THE hugely popular Malvern Autumn Show is just a month away and getting set to celebrate a season of champion gardening, growing and gathering, as well as rural life and our country’s quirky character.

The show, on the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, September 23 and 24, will once again be a feast of family entertainment featuring everything from world record-breaking giant vegetables to the last major RHS Flower Show of the season.

Headlining the Food and Drink Pavilion will be the charismatic Great British Menu host, Andi Oliver, alongside that great favourite laid-back Great British Baker, Selasi Gbormittah. He’ll be sharing top tips on how to avoid soggy bottoms and ensure every creation is a showstopper.

Another show favourite returning is the award-winning author and grower, Mark Diacono, who is back to host the Cookery Theatre. There’ll also be the Raymond Blanc Cookery School as well as local chefs and food producers.

Topping the horticultural line-up for this year will be the BBC Gardeners’ World stalwart Carol Klein, who’ll be sharing her encyclopaedic knowledge with show-goers alongside garden writer and fellow presenter, Alys Fowler.

Celebrity florist, Jonathan Moseley, will be championing British flowers and floristry with inter-active workshops and demonstrations and the last RHS Flower Show of the season features over 40 specialist nurseries.

This year’s show will run in partnership with the Herefordshire-based Westons Cider Visitors Centre and more than 65,000 people are expected to flock to the Three Counties Showground venue at Malvern.

Among the highlights at the show will be a brand new feature - The Power of Pollinators - which will take visitors on an investigative journey looking at bees, bumblebees, butterflies and other important pollinators and how they can be supported in gardens and the wild.

Head of Show, Diana Walton said: “We decided to create this new exhibit because as a harvest show we depend on pollinators for the produce that we celebrate and showcase.

“More and more we are hearing startling statistics about the plight of pollinators and how vital they are to our survival. We felt that it was time that we explored the bigger picture and we are aiming to both educate and inspire show-goers to take any small action that could help future proof our resources.”

Dr Richard Comont, Science Manager of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Worcester, said of the feature: “We are really pleased to be involved with this new exhibit at the Malvern Autumn Show. Protecting our pollinators is a vital, topical issue and the bumblebees and other wildlife that play a role in pollination need understanding and support from a wider audience.

“Many plants rely on insects to complete their reproductive cycle so without bees, hoverflies and other insects we wouldn’t have strawberries, apples or even chocolate!”

He added: “We’re really looking forward to the show and sharing our work on how people can help protect these vital insects.”

Visitors to The Power of Pollinators will have the opportunity to get hands-on with experiments and get a glimpse of the microscopic world that the insects inhabit.

The show welcomes Worcestershire Honey Show and experts from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and the University of Worcester, all of whom will be on hand to answer questions and share how the public can help.

There will be a host of other attractions for the whole family.