Attractions and Places To See around Wyre Forest - Top 20

One of the highlights of this part of the Geopark Way, rather better than walking through Stourport.

Great place to watch the steam trains of the Severn Valley Railway.

This spot gives one of the best views of the steam trains on the Severn Valley Railway. I went here specifically to watch the Flying Scotsman make a guest appearance to re-open the line after a winter landslide closed it.

Incredibly muddy - wear wellies!

Nice wildlife spotting place.

Knowles Mill is the remains of an eighteenth-century water-powered grain mill, located in the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire, England. The mill has been owned by the National Trust since 1938. The mill and its surroundings feature extant machinery, as well as notable populations of adders and wood cranesbill. One of nine possible mills that historically worked on Dowles Brook, Knowles Mill was built in the eighteenth-century, and was later modified in the nineteenth-century. The surviving building is two storeys high and the site also preserves an overshot mill wheel made of iron and a great spur wheel, alongside other remnant machinery. The first record of a mill on the site dates to 1757 when it was listed as for sale in a local newspaper. However there is documentary evidence preceding 1757 that lists owners of the land that the mill was built on. These owners include Arthur Palmer, c.1661, Edward Wheeler, c.1693, Roger Hunt, c.1704, Antony Betts, c.1717, Edward Faulkner, c.1722 and Daniel Crun, c.1735. The first owner of the mill was William Crun, in 1757. It passed through a number of owners, including William and Mary Herbert, William Nicholls and Arthur Nott. The mill takes its name from the Knowles family who worked there from 1803 to the 1870s; earlier names included Coventry Mill and Upper Town Mill. The first member of the family to be listed as owner was James Knowles. The mill continued in use until 1891, when it became no longer financially viable. It was donated to the National Trust by Paul Cadbury in 1938, along with four acres of orchards. The property was visited by the historian James Lees-Milne during his work as a curator for the Trust. Source: Wikipedia

The nature reserve is approximately 35 hectares (86 acres) in size. The dominant habitat is heath and acid grassland, surrounded by oak and birch scrub. The acid grassland has been surveyed by many professional bodies, and Natural England rated it as the best quality acid grassland in the county. Wildlife on the site is typical for what you would expect on a heathland site, while reptiles are scarce due to the levels of disturbance from the public; however common lizard, grass snake and slow worm have been seen. There are many notable species of solitary bee and wasp which make use of the bare sandy soil, as do unusual heathland specialists, the green tiger beetle. The open areas are also utilised by a variety of ground feeding birds such as green woodpecker and as nesting sites for rarities like woodlark. There are a few small pools on site; one in particular supports a good breeding population of smooth newt, common frog, various dragonflies, damselflies and great diving beetle. Although traditionally a heath, this has given way in the main to gorse and broom scrub. There has been an increase in the density of rare grey hair grass after scrub clearance carried out in previous years. The area has an interesting history, with the site being used as a World War II American Army training and hospital camp. All that remains from those days are concrete paths, and some foundations from the original buildings. Much of this has been highlighted along a way marked ‘History’ trail. The website 'Burlish Camp' has more on the history of the site. In addition to the history trail, there are 3 other trails around the site, including 2 easy going routes, which take advantage of the sites historical concrete tracks, and a heathland circular, which also incorporates much of the Rifle Range SSSI. Source: Wyre Forest District Council

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