Luxury holidays in Worcestershire

When to go

The countryside comes alive in late spring with bluebells and fruit-tree blossom.

Getting there

• Planes

  Birmingham International is the nearest airport to Worcester (40 minutes away) and has connections from Aberdeen | Belfast | Edinburgh and Glasgow with BMI Baby (www.bmibaby.com); Manchester and London Heathrow are each around two hours away.

• Trains

  There’s a regular main line service linking Worcestershire with London Paddington, Birmingham New Street and Moor Street and other parts of the UK. For full services, see www.nationalrail.co.uk.

• Automobiles

  Access the county via the M6 | M40 or M5 (around two and a half hours from London; two hours from Manchester). National Express (www.nationalexpress.com) operates coaches from Birmingham | London | Swansea and Leeds to Worcester.

• Taxis

  In Worcester and the county’s bigger towns (such as Kidderminster and Stourport) you can hail cabs in the street, and most rail stations have ranks. Village-based cab-hunters will do best to book.