A UNIQUELY Malvern tradition saw historic wells around the town decorated in creative ways.

The Malvern Well Dressing and Water Festival fittingly, took Kings and Queens as its theme.

A fun day in Priory Park on May 1 had helped to get the festival up and running, but residents and visitors were given another week to see the majority of the dressed wells.

A total of 56 wells were given the royal treatment by a team of volunteers including Malvern school children.

Minibus tours put on by festival organisers Malvern Spa Association took visitors on tours of the wells across the first bank holiday weekend.

For others, the wells presented an excuse, if one were needed, to explore the town and the hills on foot.

Speaking ahead of the festival, organiser Rick Banbury said: “The theme ‘Kings and Queens’ has obviously given a nod to the Coronation, which will no doubt be the largest public event this year; and of course, we had the Queen’s funeral last year.

“But what a glorious nod this is! Phil Ironside, who suggested it, excited us with a surprisingly wide variety of possible interpretations of the theme, ranging from current to historical, from Greek literature to fairy tales, from rock and roll legends to pantomime icons – this ‘nod’ is in fact very broad.”