After finally setting off on my hike from Llanwarne, Herefordshire, I was glad to be at one with my home county’s beautiful countryside again. Unfortunately, things started to go awry, and I was forced to trudge back to my car only a quarter of the way into my walk. But least I made a furry friend along the way.

For almost three centuries, the west end of High Town was dominated by Hereford Market Hall. It was once looked upon as the finest timber-framed building in the whole kingdom, and was a great source of pride for the city’s residents. If that was the case though, why did it disappear?

The City Arms Hotel was once one of Hereford’s premier establishments, even rivalling the Green Dragon for a time. Its guests included a duke and an admiral, and the building remarkably has a link to one of Britain’s greatest naval battles. But how did it go from a prestigious hotel to a branch of Barclays Bank?

Hereford is full to the brim of historic buildings. From the centuries-old cathedral to the Victorian Butter Market, the city has countless styles of architecture to see, so there is something for everyone. But what of the less well-known buildings that are hidden in plain sight along the streets?

Though Ross-on-Wye’s railway has been gone for almost sixty years, there are still reminders of it scattered throughout the town and the surrounding countryside. From old outbuildings to disused bridges, even today there is plenty to see of Ross’s lost railway.

Once the railway was completed in 1855, people were eager to take advantage of the new transport link. It would not all be smooth sailing though, as a decade later, services were halted as major alterations were carried out. Would these changes help, or hinder the railway?

In the early nineteenth century, a proposal was put forward to build a railway from Gloucester to Hereford via Ross-on-Wye. But with numerous false starts and setbacks plaguing the project, would its supporters ever be able to get it past the drawing board?