These were the words of composer Edward Elgar at his Malvern home a century ago. Today, many people are inspired to visit the Worcestershire/Herefordshire borderlands, just 40 miles from Birmingham, to discover for themselves the music in the air of 'Elgar Country'.

Elgar was born in 1857, within sight of the Malvern Hills, three miles from the cathedral city of Worcester, at Lower Broadheath, where his country cottage Birthplace now forms part of a fascinating museum. After a couple of years, the family moved into Worcester, where Edward grew up surrounded by the inspiring contents of his father's music shop.

Largely self-taught as a musician, he played in local orchestras, conducted and arranged pieces for the staff band at the local asylum, and - reluctantly - taught pupils in the fashionable spa town of Malvern, nine miles from Worcester. Although he compared teaching to 'turning a grindstone with a dislocated shoulder', it brought its rewards when Miss Caroline Alice Roberts came to Elgar as a pupil. They married in 1889, and she was a tower of support as he struggled to make his name as a composer.

In 1891, the Elgars moved to Malvern, later also renting a quieter country retreat over the Hills at Storridge. During his thirteen years in this area, Elgar composed some of his finest music, including the Enigma Variations with its musical portraits of his friends; his choral masterpieces The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles, and the first two of his ever-popular Pomp and Circumstance Marches. When not busy conducting, teaching, or writing at his desk, Elgar loved walking, and cycled long distances along the country lanes.