'The Malvern Hills are a 15km (c.9 mile) range of ancient rocks made up of a complex assemblage of crystalline igneous and metamorphic rocks (granite) of pre-Cambrian age (at least 650 million years old). The soils on the ridge top are thin and support little more than short wiry grasses, providing ideal walking conditions and stunning views. Lower down the soils are stony but thicker and support gorse, bramble and bracken interspersed with silver birch, mountain ash, hawthorn, sycamore and oak. The trees are stunted at higher levels but grow thick and lush in the valley bottoms.'