A MUSIC festival based on a farm near Bromyard is kicking off the year with two new awards to its name.

Nozstock: The Hidden Valley has been recognised for its work towards creating a sustainable festival and for providing innovative access for disabled audiences.

Now in its 10th year of working towards a ‘greener festival’, Nozstock was visited by independent auditors to inspect actions on the ground and scooped an Improvers Award as a result.

The award looked at 11 categories of sustainability including travel and transport, waste, local ecosystems and external reach and behaviour.

The festival is also one of only three to have won in the Attitude Is Everything's inaugural 'outstanding attitude awards' which recognises festivals and venues at the forefront of innovative access for disabled audiences.

Nozstock's win was as a result of its detailed online access information including photo guides, distances to key locations and a downloadable social story to assist visits for those living with autism and learning disabilities.

Nozstock was also shortlisted in more categories than any other festival in the UK Festival Awards 2016, for Best Dance Event, Best Family Festival, Promoter of the Year and The Extra Festival Activity Award for the Clean Campsite Competition.

Ella Nosworthy, one of Nozstock’s founders, said: "We are all hugely proud to have won two awards, and it’s a lovely way to start the year. We do invest a lot of time, energy and planning into our green credentials, and also to make Nozstock as accessible as possible for everyone, so to be recognized for this is really special.

"And being shortlisted for a further four awards in The UK Festival Awards 2016 shows we must be doing something right.

"There’s always more to be done though – we enjoy the challenge of coming up with new, creative ways to improve the festival for our visitors, and already have some great ideas for 2017.”

The theme for this year's festival – which takes place between Friday, July 21 and Sunday, July 23 at Rowden Paddocks near Bromyard – will be 'Keepin’ it Surreal'.