usual countryside wildlife is represented in reasonable numbers all year around. Occasionally slow worms are seen sunning on the path on hot days & glow-worms display, on warm evenings, in the bushes between the railway crossing & Fladbury. If visiting the area, both Pershore & Evesham are attractive medieval market towns, having both interesting historic features & shopping opportunities. So to the cache. Parking is probably best at the Lower Moor end of the Porters footpath, both Salters Lane & Blacksmiths Lane are busy during the day so please take care and do not obstruct access to the fields, although the verges either side of the field entrance are usable with care. The cache is a micro, you will need to bring your own pen or pencil, & it will take a little imagination to find. There are often people about, both at work and play, so please try not to attract attention while searching. We strongly recommend that you do not go over the fence onto the railway trackside to look for or retrieve the cache. Linda and I hope you enjoy the visit to this, our first, cache.
You must sign the log to claim this cache.
Congratulations to: Riggy~Wizard for FTF on 01.09.06
Cakemaker for 2nd to find 04.09.06
Brynric for 3rd to find 09.09.06