Pershore

Three centuries of Georgian houses line the High Street, their windows watching over one of Worcestershire's most underrated market towns. Pershore sits quietly between Worcester and Evesham, close enough to both for proper amenities yet far enough away to keep its own character intact. The abbey ruins peek through from behind the shops - what's left of a monastery that once rivalled Evesham for importance.

St Peter's Church dominates the town centre, its Norman tower a proper landmark that's visible for miles across the Vale of Evesham. The interior's worth twenty minutes of anyone's time, particularly for the medieval floor tiles. Tuesday's market day brings the High Street to life, though it's pleasantly sleepy the rest of the week.

Walk east from town and you'll hit Tunnel Hill, offering cracking views across the fruit orchards that made this area famous. The Avon runs just south of Pershore, and boaters often moor up at Craycombe turn visitors moorings for supplies or a pub lunch. This is proper Worcestershire countryside - apple and pear orchards stretching to the horizon, with the Malvern Hills visible on clear days.

Morton Hall Gardens, a ten-minute drive south, shows what Victorian garden design could achieve when money was no object. The topiary alone is worth the detour.

Evesham's fifteen minutes up the A4104 if you need a bigger Tesco or railway station, while Worcester's a similar distance north. Staying at one of the nearby parks puts you right in the heart of fruit-growing country, with easy access to the Cotswolds' southern edge and proper walking on Bredon Hill.