THE first day of the RHS Malvern Spring Festival enjoyed blue skies and thousands of visitors.

The festival, which started yesterday (Thursday), is running until Sunday and more than 90,000 people are expected to descend on the Three Counties Showground during the festival.

Some big names in the food and gardening world will help celebrate the festival's 30th anniversary this year, including chef Raymond Blanc, Masterchef's Gregg Wallace, Otter Farm's Mark Diacono and BBC Gardeners' World presenters Carol Klein and Joe Swift.

The winners of several medal categories announced yesterday were:

Best Show Garden – An Andalusian Moment – Villaggio Verde - Gold

Best Festival Garden – Constraining Nature – Kate Durr - Gold

Best Exhibit in the Floral Marquee – Drointon Nurseries – Gold

Best Botanical Art Exhibit – Halina Steele - Gold

Best in Show Winner and RHS gold medal winner, Jason Hales, said: “We are over the moon to have been honoured with both a gold medal and Best in Show at this year's festival. It makes all the hard work worthwhile. The sun is shining, the ground is filling up and we're looking forward to a really cracking festival."

The festival features more than 500 visitors and seven main show gardens.

Ken Nottage, chief executive of the Three Counties Showground, said: "It is wonderful when the showground comes alive again with our first major show of the season. The RHS Malvern Spring Festival is a real delight, for both gardeners and food lovers alike. This year is a real treat for us as the RHS has awarded more gold medals than ever before. These medals are real testament to the quality and standard of the garden designers and nurseries which we attract to RHS Malvern. The forecast is good for the weekend ahead and we are really looking forward to a cracking show."

Tickets are on sale now. Tickets are available on the gate from £19. For more information on ticket prices, visit www.threecounties.co.uk/springgardening.