Deer Park Vineyard – Producing wine entirely from their own Bredon Hill vines since 2018. Deer Park are proud to announce they have won 2 silver medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2024.

Decanter World Wine Awards is the world's largest and most influential wine competition.

Acclaimed for its rigorous judging process with wines evaluated by top wine experts from across the globe. Decanter World Wine Awards results are trusted internationally by both trade and consumers, with promotion of the awards benefiting from the competition’s unrivalled global reach.

Deer Park’s 2022 Pinot Noir achieved a whopping 91/100 score, making it the second highest scoring English Pinot Noir as well as achieved a Silver Medal. With over 2000 commercial vineyards in the UK, to achieve this award is an incredible success. Deer Parks Stag Oak Reserve 2022 (Chardonnay blend) achieved a silver medal, with a score of 90/100, putting it in the top 10 white wines in the country. Again, Deer Park’s Bacchus performed incredibly well, achieving a Bronze medal.

Mark Steele [Owner], who planted the first vines on Bredon Hill in 2016 said “I am amazed and delighted how quickly our wines have achieved an international reputation for their quality and taste.”

English Wine – This is yet another success story for the English Wine sector, that has been going from strength to strength in recent years, and is achieving increasing public awareness. Deer Park’s success at the DWWA’s puts Worcestershire on the World wine map, beating many wines from France, New Zealand and around the world.

Deer Park Vineyard – Deer Park offers a selection of nine varieties of wine, both still and sparkling. With tours and tastings running from Spring to Autumn, and the launch of the Bredon Wine Fayre this summer on 29th June, Deer Park is the up-and-coming place to visit in Worcestershire.

For more information, visit: https://www.deerparkwines.co.uk/

Bredon Wine Fayre this summer on 29th June, Deer Park

Pershore Times

Kempsey Times

Powick Times

Upton Times

Local Vineyard Scoops a Barrel of International Awards

The free, two-day festival takes place on Saturday 6th July from 10am to 6pm and Sunday 7th  July from 10am to 5pm, in Priory Park, Great Malvern.
The festival has been organised by Boffy Events in partnership with Malvern Hills District Council, and supported by Fox Town and Country Homes in Great Malvern.

 More than 40 food and drink stalls will be offering a wide selection of locally sourced produce when the festival returns to the town for its fourteenth year.

 Hot food vendors will also be offering delicious food to suit all tastes, such as Mexican, Jamaican, and Greek street food, Indian curries, pizza, mushroom burgers and more.

The event will showcase live cookery demonstrations in the Wot’s Cooking  Demonstration Marquee, where top local chefs will be on hand to offer tips and advice on how to create fabulous dishes at home.

Entertainment includes The Bumble Bees, cuddly bees walking about interacting with the crowd on Saturday from 11am to 4pm, and a unique, bubble-breathing dragon, a fairground piece of mechanical engineering, which will be on display from 12.30pm to 3.30pm on Sunday.

Live music and street performers will also be entertaining throughout the day in the band stand.

Victoria Carman, Visitor Economy Manager at Malvern Hills District Council said: “We are really looking forward to the return of this popular event. We encourage people to come along to this family friendly event and support our wonderful local food producers.”

Calling all food lovers! Prepare for a treat as the Great Malvern Food Festival is all set to return.
Saturday 6th July from 10am to 6pm
Sunday 7th July from 10am to 5pm
Priory Park, Great Malvern

Great Malvern Food Festival returns

The busy summer holidays might seem like an odd time to think about loneliness, but recognising and acknowledging its presence is relevant at any time of the year.

Marmalade Trust define loneliness as ‘a perceived mismatch between the quality or quantity of social connections that a person has and what they would like to have’.

Loneliness is personal to each of us; our need for social connections is unique.

We assume that the feeling of being lonely is exclusive to the older generation, yet according to BBC Radio 4, All In The Mind, “The Loneliness Experiment” (2018), 16–24-year-olds are the loneliest age group in UK. It is easy to imagine that change brings positive outcomes, but often the stress of fitting in, such as at college, can lead instead to loneliness.

Smaller rural communities have a lot in common with the issues around loneliness; geography can cause a sense of being isolated more than elsewhere in the same county. Smaller towns may seem isolating, but they often offer a greater sense of community, inclusion and connection.

The theme for this year’s loneliness awareness campaign is:

Why not offer to volunteer at a local community group or charity, or offer to involve yourself in a local event to see how you can help?

Be connected and part of your unique community by asking “How can I help?”

To find out more about tackling loneliness visit www.marmaladetrust.org

To find out more about volunteering contact Samantha Palmer;

Loneliness Awareness

Residents  in the Malvern Hills District are being urged to check whether they have the correct photo ID to vote in the UK Parliamentary General  Election taking place on Thursday 4th July.

To  vote on the day, it is now the law that people will need to show an accepted form of photo ID, such as a UK passport or driving licence, at a polling station. The full list of accepted photo ID is available on the Malvern Hills District Council’s (MHDC) website. 

www.malvernhills.gov.uk/voting-and-elections



Anyone  who doesn’t have a form of photo ID on the list can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate through. The deadline for applications is 5pm on 26th June.

Since the election was called, the council has only received 24 applications for a free voter ID, despite Cabinet Office data showing that 2% of people*- which equates to around 1,500 people within the electorate- don’t hold a form of ID.

The council is urging voters to check they have correct photo ID and to apply for free voter ID if needed, before the deadline.

Andy Baldwin, Returning Officer at Malvern Hills District Council, said: “We don’t want anyone to lose their vote in the upcoming General Election, so we are encouraging residents to check their ID and to apply for a Voter Authority  Certificate if they need it. It is free and  takes a few minutes to apply”.

Contact the Elections Team on 01684 862259 or



 for more information about Voter ID and important dates.

Voters urged to check their ID for General Election before deadline

A rural business, which is threatened with closure has enlisted the support of Dame Harriett Baldwin as it tries to navigate planning issues.

Dame Harriett met with Tricia and Clive Stapleton, owners of the Alpaca Meadows, near Malvern, to discuss the challenges it has encountered trying to keep the popular destination open.

Visitors are able to walk around the grounds, see the popular alpacas and Pygmy goats and visit the café, which started operating after the first pandemic lockdown.

But now the business has fallen foul of planning enforcement and the couple fear that it will have to close, owing to the cost of implementing measures including an electric vehicle charging point and an improved road access.

Dame  Harriett, who is standing at the election to be returned as the Member of Parliament for West Worcestershire offered her support to Tricia and Clive and agreed to contact the District Council about the electric charging point requirement and the County Council Highways department to  see if there are solutions at the junction that would cost less than a whole new road.

Dame  Harriett said: “This is clearly a very popular attraction and in recent
 days, I have had a number of messages over social media calling for me to step up and offer the business support. At  the moment there are no MPs but I have been able to discuss the matter with the cabinet member responsible for highways, and asked him to go and visit Tricia and Clive. This  story has gone worldwide, and I hope that the local planners will be able to pause and reflect on the impact this may have on a popular local  business. If  I am re-elected on July 4, I will take up the case formally, but right now, I’m hoping that Malvern Hills District Council will waive the requirement for an additional electric charging point as there already is one at the property."

Harriett Offers Support to Threatened Alpaca Farm

Harriett offers support to threatened Alpaca Farm

Mulches help to conserve water but the soil must be moist before they are applied.

Sow quick growing hardy annuals e.g. clarkia, Virginia stocks for late colour in dull spots.

When watering concentrate on climbers on walls, container and basket plants, newly planted items, dahlias, sweet peas, leafy veg. crops, celery and fruit bushes.

Dig up bare centred alpine plants and divide them, re-planting the young pieces from around the edge.

If you use nematodes to control vine weevil grubs, buy them on line or mail order.

June is one of the worst months for pest and disease attacks, so check plants regularly. If using a trigger spray product, remember to shake it first and there are lots of safer “organic” treatments available now.

Make sure plants in tubs and baskets are fed regularly, as well as watered. Many climbing plants can be increased by layering at this time of year.

Mow the lawn to leave the grass 2.5cm (1in) tall. Makes grass more drought resistant.

Treat established lawns with a lawn weed killer but not if there is a drought.

Dead head rhododendrons after flowering to encourage new growth.

If you need more fish in your pond this is an ideal time to introduce them but goldfish can be detrimental in a wildlife pond.

When picking strawberries always remove any rotting fruit, otherwise problems increase.

Watch out for cabbage white butterflies around your brassica plants. If you do not like to use chemical sprays try Grazers G3 organic caterpillar repellent. They also make good repellents for slugs and lily beetles too.

Sow radicchio now for winter salads. Choose a good coloured variety like pallo rossa.

Sow salad crops regularly, in small amounts, sowing the second row as the first emerges.

Tomatoes can be planted outdoors. Select a sheltered site and support the plants.

Take cuttings from dianthus (pinks). They root easily now in a shady spot.

Lettuce will not germinate in hot weather. Sowing in moist drills in late evening helps.

Shade the greenhouse, ventilate it well and spray water over the floor to raise humidity.

Take softwood cuttings from shrubs. Remove 7.5 cm (3in) of shoot tips. Root in pots of gritty compost, placed in polythene bags, in a shady spot.

Lift and divide flag iris after flowering. Re-plant young growths, keeping rhizomes above soil level.

Prune back side shoots on cytissus (broom) after flowering to keep plants neat.

Deadhead roses regularly to prolong flowering. Remove any ‘suckers’ as soon as they appear.

Watch out for algae and blanketweed in pools. The introduction of a product based on barley straw can provide an organic control measure.

Feed tomato plants regularly from when first fruits begin to form, using tomato food.

Take out one third of the older branches on deciduous shrubs, like Philadelphus, Weigela and Deutzia after flowering.

Put cymbidium orchids outside in a sheltered, shady spot until late autumn. Keep them well watered and fed over this period.

If pollen beetles infest your cut sweet peas, put them in water in a shed for a while.

The beetles will fly into the window attracted by the light.

June gardening tips by Reg Moule


Life is full of challenges of all kinds and from a very early age we try to make sense of things. Through touch, sounds, taste and sight, babies learn about
the world about them; they are naturally inquisitive. To try and encourage the skill of understanding and learning, we offer them shape sorting, jigsaws, colour matching, counting games etc. Watching our two and a half (the half is
important at this age!) year old grandson, patiently trying to fit shapes into appropriate holes whilst reinforcing their names for language development, is
fascinating. Concentration and perseverance are rewarded with success but there is obviously enjoyment in the task too. Similarly with jigsaw puzzles,
seeing how he rotates shapes until they magically fit shows that he is already trying to solve problems. In this way, he meets what is a puzzle with the
desire to solve it. This is a very early learning skill which we employ throughout our lives.
Puzzles also provide enjoyment for many adults. There are many puzzle books available with a whole range of different kinds of puzzles. I prefer crossword puzzles as long as they are not cryptic ones which still leave me baffled! Online
games such as Wordle, Scrabble, Solitaire and even board games like chess and
backgammon are great for filling time and exercising the brain. We have friends who start every day with a shared crossword and another friend who plays backgammon online as a mental warm-up to the day. In our household, there is a competitive element to solving the daily Wordle puzzle but it is also fun!
I’ve always enjoyed the mental challenges of solving problems, though the mathematical kind at school were not my cup of tea- best left to those with
mathematical brains! Language and word puzzles interest me and we are told learning a new language is a good way to stave off senile dementia. Anything
which engages the brain, using Poirot’s ‘little grey cells’, will help to keep us mentally fit. My brain seems to be at its most effective first thing in the
morning. I have often gone to bed with an apparently insoluble problem only to wake up with a solution. My sleeping brain seems able to work without me!
TV channels cater for this thirst for problem solving with a whole range of game
programmes. Some provide incentives through cash and attractive prizes. It is a
satisfying experience watching others undergo these challenges from the comfort of our armchairs. It is also possible to offer our own solutions
knowing that if we get it wrong, no-one will know!
There are definitely games such as ‘University Challenge’ or ‘Only Connect’ which appeal to the more intellectual viewers. It is amazing to see the breadth of knowledge these students have quite apart from their own particular subject area. Truly awesome! There are, of course, easier games like ‘Who Wants
to be a Millionaire’ and ‘Pointless’ which offer multiple choice answers. The
competitors are not required to be experts so we can more easily identify with them.
These are fun programmes which make us think and can be a light relief from the more serious documentaries, dramas and murder mysteries.
Our own papers (now Pershore, Upton, Powick and Kempsey
Times) all carry puzzle pages. The anagram puzzle is always very popular and attracts many entries. More puzzles can be accessed through TODAY online which offers a mix of current articles and news, plus updates throughout the month. ( It is currently being revamped so watch this space.) We are doing our best to keep those grey cells active!
Life is a puzzle. There are problems and challenges every day but there are also solutions to many, though not all, things. Whether it is seeking cures for life threatening diseases or attempting to solve world problems, it is fortunate that we are encouraged from those early days to keep trying and not give up. That is also where hope comes in as well, to help us try to overcome even the worst
difficulties life can present.
Life may be a puzzle at times but puzzles can be fun!



Women's Hour -  _t's _ p_zzl_


Leaving school in 1957, I was required to give two years of service in the Armed Services. I had an interest in aircraft and so I chose the Royal Air force. After the initial Medical, above W H Smiths in Gloucester, I joined many other recruits at
RAF Cardington in Bedford where the huge old airship hangers dominated the scene. There, RAF tailors fitted us out with uniforms and we were given the other things we would need which included a knife, fork and spoon, a large china mug, a slotted brass sheet, that would protect our uniforms when
we polished the brass buttons, and also a ‘housewife’. The latter was a cloth containing needles, thread and wool to mend our clothing if socks developed
holes or buttons came off.
Some days later we were put on a train and sent off to a Basic Training camp; in my case it was RAF Bridgenorth. There we learnt to march smartly and to do drill with rifles. Inevitably, discipline was imposed by the instructors with
humour; “‘Ere laddie, am I standing on your hair? Report to the barbers!” I had my hair cut twice one day. However, we became proud of doing things well. We learnt to fire rifles and Bren Guns and I gained my marksman badge; more pride. Also we encountered young men from other walks of life. We learnt habits that became useful all our lives.
After that, Trade Training. Having opted to work with radar, I was sent to the No.1 Radar School, l at RAF Locking, on the edge of Weston super Mare. Here we were instructed in the operation and repair of all the bits of equipment we were likely to encounter on operational stations. This was fun. Also, at the end of the lessons on a particular bit of apparatus, there would be an exam which included fault-finding on the equipment. As I like puzzles, this, in three dimensions, was
most enjoyable. However, it was serious stuff and we all had to sign The Official Secrets Act document. Thus it was amusing when we learnt that two instructors, in a bus queue in Weston, were discussing a problem with a piece of
equipment so secret that even they were not allowed to have its circuit diagram, when a man behind (later found to be a Canadian Air Force officer seconded to RAF Locking) offered to help. Secrecy was more lax in Canada and he had picked up the diagram needed in a car-boot sale in Toronto!
When the ten month training was over and we had passed all the exams, the final stage was to be useful. I was sent to RAF Wartling in Sussex. This was
the domestic camp for a radar station on the hillside above Pevensey. Soon after arriving, the end of National Service was announced. However, we were still deep in the Cold War with Russia and it was the RAF which had the task of using
Vulcan bombers to deliver nuclear weapons in the event of the war becoming ‘hot’. The RAF realised it would be harder work recruiting the people they needed, so at RAF Wartling the result was that the catering budget was increased and, to everyone’s delight, the food in the Mess became restaurant quality.
The radar station was a short bus-ride away. A few of us worked on the dishes and transmitters, like smaller versions of the radio telescope near Croome, but most went underground where there was a huge amount of electronics. This was in the days of valves. (The electronics in our mobile phones today would then have taken up several rooms!) Valves needed cooling so our large,
subterranean rooms had the constant sound of fans and the place was warm. Transistors were just about to arrive but they were still experimental. (We know that the girls operating the Colossus computer at Bletchley Park used to dry their laundry using the heat from the valves.)
All too soon, for me, it was over; I had completed my two years. Again I had to sign The Official Secrets Act. For the next four years, if needed, I could be brought back so I kept my uniform. (Unfortunately, my brother, working on a farm, kept “borrowing’ my greatcoat so it soon was decorated with cow dung.). Then I went off to university to study Physics for which my radar experience was of use, but oh dear, had I got out of the habit of studying!
I enjoyed my National Service but if it happens again I fear it will be far more serious.



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