FALCO Subbuteo is the strangely apt scientific name of the elegant Hobby. Surveying the 285 acres of Bringsty Common from his old crow's nest, this black moustached marauder catches dragonflies with his feet before transferring them to his beak.

Also floating, accelerating and swooping on small birds, John Dryden's 17th century verse "Larks lie dared to shun the Hobby's flight" betrays the skylark's special dread. Even a caged bird is prey to a dash through an open window.

The Hobby's favourite perch is probably a tall conifer rather than the mighty oak 40 paces away from the start of this month's easy family walk.

The Gospel Oak marks the meeting of Linton and Whitbourne parishes, and passages of the bible were read here during the Rogationtide ceremony of "Beating the bounds". Headed by the vicar, perambulations around other landmarks such as 'liberty' stones and public houses, might involve ducking children or bouts of drinking for their parents to help them memorise the borderlines.

The back room of Gospel Oak Cottage was sometimes used for church services, but in fine weather they were conducted under the tree itself.

There used to be a lot more trees on Bringsty Common and the perquisite of 'pannage' gave people the right to pasture swine in the forest; by eating beech-mast and acorns, the pigs would keep the woodland open by clearing undergrowth.

No doubt this would have been imparted by Sir Edward Elgar to his friend, the playwright and former music critic, George Bernard Shaw on one of their strolls around the common.

Shaw, humble in the company of the English gentleman whose "art was greater than his", recorded that he could "talk about every unmusical subject on earth, from Elizabethan literature to pigs".

The Enigma Variations took Shaw's breath away and Elgar was "the greatest composer of a symphony since Beethoven". In turn, Elgar was an inveterate theatre-goer.

Originally finding the Irishman's plays unpalatable, he developed a zealous enthusiasm for the productions at Malvern in his later years.

Through Shaw's inspiration and encouragement, Elgar completed the fifth Pomp And Circumstance March, started an opera and a third symphony, and dedicated The Severn Suite to him.

Better known for cycling aboard "Mr Phoebus" in his tweed suit, Elgar was nevertheless a keen walker. Life in the country and the backdrop of the Malverns were his innate companions. British Camp is the setting for the cantata, Caractacus, and sitting on the bank of the Teme beneath Ankerdine Hill, over to the right walking from point (2), he orchestrated The Dream Of Gerontius, his great oratorio.

The two-storey wing was added to picturesque Longlands (3) in about 1700 and the farm, with medieval ponds, was purchased by Edward Bickerton Evans in 1860.

He had made a fortune in vinegar and conceived the immediate building of Whitbourne Hall as the family seat. Based on the style of the Greek Erechtheum, perhaps the best view of it is from above and beyond Home House at (4) on the high ground, beyond the Hall is Willy Hill coppice. The name may refer to a place of heathen worship.

Back up on the common, a Branded Demoiselle dragonfly has been recorded in splendid isolation, three miles away from his and Edward Elgar's favourite habitat on the river Teme. This is potentially a perilous spot if encountering the habitué of the area with a moustache and a beak.

Pursuing your own variations to the route on the common should not prove to be too much of an enigma.

Bringsty Common.

Tracks, fields, quiet lanes, views to Whitbourne Hall.

Three-and-three-quarter miles easy family walk, two stiles.

Two maps: OS Explorers 202 and 204.

Public transport: First Bromyard Omnibus 419/420, Hereford - Worcester, 'Live And Let Live' sign.

The Route 1 Bringsty Common parking area just off the busy A44 road, parking spaces to the right of the signed 'Live And Let Live' pub track. Start with quick detour a few paces opposite the information board to the 'Gospel Oak'. Return to head left down the drive to the left of cottages to just in front of the 'to the pub' notice. TL up the more gradual gravelled path option, with views of North and Sugar Loaf Hills in The Malverns over to the right, and pass Marley Cottage, contouring left back to the road. Cross road slightly left past cottage and TR along track to crosspaths. Go slightly right ahead left of Rose Cottage and descend to next crossing of paths. Go through gate ahead down field past ruin to gap in hedge.

2 Gap in Hedge (!). Follow upper left edge of vale for half a mile to the right of Bradleyfield Coppice. At the gate in the dip TL onto the metalled track over the cattle grid by Moors Cottage. At the slight dip, leave the driveway to go ahead over grass to the right edge. Cross stile and stiled footbridge over Paradise Brook. Follow brook past (mostly tastefully) inscribed tree and weir and TL up the bank just before farm tracks. TL at finger-post on the drive in front of fence, between the ponds and over the cattle grid at the southern entrance to Longlands Farm.

3 In Front Of Longlands Farm. At the fork just beyond the sweet chestnut tree, TR along the drive over the grid, with the impressive Whitbourne Hall emerging into view back to the right. Follow drive for one third of a mile across next grid to Longfield Coppice around the bend on the right. TL at signed public footpath to 15th century Old Mill Cottage. Follow right edge through gate and bend left through gate just beyond Old Mill, up usually muddy bank to Home House.

4 Home House. TR through gate in front of farmhouse and go through gate ahead across drive. Slant left up through orchard through waymarked left of two gates on upper left edge. Go up the right edge of two fields, pausing to look back to Whitbourne Hall. Stay right through gap by marker post at top to find stile under old oak tree in right corner. Follow shady lane between Elm and Rose cottages, and, instead of following left gravel track, contour up the common on a track through the bracken to the right of it. Just above the next gravel track down to the right, climb a little further to the left to find the road directly opposite the 'Live And Let Live' sign and the starting point.