Tourist information

Regents is in West Malvern, Worcestershire, in the centre of England. The nearest cities are Worcester and Birmingham.

Malvern

Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It includes the towns of Great Malvern, Barnards Green, Malvern Link (with Link Top), Malvern Wells, West Malvern, Little Malvern and North Malvern. Most of these towns are separated by areas of open land. The civil parish has a population of 28,749 (2001 census). Great Malvern on the eastern side of the Malvern Hills. The name “Malvern” probably comes from the ancient British language meaning 'Bare-Hill', the nearest modern equivalent being the Welsh 'Moelfryn' (meaning 'bald hill').

Malvern is next to the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Starting from the Middle Ages, Malvern was the site of a Benedictine monastery which was first built in 1085 from a hermitage given by Edward the Confessor. This building dates back to about 1470. Malvern is also a famous spa, known for its bottled water since 1622.

The Three Counties Showground near Malvern hosts an annual agricultural show in June, and regular Royal Horticultural Society Gardening Shows.

The famous British composer, Edward Elgar, was born near Malvern and taught in Great Malvern. Much of his music was inspired by the Malvern Hills. He is buried in St. Wulstan’s church in Little Malvern. A statue of Elgar stands gazing over the town from Belle Vue terrace, and several roads in the town are named after him.

C.S. Lewis studied in Malvern.

Morgan sports cars are handbuilt in Malvern. You can visit the factory throughout the year.


Malvern in Literature
C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien used to walk on the Malvern Hills. The story goes that, after drinking in a Malvern pub one winter evening, they were walking home when it started to snow. They saw a lamp-post shining out through the snow and Lewis turned to his friends and said "that would make a very nice opening line to a book". In his book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the lamp-post in the snow greeted Lucy when she entered Narnia. 



The Countryside


If you like walking you will really enjoy exploring the Malvern Hills. From the college it is a 10-15 minute walk to the top of the hills, with amazing views from the top. You can spend the whole day walking across these 16kms of hills.

If you want to travel further away for a weekend break or longer, you will find many places to go that are quite close:

The Cotswolds offer beautiful walks over the hills east of Malvern. There are also many picture-postcard villages to visit, including Broadway, Chipping Campden, Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-the-Marsh and Bourton-on-the-Water. (40 mins by car)

The Brecon Beacons, to the south-west of Malvern, are a range of beautiful hills and mountains in Wales. (1.5 hours by car)

Devon and Cornwall are counties in the south-west of England with incredible landscape, beautiful towns and villages and wonderful sandy beaches. If you like surfing, Devon and Cornwall are the best places to go in England. (2 hours by car to Devon, 3.5 hours to Cornwall)


City Life

If you prefer cities, the Roman city of Worcesster is about 16km north-east of Malvern. Worcester is home to the Royal Worcester Porcelain Company, and has beautiful parks and a 1,000 year-old cathedral. There is a regular bus service between Malvern and Worcester.

If you don't mind travelling a bit further, Birmingham is an hour away by train from Malvern Link. Birmingham is the second city of England, and was at the centre of the Industrial Revolution, when machine power started to take over from human power. As a result Birmingham was a very industrial city. Recently the centre of the city has been completely rebuilt, with a huge shopping centre (the BullRing) and concert venues including the International Convention Centre, which is home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. There is also a canal system with walks and small cafes hidden around the city. Birmingham’s location in the very centre of England means that you can travel from Birmingham to almost any part of the country.

From Malvern, it’s also possible to visit other cities, including Oxford, Bath, Cardiff and London.