Kinver Edge - National Trust - UK

The UK is beautiful and so full of surprises. It was why I asked for a National Trust membership for my birthday last year and it has been a gift that has continued to give.

Even with the best will in world, local knowledge and Googling skills you can still miss out on local areas to visit, the National Trust is a great way of discovering such delights.

Check out the website: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ for suggestions on places to visit, or like us narrow your search by typing in your postcode to see your local area.

It was through this tool that we discovered Kinver Edge and the Rock Houses a 40 minute drive away.

It ticked all our boxes for a day out: dog friendly, stunning location, a bit of history and not something we'd do/see everyday. Oh and not too far away.

Can you spot the houses?

With the dog packed we headed off to Kinver Edge and were grateful to find a parking space on arrival. It was just gone 11am but the area seemed fairly quiet. We made a quick climb to the rock houses and were greeted by a lovely National Trust guide who advised us that if we carried Bisbee we could take her into the houses - a win for us as we had planned to take it in turns to visit them while the other waited outside with Bisbee.

The rock houses are exactly what you would expect, houses carved out of rock. The interesting thing at Kinver is that the houses have been restored to how previous owners would have set them up before they were left in the 1960's. There are radios playing stories of people who used to live there and guides to tell you about how the inhabitants made a living and entertained themselves. Including how they sold treats and cakes to tourists who came to see the houses way back when. 

While the rock houses are worth a visit you do have to pay entry fee. However they aren't the only attraction in the area. In fact Kinver Edge is a great place to stretch your legs and let your furry friends run free. There are suggested walks or you can create your route. We followed the red route that took around an hour. 

The walks were a mixture of flat and hills but the good news was that it was almost all paved. Depending on the route you were met with spectacular views or beautiful fields filled with flowers. 

As you can probably tell the weather wasn't the best but there was enough to see and enjoy that it didn't make a difference. We would recommend paying the area a visit if you are looking for somewhere to explore - especially with a dog.