ONLINE booking forms for the Malvern Walking Festival are available now.

The festival returns bigger and better, running from Saturday, May 28 to Sunday, June 5.

There will be 38 walks over the nine days, each led by knowledgeable leaders.

Organiser Ray Roberts said: “We are hoping for a record entry this year as we are getting more and more people each year. We have a very good team of walk leaders, who are key to the smooth running of the event.”

This year there is a new history trail covering 63-miles over six days, which will be led by Bob Baldwin who developed the walk. He will be venturing further west, as far as the cathedral city of Hereford.

The end-to-end walk of the Malverns is now a double event with a staggered start and there is also the end-to-end and back walk for serious and fit walkers who like an extra challenge.

The walks range from easy to strenuous and cover a variety of themes.

They include Dr John Harcup looking at Malvern’s Water Cure and its famous patients, a trip to the Teme Valley taking in the Shelsey Hill Climb, a tour of Victorian Malvern, World War II, geology, a magical mystery tour and the tasty prospect of visiting the Just Rachel ice cream factory.

For the children there’s the teddy bears picnic on Sunday, May 29.

Last year 350 individual walkers took part and completed a more than 6,000 miles, with more than 43 per cent coming from outside WR14 and WR13 postcodes, including one person who came all the way from Sydney, Australia.

A number of the walks will require participants to bring their own lunch and refreshments.

For the full programme and online booking form visit malvern-hills.co.uk/malvern-walking-festival or call the Malvern Tourist Information Centre on 01684 892289.