Wyre Forest

Wyre Forest district sits in northern Worcestershire, in the West Midlands. It covers the towns of Kidderminster, Stourport-on-Severn and Bewdley. Kidderminster remains associated with its carpet-making history and industrial heritage. Stourport developed around the 18th-century canal basin on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, while Bewdley stands on the River Severn and is a home station on the preserved Severn Valley Railway. Local services and district governance are centred in Kidderminster under Wyre Forest District Council.

The district takes its name from the Wyre Forest, a National Nature Reserve and one of the larger surviving tracts of semi-natural woodland in England. The wood contains long-established oak pollards, a pattern of rides and clearings, and a mix of ponds and gritstone outcrops that support specialist woodland plants and fungi. Beyond the forest, the area combines urban centres, villages and farmland, with road and rail connections linking it to Worcester and Birmingham. The landscape reflects a long industrial and rural history tied to river, canal and timber.