THE season of the fruitful harvest will be celebrated when the Malvern Autumn Show returns later this year.

More than 65,000 visitors are expected to visit the family-friendly festival at the Three Counties Showground, which celebrates the very best of the British countryside.

Show head Diana Walton said: “The show champion the highlights of the season, from growing and harvesting, to cooking and spending time with family. We want to celebrate all of the wonders and quirks that our great British countryside offers.

“We’ve made some exciting new changes to the layout, including the addition of a brand-new gardening village, giving this year’s show a fresh feel and enhancing the visitor experience.

“There is something for everyone to enjoy, from cookery demonstrations and gardening tips from the stars of the food and horticultural worlds, to a vintage festival and fairground, craft activities and the UK’s largest vegetables.

"This truly is a family affair and we can’t wait to welcome visitors in to our showground to relax, eat, and enjoy the best of the season.”

The brand-new Autumn Potager Theatre, hosted by award-winning food writer and grower Mark Diacono, will welcome celebrity guests including BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Carol Klein and writer, broadcaster, actor and former MP Gyles Brandreth.

Cookery demonstrations will be headed by chef and presenter from BBC’s What to Eat Now, Valentine Warner, whilst gardening writer Alys Fowler will demonstrate how to make seasonal chutneys and pickles.

Celebrity florist and leading floral art designer Jonathan Moseley rounds up the line-up with a host of interactive workshops and demonstrations that champion British flowers.

The popular giant vegetables championship this year sees four new categories: heaviest rhubarb, heaviest kohlrabi, heaviest aubergine and longest radish. Last year, four world records and one European record were broken.

World-class nurseries will feature in the last major RHS flower show of the year and there will be a large variety of plant shops as well as a new bulb market.

There will also be hundreds of trade stands offering a perfect chance to start ticking off gifts on the Christmas list.

The show will take place on Saturday and Sunday, September 29 and 30. Tickets are now on sale.