Hereford: A place to feel at home

Come with us as we take a whirlwind tour around the county town of Herefordshire and explore just some of the reasons people love to call Hereford home.

Herefordshire is one of the oldest and most sparsely populated counties in the UK and is located on the borders of England and Wales in the area known as The Marches.

This area of land has been fought over for centuries with many battles between the Welsh and English throughout the middle ages. All along its borders are historic ruins of many castles and the most famous battle of the war of the Roses Mortimer’s Cross was fought at Kingsland near Leominster.

It is a county that is well known for its stunning countryside and amazing walks with the Black Mountains to the South, Malverns to the East and Offas Dyke running along the border with Wales in the West.

The River Wye is the 5th longest river in the UK, carves its path from the Cambrian Mountains in Mid-Wales through Herefordshire where it joins The Lugg before heading south through the Wye Valley and back out to the Bristol Channel.

The river offers excellent tourism opportunities with canoeing, fishing and bird watching and is one of two areas of SSSI in the county.

The County town of Hereford derives its name from the Anglo-Saxon word “Here-Ford” meaning “Army crossing” and is thought to refer to the Roman Road crossing the Wye.

Local Delights

The famous breed of cows known as the Hereford scatter the vast fields around the county, known for their red coats and white faces they make a delightful sight all around the local towns and villages. First exported from Britain in 1817 there are now more than five million purebred Hereford cattle spanning over fifty nations.

Take a picture with the famous Hereford Bull – a monument celebrating the rich history of agriculture and cattle farming in the local area – which you’ll find at the heart of Hereford city’s shopping district.

Hereford is known for its thriving agricultural trade with potatoes and vegetables being grown locally, the former being used to produce the award-winning Chase Potato Vodka.

Another local potato delight includes Tyrrells Crisps which are manufactured near Leominster, as well as the locally made and nationally sold, Two Farmers Crisps, who grow their own potatoes on their Hereford farm and were the first crisp manufacturers to develop compostable crisp bags!

Local produce drives a lot of local trade, from ethically farmed freshwater fish to butchers sourcing local meat for products such as the famous Legges pork sausage roll. You can browse the wide selection of fresh local food at the famous Butter Market, a historic indoor market dating back to 1923 which is home to over 32 independent stalls offering meat, fish and local produce, as well as plenty of places to eat and drink.

If you like the idea of someone doing the cooking for you then book a table at The Beefy Boys.

This isn’t your usual burger bar, the self-titled ‘Meat Boutique’ makes some of the finest burgers in the world, with people travelling from all over the UK to eat one of their delicious mammoth size burgers. They also have a very entertaining YouTube channel, where they showcase their mouth-watering food in 4k quality videos.

Another major industry in Herefordshire is cider and hops with thousands of acres dedicated to the creation of cider and ale. Rows and rows of apple trees line up like soldiers with many incredible varieties of heritage apples being grown solely for the purpose of creating liquid gold. Some of the world’s best known and loved ciders are created here such as Strongbow (Bulmers) and Stowford Press (Westons) and many award winning local artesian cider makers ply their trade sucessfully.

It’s probably one of the safest places to live…

Who Dares Wins!
Hereford is home to the SAS with the Credenhill base situated on the outskirts of the city.

The SAS was created during WWII with small bands of parachute trained soldiers being dropped behind enemy lines to both gain intelligence as well as destroy and attack supply routes and aircraft.

The SAS have had their base near Hereford since 1960 and although the regiment was disbanded in 1947, it was reformed just a year later. The base moved site in the ‘90s but stayed local.

Making sporting history...

Like most cities sport plays a huge part in the life of Herefordians, whether it is fishing, shooting, golf, cricket or rugby there are plenty of teams to join or support. However it is Hereford United (now Hereford F.C) who most football supporters of a particular age will remember. It’s the 5th February 1972 and Hereford United (known, obviously, as The Bulls) are playing host to the mighty Newcastle United in an FA Cup third round replay. It was to be a game that no Hereford supporter, past or present, will ever forget.

Roughly 16,000 fans had crammed their way into Edgar Road and in front of them was a pitch that was a muddy mess before the game even started, and quickly became a quagmire. Newcastle took the lead in the first half but with just five minutes remaining ahead of the final whistle, Hereford’s Ronnie Radford unleashed a kick from practically a different postcode which found the back of the Newcastle goal.

In the resulting extra-time it was a goal from Bobby Moncur which secured victory for the giant-killing Bulls, but it is Ronnie’s goal that will be forever remembered and forever used on Match of the Day credits!

Our Hereford Office

14 King Street, Hereford HR4 9BW

Telephone: 01432 266007
hereford@cobbamos.com