A GROUP formed to promote walking as a route to health has published a series of leaflets drawing on the history and natural beauty of the Malvern area.

Sole Mates, which operates out of Langland Community Centre, already holds regular walks and is about to starts its autumn timetable with two walks a week, at 2pm on Wednesdays and 10am on Fridays.

The series of six leaflets have been produced with help from Worcestershire County Council's countryside unit, which has also replaced stiles with easy access gates to make the routes more accessible. Malvern Hills Highways Partnership is also a supporter, having installed drop kerbs on routes to improve accessibility.

The shortest walk is the Jenny Lind Walk, a one-mile route which takes in Great Malvern Cemetery, where the singer is buried.

Lind, known as the "Swedish Nightingale" was one of the great names of her day. She died in 1887 and had a house at Wynds Point, British Camp.

The longest walk is four miles, The Old Hopfields Walk, which takes in the area around Spring Lane and behind the Enigma Business Park.

There is also a QinetiQ walk, one centred on Great Malvern Station and one on The Moat Pond. The last of the six is The Tomatoland Walk, a reference to Malvern Tomatoes, which traded in the 1920s until a gale destroyed its glasshouses. Its memory is preserved in the names of roads like Harbinger Avenue and Alicante Close - varieties of tomato.

The autumn timetable starts on September 4 at 2pm with a walk led by Derek Starkey from the community centre. The group will also be represented at Langland Fete tomorrow (Saturday), at the community centre, from noon to 4pm. The leaflets will be promoted and there will be a "taster" walk at 2.30pm.