www.allaboutmalvernhills.com will give you very detailed information about what it going on in the area.

We seem to have very quickly gone from one growing season to another, the garden and countryside are exploding with life. It is a real joy to be out in the garden, with lots to do:

Control of Slugs and snails – control with organic/physical control options

• Ferric phosphate pellets
• Barrier gels and minerals
• Copper paints, tapes, mats impregnated with copper salts
• Beer traps – this is good as there is always left over beer to finish off!

• Hand removal by torch light

Weeds

Keep hoeing-10 mins each day saves hours of digging out weeds.

Kitchen garden

Sow sweetcorn, runner beans, french beans into outdoor plots.
Sow pumpkins/squashes indoors.
Use fleece to protect tender seedlings and necterine/peach blossoms on cold nights.
Earth up potatoes, transplant brussel sprouts.
Keep young vegetable plants well watered in dry weather.
Continue successional sowings of beetroot, cabbage, carrot, salad onions, peas, broad beans, radishes and turnips.
Protect carrots from carrot fly with fleece.
Plant marrows & courgette out at the end of the month.
Check for canker, bacterial canker and blossom wilt on trees.

Ornamental garden

Dead head and divide crowded bulbs.Liquid feed those not being moved.
Keep newly planted shrubs and trees well watered until established.
Stake perennials.
Collect rain water and investigate ways to recycle water for irrigation.
Trim box hedges and topairy towards the end of the month.
Plant up summer hanging baskets and pots.

Happy gardening!

Bridget

www.cavesfolly.com

How did you take on this project?

In 2009 I was looking for somewhere to open a Spa retreat, somewhere peaceful but with ‘added interest’, a description which fits the Mill nicely. It’s not on the main road but is relatively easy to find and offers somewhere special for guests to stay. Was I brave? I must have been but I only realise that now! I didn’t know what I was taking on at the time, it’s been a huge amount of work. We’ll finally open as a spa and yoga retreat later in the year.

What’s the history of the building?

The current mill, which we’re restoring, dates from the 19th Century, although there’s been milling on the site for much longer than that, including a clover mill which will be used as the guest dining room. The building was a working mill until 1975 when the final miller died, which means we have one of the most intact and complete mills in Herefordshire. Since that time, the building was untouched, a significant number of bats had taken up residence which, together with nesting birds caused the majority of the 3rd and 4th floor floorboards to rot through. A leaking roof damaged the floor further.

What work have you been doing?

Initially we consulted a millwright, an engineer and various local experts to assess the work needed to preserve this unique mill. We’ve renovated the wheel and mechanism, three millstones have been preserved and so we’re pretty much keeping everything. As well as renovating the building we’ve put in a borehole and sewage treatment plant, a biomass boiler and I’ve been busy renovating the 17th century house sticking to original materials such as lime-plaster.

What work is there still to do?

The mill is powered by water from the Cradley Brook, but the leat which feeds it has deteriorated to a point where water has not reached the mill since Spring two years ago. The two dry summers of 2010 and 2011 haven’t helped either and saplings and vegetation have grown along the course of the leat. I’m hoping we might eventually receive a grant to restore this, but we haven’t been successful so far.

Why are you opening up the site for the public to look at?

We’re doing this as part of National Mills Weekend when similar buildings all over the country open. Various mill experts will come to visit and take photos, but we also see this as a chance for local people to have a look at what we’ve done. Although I don’t plan to ever produce flour, I committed to renovating the mill such that it could be used again in the future should any future owner wish to do so.

Archer’s Mill opens between 10am and 4pm on Sunday May 13th. Entry is free, refreshments will be available with any proceeds going to Vitalise, a charity providing Short Breaks and Respite Care for people with disabilities and carers. The Mill can be found half a mile from the A4103 towards Suckley. Please note, the Mill is not open at other times for viewing.

For more information go to www.allaboutmalvernhills.com

It feels as if Spring is finally in the air, after a long winter. During the winter months we here at All About Magazines have been busy giving the magazine a new look with help from designers at Independent Design. Its been hard work, but I am happy we have a fresh new feel to the pages. While the magazine was refreshed, our team has been busy creating a new website, with webbuilders Hughes Media, where you’ll find even more local information. The internet is an increasingly important part of many people’s lives, and we want to meet an increasing demand for local information online. So with the start of a new season, there’s change in the air! Do please let me know what you think of the new look.

Enjoy the start of Spring!

The Great Malvern Food Festival returns with a host of great Worcestershire food and drink. Last year’s event certainly lived up to its name and was a great success with an estimated 5,000 people attending. Malvern always rates highly on the list of places to visit for both UK and foreign tourists and this statement was backed up by the many different visitors attending the event.

From great beer and wines through to high quality meats and vegetables – Malvern and the surrounding area hosts some of the best producers and chefs in the country. Over twenty stalls will be lined up in Abbey Road carrying everything from bread, meats, cheeses, beer and cider. There will be food demonstrations from some of the County’s up and coming young chefs.

As well as activities in Avenue Road, there will also be a second display area in the Courtyard of Robson-Ward Showroom, off Belle Vue Terrace. A selection of food demonstrations, crafts and live music, all set in a continental café setting. Belle Vue Island will have an outside acoustic stage with music and drama provided by local artists and entertainers.

Katie and Glyn Johnson will be bringing their mobile food theatre where passionate and expert chefs will be demonstrating some of their favourite recipes. There will also be tastings and displays by local groups, music for all to enjoy, plus a street market full of local producers. For more information on having a stall contact Steve Boffy at sboffy3@aol.com.

Best of all, you can walk off your foodie indulgences by taking part in the Malvern Walking Festival, which starts on the same weekend. The Walking Festival runs 25th May to Sunday 3rd June. For a full list of walks and accommodation contact Malvern Tourist Information Centre on 01684 892289 www.visitthemalverns.org.

This year the Food Festival kicks off the Diamond Jubilee holiday weekend which sees a raft of activities taking place throughout the holiday weekend. Civic Week opens on Saturday 2nd June with a short ceremony on the steps of Belle Vue Island scheduled to start at 10.30am. A Jubilee Parade is also planned for the afternoon of the 2nd June and it is anticipated that the route will come through Great Malvern on its way to Barnard’s Green and ending up in the Splash car park. More details on this will be available nearer the time. On Sunday there will be a Craft Fair in the grounds of Malvern Priory and on Monday 4th June there will be The Great Malvern Picnic in Priory Park where you can bring your own picnic and enjoy music and children’s entertainment.

For more information about what is on during the Jubilee celebrations visit www.allaboutmalvernhills.com – your online guide to what’s on in the Malvern Hills area

So why a literary theme?

We want to celebrate some of the authors and writers who have an association with the town. In the past our musical heritage has been well catered for, writers less so.
If you look at a list of authors with local connections, there are some fascinating stories to tell. Teenage girls growing up in the 1950s and 1960s will remember the name Mazo de la Roche; as well as writing a series of highly successful novels based on the Whiteoaks family, she was a frequent visitor to Malvern. Her adopted daughters were pupils at a local school, and she stayed at the Abbey Hotel while visiting them.

There will also be the rare chance to see a performance of Charles Dickens’ Mr Nightingale’s Diary, a One Act farce set in Malvern Wells in which Mr Gabblewig of the Middle Temple exposes conman and quack water doctor Mr Flormiville. The play resulted from Dickens’ frequent visits to Malvern in March and April 1851, while his wife was here taking the water cure. In addition there will be a short play called Back to G.B.S. set 2156 in Malvern, with shades of Shaw and Shakespeare.

What about local writing talent?

We will be celebrating our local authors with a ‘Local Authors Book Day’. This will be a chance to discover many books written by local people, and the chance to meet some of the authors. Its being organised by Aspect Design who publish many of these books.
We’re also holding a Literary Day at the Theatre, in which there will be a chance to hear the work of three local groups; the Malvern Writers’ Circle, the Malvern Storytellers and the Hills’ Poets. They are all very active in Malvern, many people don’t know these groups exist and we hope to raise their profile.

Are we expecting any big names from the literary world?

There will be a lecture by Paula Byrne about Evelyn Waugh’s connections with Madresfield, which resulted in the book Brideshead Revisited. Paula’s new book, Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead, entered the Top Ten of the Sunday Times best seller list in the week that it was published. She is also the author of Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson, and an internationally renowned expert on Jane Austen, about whom she is currently writing a biography

What about other highlights?

We are holding a Schools Literary Competition in which five local high schools are competing, there are several notable musical performances, one of which has an Elgar theme as this is a significant anniversary for the composer. The start of Civic Week on June 2nd ties in with Jubilee weekend celebrations and there are many, more events, too many to mention here.

Malvern Civic Week runs from June 2nd to June 9th.
For more information please look at the society’s website which is www.malverncivicsociety.org.uk. There is also a souvenir programme which will have all the details, please visit the Tourist Information office at the top of Church Street to pick up a copy.

Among the exhibitors is local jeweller Anna Clifton, who specialises in blending precious and recycled materials to create work influenced by the natural world. Her silver and recycled aluminium collections are wonderfully colourful and eco-friendly.

Layla Khani’s work brings an international flavour to the Arts Trail. Raised in Tehran, Layla moved to the UK in 2003 and her bright, bold drawings and paintings are inspired by stories and poetry.

More locally, print-maker Andrew Judd draws inspiration from the Worcestershire landscape, his lino prints are beautifully simple representations of scenes in and around Malvern. Andrew will be exhibiting in St Peter’s Church where he also teaches printmaking.

The aim of the Trail is to give us the chance to see how a work of art is created. Studios, workshops and even artist’s homes normally off-limits to the public will be allowing FREE access to everyone across all four days.

The Worcestershire Arts Trail takes place across the Jubilee Weekend (1st-4th June) and guides will be available online at www.worcsartstrail.org or from your local tourist information centre in April.

For more online information and a downloadable map visit www.allaboutmalvernhills.com

‘This is a pedigree brand, the highest quality water, not mass produced’ according to Rhys. Although only three years old, the company is enjoying success, with orders from prestigious clients including Waitrose, Eastnor Castle and Michelin-starred restaurants.

His family’s involvement in the Well began in 1999, when his parents bought the building, which stands above Malvern Wells, in a state of dereliction. A long process of restoration began. ‘My parents originally bought it to live in, but while they were busy re-building it, people would regularly walk past and tell them ‘You know that water is something special, don’t you?’. Ten years later, Rhys and his father started bottling the water commercially, its been a big challenge, but one they’ve relished.

‘Being in a listed building, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, can be a challenge when you’re setting up a water bottling production line’ says Rhys. ‘At the outset we received consultancy help from Advantage West Midlands, but after seeing the building their consultants said ‘it can’t be done’. They were amazed when they came back three months later and production was under way. Their comments really fired us up to make it work’.

Cleaning out the building they came across ten thousand empty plastic bottles from a previous attempt at bottling in the 1980s. ‘More interestingly’ says Rhys, ‘we also came across bottles from the time of JH Cuff who began bottling water here in 1897. The company is still fondly remembered by former pupils at the Wells House School who occasionally pop by. They tell us they were sent on cross-country runs from the school up the rather unforgiving road to the Well. Many is the time the late Mr Cuff would come careering down the lane in his van, sending the boys diving for cover. They all seem to remember the company’s logo emblazoned on the side of the van, ‘Feeling Rough? Have a Cuff!’

Further research into the well revealed it was the first water bottling plant in this country, starting in 1622 when monks bottled the water and took it into Malvern for the elderly and the sick. Once the water cure gathered momentum in Victorian Times, the current building was built by Joseph Schweppes.

Last year sales rose by 400 percent, so far this year its already up by 200 percent. ‘The plan is to increase production further’ says Rhys, ‘we are limited in capacity, that’s due to the speed of the machinery not the volume of the water. We’ll be upgrading our process and hope to get there by year end’. A staff of five people are now employed by the company, one of whom worked at the Malvern Water bottling factory in Colwall until its recent closure. ‘We are constantly training and improving staff skills’ says Rhys, ‘its good for them and good for the business’.

Has it been a learning curve? ‘Oh Yes! I came from a background in automotive logistics, and within my first year I’d learnt more than all seven years in my previous work. I’ve taken good advice, hung around with the right people in business who have shown me the way. Its been hard work, but does have its rewards. At a trade show in London last week, we were heartened by the number of people stopping by and saying how pleased they were to see water, produced in Malvern, available for sale again’.

Well Dressing Festival

Holywell Spring is one of many sites decorated for the Well Dressing Festival, which takes place this year on 4 – 8 May. The festival has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and now claims to be the biggest single event of its kind. Each year around forty sites are decorated in a variety of styles, with everything from a simple vase of flowers to foliage arches and life-size animals.

This year’s theme is ‘Achievement’, reflecting a number of notable contemporary and historical events, including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, The 2012 Olympic Games, Scott’s scientific journey to the South Pole, the maiden voyage of the Titanic, and the birth of Charles Dickens.

The theme is chosen early, giving the Well Dressers plenty of time to choose their design and find their materials.

The picture shows last year’s interactive Dressing for All Soul’s Day at Evendine spout. More than two hundred people hung ribbons or messages in memory of loved ones, while the site was Blessed by vicar of St James the Great in Colwall, the Reverend Melanie Horton.

If you’re interested in visiting the wells during the Well Dressing Festival go to www.malvern-hills.co.uk/malvernspa for more information

Or instead does it make you think of a claustrophobic sense of everyone knowing everyone’s business and of having to put on a ‘cheerful face’ when instead you feel depressed or irritable? Community is both of these things and more. When we live closely with other people we encounter the worst of them alongside their best. This can be a challenge!

If you’d like to build closer (and healthy) links with the people in your local community, here are my suggestions:

1. Give freely. Be mindful of what other people need, and how you can help. This might be practical help (a small present for your neighbour’s little boy) or emotional (stopping and asking your friend how he REALLY is).

2. Ask for help. For most of us, asking for things (or accepting them graciously) is more difficult than offering them. Try to remember that people like to help, and trust that if they want to say no they will say no.

3. The confidence to be yourself. In most of our relationships it’s important for us to be accepted, and we act in ways which others will approve of. This happens in community too. Try being more honest about who you are and what you’re happy to offer.

4. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself. When you move to a new house, knock on the doors around you and say hello. Stop and chat with people when you walk your dog.

5. Be curious when things go wrong. If some people drive you mad, consider what buttons they might be pushing in you. As the Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron says, “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” I would say, especially the people who drive us crazy!

6. Practice compassion. We never really know another person’s history, people can be unkind because they’re coping with fear or low self-esteem. This doesn’t excuse their behaviour but it can help you to remember that happy people don’t need to be horrible.

7. Do something practical and join a local community group. There are many volunteering activities, adult education opportunities, choirs, walking groups, book groups… you’’ll find dozens of ideas throughout this magazine!

The strength of a community lies in respecting difference and in being able to accommodate different people living different lives. It also lies in being able to work things through rather than escape them. At its best it is a place where we can feel safe, surrounded by people who support us practically and emotionally, and where we can truly be ourselves and feel accepted. Community is home.

Fiona Robyn is a counsellor and psychotherapist in private practice in North Malvern: www.create-space.org. She runs ‘Listening to the Other’ courses based on Buddhist psychology with her husband Kaspa, and mindful writing courses online. www.writingourwayhome.com

Well here we are back to the Spring madness on the nursery. There is so much to do at this time of year, if you are a grower; seedlings need pricking out, young plants potting on, there are cuttings to be sorted, weeding, the list is endless. But I do try to find time to appreciate the explosion of life that comes with Spring, it is so exciting watching all my pots full of bare soil come to life!

We are once again organising our Eco Area at the Malvern Spring Garden Show. This year’s theme is ‘Art in the Garden’. We will have some wonderful garden sculptures included in our show garden as well as displayed around the area. When we started researching sculptors and other artists it was amazing how many extremely talented people there are just in our locality.

As well as the’ Art’ exhibitors we will also have our ‘Eco’ exhibitors who will be selling wormeries, copper tools, organic herbs, vegetables and Herbaceous Perennials. There’s also products from locally coppiced woodland, green gardening products and compost. There will also be demonstrations of willow sculpture, hurdle making, tool sharpening, chestnut fencing and even how to make silk roses.

As well as all that, we also have to build two gardens. Our permanent garden will be planted with a selection of flowering plants as a showcase for our Garden Design and Nursery. The show garden, which we will build from scratch, is called The Creative Hand and will incorporate a mix of sculpture and planting.

So, lots of hard work and excitement ahead, but the fantastic feedback we always get from visitors makes it all worth while! If you want to visit the Malvern Spring Garden Show, it is running from 10th to 13th May and if you book early there are discounted tickets.

Caves Folly now has an online shopping service: www.cavesfolly.com