Hereford sits on the north bank of the River Wye, sixteen miles east of the Welsh border. With a population of about 61,000, it is the county town of Herefordshire and the largest settlement in a county that is otherwise mostly fields, orchards, and cider apples. The Wye loops around the south side of the city; the cathedral stands a few hundred metres from its bank. Roman roads converged here, then Saxon ones, then medieval pilgrimage routes. The city has been a frontier town for most of its existence - first against the Welsh kingdoms, then against Welsh rebellions, and during the English Civil War it changed hands at least four times in three years. The peaceful market town you walk through today is built on layers of more contested ground.

Start at Cathedral Close, the cluster of grass, paths, and grade-listed stone around the great central tower. The cathedral itself is free to enter; the Mappa Mundi and the chained library are housed in a separate exhibition hall opened in 1996, and worth the ticket. From the close, head east up Castle Street with its early Georgian houses to the Castle Green, where the medieval castle once rivalled Windsor before being dismantled in the 18th century and turned into parkland. Cross back through narrow Church Street - thirty independent shops in a row and not a single high-street chain. At the bottom you emerge into High Town and the Victorian Butter Market, an iron-and-glass hall full of cheese counters, butchers, second-hand books, and lunch.

Herefordshire produces more cider than any other English county. Bulmer's was founded in Hereford in 1887 and is still the largest cider maker in the world, though it now belongs to Heineken. Brands made here include Strongbow, Woodpecker, and Bulmers itself. The Museum of Cider, in a former Bulmer factory on Pomona Place, tells the story; the orchards that supply the apples stretch for miles in every direction. The result is that in any decent Hereford pub you can ask for cider without specifying, and the barman will not look at you sideways. Try a perry while you are here - that is pear cider, made from a particular sort of pear that mostly will not grow well anywhere except Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The locals take it seriously.

Hereford was the headquarters of the British Army's Special Air Service - the SAS - from 1960 until 1999, when the regiment relocated to nearby Credenhill. The SAS remains famously discreet; you will not see uniformed soldiers on the streets, nor signs pointing to the base. Inside Hereford Cathedral and at St Martin's Church, however, there are memorials. Over twenty SAS soldiers are buried in St Martin's churchyard, including a Wall of Remembrance for the eighteen lost when a Sea King helicopter crashed during the Falklands campaign on 19 May 1982. In 2017 the cathedral dedicated a sculpture and stained-glass window called Ascension, honouring the regiment. The city carries its connection to the SAS quietly, almost shyly, the way the regiment itself does.

The city is compact enough to walk in an afternoon. Cycling is less easy - Hereford is one of Britain's slowest cities by average traffic speed - though Beryl Bikes can be hired from forty pick-up points around the centre. The railway station is five minutes north of the cathedral, with services on the Welsh Marches Line south to Newport and Cardiff or north to Shrewsbury, plus a direct route to London Paddington via Worcester taking just under four hours. National Express coaches run to Birmingham, Gloucester, Heathrow, and London Victoria. Day trips outward make sense: Leominster to the north, Worcester to the east, the Wye Valley and Tintern south, the Brecon Beacons west across the Welsh border. The Guild of Hereford Guides, founded in 1981, runs daily walking tours from the Butter Market - probably the best two hours you will spend in the city.