Easy hikes and walks around Astley And Dunley

These stepping stones are fine in the summer, but will typically be well under water for much of the winter and the water can be fast flowing. Fortunately there is a bridge about half a mile to the east.

Great place for coffee and cake . Or breakfast or lunch

Alas for most of 2024, the stepping stones are missing, presumably washed away. As mentioned about - footbridge available near where the brook meets the Severn (SO 811 666)

This beautiful open meadow is situated on the banks of the River Severn, where it meets the Dick Brook. It offers plenty of space for activities and is perfect for running around with your dog.

The mill has a stone with the date 1652 on it. The Dick Brook was canalised in the 1650s by Andrew Yarranton and the mill built as a tilt hammer mill to service a nearby blast furnace. The mill later became a fulling and paper mill until it was taken over by the Worcester Porcelain Company for the grinding of ‘grog’ from about 1760 till about 1808. It reverted back again to an iron works when a puddling furnace was installed (which has been excavated in the recent past). The site then evolved into domestic residences and was ultimately cleared. Source: geography.org.uk

Dick Brook is thought to be the first canalised brook in England, engineered by Andrew Yarranton, a local pioneer of the industrial revolution. He did this in the mid-17th century, 100 years before James Brindley embarked on the canal-building revolution. The brook was dredged and locks built to enable boats to carry iron ore from the River Severn up Dick Brook to a blast furnace. 500m along the path, marked by a way-marker post, you reach the site of a former iron forge. There are some building remains and the area is being studied by local historians. As you continue westwards, to the right of the path there are the earthworks of the leat which fed water to turn the wheels at the forge. The furnace site was 100m up the valley to the south of the path as you go towards Glasshampton. Source: Geopark guide

Hartlebury Common is an area of lowland heath in north Worcestershire, England, situated just outside the town of Stourport-on-Severn. Hartlebury Common and Hillditch Coppice are a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which covers an area of 90.2 hectares (229 acres). The common supports many varieties of wild plants and insects, especially butterflies and moths. Hartlebury Common and Hillditch Pool are a Local Nature Reserve. The name Hartlebury is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Heoertlabyrig meaning "Hill of the Deer". Hartlebury Common lies on Quaternary wind-blown sand which covers two river terraces of the River Severn overlying Bunter and Keuper Sandstone. It is situated within the Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark which was launched in 2004. Falling within the counties of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Worcestershire the Geopark covers 3,240 km2 (1,250 square miles). The geological and geomorphological significance of the area has been recognised for many years with 13 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and 179 Local Geological Sites (LGS) present. The Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark is one of only seven geoparks in the UK. Source: Wikipedia

The ‘Old Railway Line’ cuts through the red sandstone bedrock. These sandstones are Triassic in age, belonging to the ‘Sherwood Sandstone Group’ of rocks. The Sherwood Sandstone Group, the older Permian-aged Bridgnorth Sandstone and the younger Triassic-aged Mercia Mudstone Group have one thing in common; they were deposited in a vast rift basin, called the Worcester Basin. The Worcester Basin was north-south orientated and formed during the Permian period. Its western edge, in the Geopark area, followed the line of a major fault-line, the East Malvern Fault. In the present day this fault line is most clearly marked by the Malvern, Suckley and Abberley Hills. The eastern edge of the Basin followed the line of another major fault-line, the Inkberrow Fault. Into this basin a great variety of different sedimentary rocks were deposited and formed. Some were windblown deposits, others were despotised by streams and rivers, evaporate deposits also formed in lakes and the other significant deposit was alluvial fans that formed along the edge of the basin. Each of the rocks represents the changing environments experienced in the basin through the passage of time. The rocks seen along the ‘Old Railway Line’ belong to the Wildmoor Sandstone Formation, part of the Sherwood Sandstone Group of rocks. They are around 220 million years ago and comprises soft, weakly cemented, pale red-brown, micaceous, sandstones. The well-rounded, evenly sized grains suggest reworking of windblown sands that were deposited the Worcester Basin during the Permian period. Source: geopark.org