British Camp Tombstone

I had a wonder over the road this morning with Whiskey and took a few pictures of the base of British Camp. This one is of a tombstone giving an explanation of the hillfort. As we can see the it tells us that the hill is 1115ft tall in my humble opinion tall enough to be a mountain!

Part of the text upon the tombstone reads thusly

One of the finest earthworks in Britain, built around the second century b.c. later enlarged and altered before the roman conquest it dominates the vicinity and commands magnificent panoramic views.

Please click on the image for a bigger readable shot

Whiskey The Dog

Always ready to welcome you at reception, Whiskey our resident dog/head of security.

We don't know Whiskey's exact age but it is believed that he is about ten years old. He has been working in reception with George and Karen for about five years now and has a wealth of experience in small functions and the dog treats usually located in Georges pocket.

The Malvern Hills Brewery

No trip to the Malvern Hills Hotel would be complete without a hardy sampling of one of our local brews from the Malvern Hills Brewery. At the moment we are serving Black Pear ABV 4.4% VOL. A premium beer, golden in colour with a combination of hops giving a pleasant bitter finish.

Malvern Hills Brewery (affectionately known as MHB) was established in an old quarryman’s gunpowder store back in September, 1998. Brewer and owner, Julian Hawthornthwaite, is proud to craft imaginative and distinctive beers using hops sourced from a local hop merchant. For more information on MHB beers please feel free to visit their website at http://www.malvernhillsbrewery.co.uk/

Post cards from the past

There have been lots of postcards of the hotel over the years and this is one of the earliest. Its interesting to see that the hills back then had far fewer trees, giving a much more defined outline.
Infact the name ‘Malvern’ is derived from the Celtic term for ‘bare hill’

You can clearly see the quarry next door and the gate house where the famous singer Jenny Lind once stayed.

There is no date on the card but judging by the level of development we can see that its from the turn of the century.

We have some nice framed examples of old British Camp postcards in the Vue restaurant. Also if your really interested you can ask at reception and i'll show you our full collection of over 60 different postcards from all periods of the hotels history.


We still sell postcards of the hotel today although I don't think they are as interesting as these old shots, I may get some reprinted if there's a market.

Brazilian Rotary Swap

Colwall Rotary club usually meet here on a Thursday night at 7:30pm. However, this Sunday lunchtime, they arrived for a splendid two course meal with some of their Brazilian counterparts, who are taking part in a rotary scheme to see how people from similar industries operate in different parts of the world. Later on this year four members of our own comunity will ge the chance to visit Brazil in return.

The meal was a fantastic success and everyone had a great time. To find out more about our Rotary's activities please feel free to join them on a Thursday night here at the hotel or feel free to visit their website at http://www.colwallrotary.org.uk/

The history of British Camp

The Malvern Hills Hotel sits at the base of British Camp, customers sometimes ask me about the fort so here is a quick post giving some facts.

1. The British Camp is an Iron Age hill fort located at the top of Herefordshire Beacon in the Malvern Hills. The site is thought to date back before the Common Era and has been extended subsequently by a medieval castle.
2. What remains of the fort suggests that it was constructed to a classic mot and bailey construction.
3. There is no evidence about whether the coming of the Romans ended the prehistoric use of the British Camp, but folklore states that the ancient British chieftain Caractacus made his last stand here.
4. On a clear day you can see upto 14 counties from the top of british camp (Please don't ask me to name them).
   

The extensive earthworks remain clearly visible today and determine the shape of the hill. As a reminder of its former glory.

Let the show season start again

Every year people pop in the hotel and ask me when is the spring show well as we can see above it starts on the 7th of May.

On a smaller scale but closer date the Malvern Showground's next show is Country Tastic, introducing food farming and the countryside this Easter its the perfect event to keep the children happy in the school holidays.

For more information please feel free to contact the showground on 01684 584900 or you can take a look at there website at http://www.threecounties.co.uk/

Incidentally The Malvern Showground is located less than three miles from the hotel, just down the hill.