Kinver Edge
Local highlightA wooded sandstone ridge above Kinver where families once lived in houses cut into the rock, now a National Trust reserve
Open accessNational Trust land — free to wander
A ridge of red sandstone and heathland rising above the village of Kinver, Kinver Edge is best known for its rock houses — homes cut straight into the soft sandstone cliffs, lived in until the 1960s and among the last inhabited cave dwellings in England. The National Trust has restored several of them at Holy Austin Rock Houses, where you can step inside and see how families made a home in the rock. Up on the ridge itself there’s open heather, birch and pine, the earthworks of an Iron Age hillfort, and long views west into Worcestershire and beyond on a clear day. The Staffordshire Way runs along the top, and the woods continue south into Kingsford Country Park. The Trust looks after the ridge and it’s free to walk.
