The spring Blossom Trail can be enjoyed in many ways – as an adventure in your own time or as a fun-filled organised day out. To enhance your experience further, the trail incorporates many of the horticultural highlights the area has to offer throughout the rest of the year – award-winning parks, garden centres, nurseries and farm shops (many with cafes) selling outstanding local produce and home cooked delicacies. From April to June this will also include the famous Vale of Evesham Asparagus – whose prestige has gained it PGI European Protected Food named status.
2023 Blossom Trail guide
For this milestone anniversary, They have extended the Blossom Trail guide to feature more information on the area as you explore the 55 mile route. You will still find information on the different types of blossom, its history and how best to enjoy it, but for this edition you’ll also find out about:
- Exciting selfie/Instagram opportunties
- A new bikeaway event
- An enhanced businesses of interest listing, including garden centres, nurseries and farm shops
- Mini visitor guides to the three towns on the route, as well as the stunning village of Broadway
- Places to visit on the trail to enjoy the blossom including National Trust properties, gardens and their parks.
The guide will be available to be picked up from at the district’s Tourist Information Centres and multiple literature racks in the area. Alternatively, download it below (8mb).
Download the 2023 Blossom Trail guide
About the Blossom
For almost four decades the Vale of Evesham Blossom Trail has been recognised as one of the top ‘wonders of spring’ and can be experienced on foot, by bike, car or coach.
The term Blossom is given to a cluster of flowers that bloom on any plant – this can include magnolia, hawthorn, blackthorn and ornamental cherries. Blossom tress however, tend to be associated with the fruiting (Prunus genus) varieties – these include cherries, plums, apples, pears, peaches and crab-apples.
Blossom provides pollen to pollinators such as bees who initiate the cross pollination necessary for the trees to reproduce by producing fruit. The colour of the blossom that can be seen throughout the Vale of Evesham range from the delicate white of pear, plum, orange, some cherry and most almonds; to the variable degrees of pink via apple, peach and cherry.
Throughout the Blossom Trail you will find there are many different varieties of blossom, below are some of the different types you can find during spring time in Worcestershire’s Vale & Spa.
Apple
The blossom of apple is usually tinged with pink and an apple orchard in May is surely the most beautiful site in the farmed landscape. Apples are pollinated by all sorts of insects including long-horn beetles, malachite beetles, butterflies and solitary bees.
Blackthorn
A common shrub turning hedgerows white in early spring. The abundant blossom attracts many pollinators including hoverflies and bumblebees.
Cherry Plum
The first fruit blossom of the year. Often planted as hedgerow shrubs or as small trees in orchards. An important early nectar source for honeybees which will have used up their stored honey over the winter.
Damsom
The delicate blossom is not such a common sight in the Vale nowadays, being mostly restricted to hedgerows and along water courses. All of the old Damson trees in the Vale are infected by a fungus Taphrina insititiae which causes twiggy growths known as Witches’ Brooms.
Pear
Large old pear trees can be seen along roadsides and in hedgerows dotted through the Vale. The majority of these big trees produce small pears used for making perry. The bark of a pear tree divides into small rectangular sections making it quite distinctive.
Plum
The pure white plum blossom is on show for a very short period in April and attracts an assortment of pollinators including hoverflies, dagger-flies, bee-flies and small beetles. Plum orchards once dominated the landscape around the Vale but only a few of these special places now remain.
The Trail Route
The signposted trail route takes in large areas of the Vale of Evesham, with visits to towns, villages and hamlets along the way. The different types of blossom appear at different times, so the trail map below will help give you an indication of where you can find each type. There are plenty of others points of interest along the way, so be sure to take in all the area has to offer.
Map business numbering
1. Walsgrove Farm – Garden Centre
Evesham Road, Worcester, WR7 4QL | T: 01905 345371 | www.walsgrove.co.uk
2. Walcot Organic Nursery – Garden Centre
Walcot Lane, Drakes Broughton, Pershore, WR10 2AL | 01905 841587 | www.walcotnursery.co.uk
3. The New Hampton Farm Shop – Farm Shop
Pershore Rd, Evesham, WR11 2NB | T: 01386 41540 | www.hamptonfarmshop.com
4. Chadbury Farm Shop and Café – Farm Shop
Worcester Road, Evesham, WR11 4TD | T: 01386 446705 | www.chadburyfarmshopandcafe.co.uk
5. Ellenden Farm Shop and Café – Farm Shop
Evesham Road, Harvington, WR11 8LU | T: 01386 870296 | www.ellendenfarmshop.co.uk
6. Blue Diamond @ The Valley – Garden Centre
The Valley, Evesham, WR11 4DS | www.bluediamond.gg/evesham-garden-centre
7. Station Garden Nurseries – Garden Centre
Station Road, Blackminster nr Evesham, WR11 7TF | T: 01386 832698 | Facebook page
8. Badsey Garden Centre – Garden Centre
Vale Gardens, Birmingham Road, Badsey, Evesham, WR11 7TW | T: 01386 831000 | www.valegardens.co.uk
9. Broadway Road Nurseries – Garden Centre
Broadway Road, Evesham, WR11 7RN | T: 07967 193 587 | www.broadwayroadnurseries.com
10. Castle Nurseries – Garden Centre and Farm Shop
Broadway Road, Evesham, WR11 7RN | T: 01386 765711 | Facebook page
11. Cotswold Garden Flowers – Garden Centre
Sands Lane, Badsey, Evesham, WR11 7EZ | T: 01386 833849 | www.cotswoldgardenflowers.co.uk
12. Wayside Farm Shop – Farm Shop
50 Pitchers Hill, Wickhamford, Evesham, WR11 7RT | T:01386 830546 | www.waysidefarmshop.com
13. W.J Rowlings Nurseries – Garden Centre
Oak Rise, Main Road, Cropthorne, Pershore, WR10 3NE | T: 01386 860793 | www.wjrowlings.com
14. Wayside Nurseries – Garden Centre
New road, Elmley Castle, Bricklehampton, Pershore, WR10 3HN | T: 07816 053887 | Facebook logo
15. Clive’s Of Cropthorne – Farm Shop
The Heath, Main Road, Cropthorne, Pershore, WR10 3NE | T: 01386 860439 | Facebook page
16. The Real Flower Confetti Fields – Garden Centre
Wyke Manor, Wick, Pershore, WR10 3NZ | T: 01386 555045 | www.confettidirect.co.uk/flowerfields
17. Pershore Garden Centre – Garden Centre
Pershore College, Avonbank, Pershore, WR10 3JP | T: 0330 135 7277 | www.pershoregardencentre.co.uk
18. Four Acres Nursery – Garden Centre
Pershore Road, Pershore, WR10 3DY | T: 01386 550357 | Facebook page
19. Hayloft Nurseries – Garden Centre
Manor Farm Nursery, Pensham, Pershore, WR10 3HB | T: 01386 562999 | www.hayloft.co.uk
20. The Secret Garden Centre – Garden Centre
Browns Home Hardware, 3 High Street, Pershore, WR10 1AD | T: 01386 552648 | www.brownshomehardware.co.uk
21. Three Springs Garden Nursery – Garden Centre
Defford Road, Pershore, WR10 3BX | T: 01386 555476 | Facebook page
22. Birlingham Nurseries – Garden Centre
Upper End, Birlingham, Nr Pershore, WR10 3AA | T: 01386 750668 / 07973 500921
23. Revills Farm Shop – Farm Shop
Bourne Road, Defford, WR8 9BS | T: 01386 750466 | www.revillsfarmshop.co.uk
24. Mill Lane Nursery – Garden Centre
Mill Lane, Drakes Broughton, Pershore, WR10 2AF | T: 01905 841650 | www.milllanenursery.co.uk
25. Stoulton Farm Shop – Farm Shop
Angel Meats, Windmill Hill, Worcester, WR7 4RW | T: 01905 840995
26. St Peters Garden Centre – Garden Centre
Pear Tree Farm, Norton, Worcester, WR5 2NY | T: 01905 357595 | www.stpetersgardencentre.co.uk
Exploring the Blossom Trail
Cycling
Cycling around the Blossom Trail couldn’t be easier. The National Cycle Route 442 is perfectly situated to enjoy the blossom – the route travels from Worcester to Evesham via Pershore, taking you through quiet villages and country lanes. It really is the best way to get close to nature.
To help you get around the route, there are a number of blue Spring Blossom Trail signs to look out for on junctions.
Walking
If you would like to enjoy the wonderful countryside by foot then Worcestershire’s Vale & Spa makes an ideal location. By offering a range of routes, from long, short, easy or difficult, there is something that allows everyone to enjoy the views. Many of these routes are signposted and can be easily found and followed to allow you to take in the wildlife without getting lost.
The walking routes are easily accessible and can be located all around the trail – marked by a black walking sign. From here, you can follow the arrows and signs that will take you over stiles, along bridleways, through stunning fields of blossom and orchards filled with colour.
Along the way you’ll cross many other trails which you could find yourself exploring, including:
• The Wychavon Way
• The Shakespeare’s Avon Way
• The Millennium Way
• The Cotswold Way
For more information visit: www.valeandspa.co.uk/walking
Download a GPX file of the route
To assist you with navigating the route around the Blossom Trail, a GPX file has been created to guide you around the most efficient route.
The standard file is suitable for car and cycle users, whereas coaches should use the self-titled file to avoid unnavigable sections.
