The Ledbury area and Bromyard feature in a new book by Hereford author, Derek Foxton, called Herefordshire From the Air.

For those lacking a head for heights but curious about the views, this could be the ideal solution.

There is often a snatched and DIY look to the images of the county's great and small settlements, and indeed this is not surprising.

Mr Foxton explains: "I took the photographs on high-speed 35mm film, using Canon EOS cameras, and mostly through curved, scratched Perspex windows."

Personally, I think it adds to the charm, and in any case some pictures are very clear indeed, so as to be almost 3D.

The best of these is the image of Hereford on the front cover.

Others are less lucid, such as the one of Belmont Abbey. But once more there is charm in the result. The dotted effect here is the result of a spring snow squall.

In years to come, I am certain that this volume will be much sought after. It is a true Millennium record, devoted to time and place.

For a growing town, Ledbury still seems touchingly small from the air, with even the spire of St Michael and All Angels failing to dominate the woods and fields that surround it.

Another image, that of the viaduct, shows the railway line rising just briefly beyond Saxon Way, before being dragged back to Earth by the trees and lost from view. Again, the natural landscape around town has the final say.

Eastnor Castle though, is sunlit, grand and aloof; while Bromyard, with its closing rings of streets, appears embattled.

Copies of the book are now available in the Three Counties Bookshop and Ledbury Books and Maps, price £12.99.

Gary Bills-Geddes