ADVANCE ticket sales for this month's Malvern Autumn Garden and Country Show have been coming in thick and fast.

Well before the September 11 deadline, advance sales were already up 41 per cent on last year.

The Three Counties Agricultural Society is delighted that the youngest of its three main annual events is drawing the crowds to the Malvern showground.

Billed as a celebration of traditional country life and autumn gardening, it now attracts around 40,000 visitors over two days (September 23 and 24).

"This is without doubt our busiest autumn since the event was first established in 1995," said Mike Burge, of the society's box office.

He suggested the increase in ticket sales could be partly due to the show's new name, which gives a better idea of the variety of attractions on offer for all the family.

The event boasts a Royal Horticultural Society flower show, which is a plantsman's paradise, with breathtaking displays including carnations, pelargoniums, penstemons, grasses, bonsai and cacti.

In the Harvest Pavilion there is an open gardening competition, attracting perfect specimens of apples and pears, giant vegetables, roses, fuchsias and alpines, all carefully nurtured by gardeners across the region.

A must for anyone with a taste for good food is the Festival of Food and Wine, with a chance to sample all kinds of regional produce and watch cookery demonstrations in the celebrity cookery theatre.

The show also includes displays of floral art, a gardeners theatre, classic cars, native livestock, a conservation area, a craft marquee and an action packed entertainment programme.

6 Charles Martell with perry pears from the national collection at the Three Counties Showground.