A PICTURE taken in historic Croome Park by a local photographer is to be included in the National Trust Handbook, which is sent to over 4.5 million of the trust's members.

The photograph, taken last summer by Croome resident John Hubble, shows the park's Chinese bridge with sunbeams streaming through the trees.

Mr Hubble entered the picture into the National Trust's photo competition, which attracted more than 8,000 entries and was sponsored by Panasonic.

John’s photograph was chosen by a panel of five judges, including television presenter Julia Bradbury and professional photographer Andrew Butler.

They were impressed by the “fairy-tale” quality of the image, with its play of light and shadow, along with the mistiness beyond.

Mr Hubble said: “I am an opportunistic photographer and this picture was taken on a morning dog walk in Croome’s parkland. I try to create images that I find appealing in the hope that others might like them too.

"As tripods are not compatible with dog walking most of my photographs are taken hand-held. In the winter when light is more limited I mainly take landscapes using a wide angle lens. In the summer I tend to use a longer lens to take wildlife photos although, as in this case, a longer lens offers a different perspective on the landscape.”

He won a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ330 which he is already putting to good use.