MALVERN’S annual Well Dressing Festival is set for a grand return next week with a whole host of entertainment and water celebrations on offer.
The festival, from Saturday, May 3 to Sunday, May 11, will see up to 50 wells creatively decorated in the theme of Folklore and Fairytales.
The annual event celebrates the history of the Malvern Hills District, including its iconic spring water and Victorian Water Cure.
It is brought to the town by the Malvern Spa Association, with local businesses and community groups taking part. Last year, over 800 people took part in dressing the wells, springs and sprouts.
Kicking off the event is the well dressing on Friday (May 2) ahead of the judging on Saturday (May 3). Prizes with rosettes and certificates are given the following Monday (May 5) in Priory Park where family fun events also take place.
Visitors can view the creations by setting off across the hills on foot, by bicycle or a minibus tour. Maps can be downloaded for free at www.visitthemalverns.org/welldressing or purchased from Malvern Tourist Information Centre.
Also to be held on bank holiday Monday is The Spirit of Malvern Open Air painting competition, where up to 100 artists will set out into the town and hills to seek inspiration.
Entertainment taking place across the festival includes singing, well blessings, British Society of Dowsers workshops, maypole and morris dancing, and much more.
There will also be a theatre production at the Coach House Theatre on Monday, May 5, called ‘Three Weeks in Wet Sheets’- a dramatisation of a diary kept by a victim of the Water Cure.
Victoria Carman, Visitor Economy and Towns Manager at Malvern Hills District Council, said: ”We are really looking forward to this year’s Well Dressing Festival, it is a lovely event for people of all ages to enjoy and explore the town along with the magnificent Malvern Hills.
“Thank you to everyone in the community taking part – I can’t wait to see all the wonderful creations in this year’s theme folklore and fairy tales.”
Visit www.malvernspa.org for more information.
