Learn about some of Hanley Swan’s historic houses on a walk that follows footpaths to the far north-west corner of the parish with good views of the Malvern Hills, connects with the ancient Wood Street trackway, then descends to St Alphonsus Catholic church with its original fittings by Pugin and back to the village hall via some attractive old cottages in Picken End. Interesting buildings include the village stores, which began life as a coaching inn before being converted to a Working Man’s Institute and then a grocer’s shop and post office; a boys’ home run by the Society for Waifs and Strays from 1892 to 1950 and now a hostel for deprived children; a Regency villa extended in 1938 where King George II of Greece stayed for a year during the war; a house bought by a naval surgeon who named it after a ship in which he served during the First Opium War, and a 17th century cottage owned by the same family for almost 350 years. 2 stiles.