European Designation of the Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark brings popular geological education and enjoyment to the area.

With the Abberley and Malvern Hills accepted as a European Geopark there is already a huge infrastructure to help visitors realise what a very special area they are in. The Partnership that put together the application and now takes the project forward is made up of the Abberley Hills Preservation Society, English Nature, the Forestry Commission, Gloucestershire Geoconservation Trust, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, Scenesetters, University College Worcester.

The Geopark falls within the counties of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Worcestershire and covers 1250 square kilometres. The geological and geomorphological significance of the area has been recognised for many years with 13 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and 62 Regionally Important Geological Sites (RIGS) present. There are Geological Conservation Review sites also present. All are protected within existing national legislation and county and district Structure and Local Plans. Within the same area there are many biological SSSIs and Special Wildlife Sites, the latter overseen by the four county Wildlife Trusts. Archaeological sites of importance are recorded and protected by the four County Archaeology Departments.

The active and well-established Earth heritage groups carrying out recording and geoconservation are Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, Gloucestershire Geoconservation Trust and Shropshire RIGS Group. These three very successful groups have between them 12 staff and 60 volunteers, have produced numerous publications and are continually consulted by county and district councils for advice. They all have made major contributions to the environment and conservation policies of these councils.

There is a substantial trails programme in place in the counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire. A number of these trails fall into the Geopark area. The geology and landscape and building stones trails explain and illustrate many aspects of geology and geomorphology. They tell the story of the evolution of the landscape that we live with as the backdrop to our daily lives as well as describing the rocks and fossils seen in the buildings of our towns and cities. The trails series raises public awareness of geology and landscape in the area and encourages a long-term environmental awareness and appreciation.

The trails series provides high quality information about Earth Heritage in the form of trail guides, interpretation panels and leaflets. The guides contain supplements with information about archaeology and biodiversity along the trails. Sites with safe and easy public access are used. The trails and sites can be used by schoolchildren as part of their work in the national curriculum. They have also been used in undergraduate degree courses at University College Worcester. One of the successes has been the use of one existing guide by the Severn Valley Railway Education Department. This vintage steam railway company is now producing a programme for 2004 onwards for schools using the guide, which explains geology and landscape along the route. The geology is explained as the train travels along and at various stations in the Wyre Forest coalfield and along the gorge like River Severn.

There are many other attractions within the Geopark showing myriad possibilities for subtle links e.g. Severn Valley Railway, Stourport Canal Basin, Diglis Canal Basin and the River Severn itself; all have transport links with locally derived raw materials. The public open spaces such as Bromyard Downs, Castlemorton Common or Hartlebury Common LNR have survived as areas of poor agricultural land because of their underlying geology. The buildings, from Worcester Cathedral and parish churches to Elgar’s Birth-place all have a story in their building materials. Mamble Craft Centre already has close links with, and actively promotes literature related to, the Mamble collieries, as does Severn Valley Country Park in respect of the Alveley and Highley Collieries. The vineyards, hop fields and apple cider orchards are all available for creating that link with geology for the tourists and customers. There is greater scope in the walking guides of long distance routes such as the Severn Way, Gloucestershire Way or the Worcestershire Way to comment on the geology along the route. Thus the aim is to ensure that there is the widest possible range of media, through the active co-operation of many different partners, telling parts of the story with which different people can empathise at their own level of interest. This will bring home to people the reasons for establishing a Geopark in an area which most would not immediately see at first sight as primarily a geological attraction, whilst encouraging a greater awareness of the significance of our Earth heritage in evolution of the natural and human landscape.

The Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark has a considerable number of museums and heritage centres within and around its borders. They vary from public authority museum services with branch museums, large collections and a professional staff to small heritage centres run by volunteers. The majority of these museums have geological collections or some geological association. This is not surprising, as the region is one of Britain’s most important classic geological areas.   Its variety of rocks and splendid array of geological features have attracted geologists since the early 19th century and over years they have used and deposited specimens in the local museums. Museums have an active role to play in the development of a good Geopark system.   Their work and aims are entirely complementary. Both are concerned with the preservation, protection and promotion of our irreplaceable geological heritage. Already co-operation is in place with Herefordshire Heritage Services, Worcester Museum, Stroud Museum and Severn Valley Country Park. The two systems fit well together and further development of the interactive partnership provides outstanding opportunities and benefits to both systems as well as the local community for many reasons. This arrangement will form the basis of a series of visitor and information centres across the Geopark.
 
Finally the potential for raising awareness of Earth heritage is illustrated by the proposals currently being developed in conjunction with the hotel and self-catering industry based on thematic investigation. This approach is self-guided in general but with an important element of organised group courses. The geological themes that lend themselves to popular discovery in the Geopark are palaeontology, orogenesis, fluvial geomorphology, igneous and metamorphic petrology, Silurian stratigraphy, Triassic stratigraphy, geoconservation and hydrogeology. To this list can then be added the cross discipline approach where additional non geological expertise is used to establish the link between geology and other areas of study; archaeology, wildlife, wine production, spa towns, music and churches.