WELL, there was no fooling you with our ‘let’s sell Simon de Montfort battlefield spring water as part of plan to make Evesham a world class tourist attraction’ April Fool’s Day joke.
Thanks for all the likes, shares and comments and we hope you enjoyed this year’s effort.
We’ll be back to try and catch you out again this time next year but – in case you didn’t see it – you can read it below.
Please note the plans for the visitor centre are real including the plans to sell mead and wine.
Big shout out to Mick Hurst for being such a good sport and Craig Reeves for creating the scarily realistic image.
A MAJOR new plan to boost the visitor economy in Evesham has been revealed.
A proposal to turn the town into a worldwide tourist attraction by creating a visitor centre on the battlefield site of the historic Battle of Evesham has been widely developed.
The area, currently arable land, has been earmarked for development with Battle of Evesham director, Mick Hurst, who last week was named as the Visit England national Tourism Superstar 2026 the brainchild behind the vision.
Battle of Evesham Visitor Centre and Battlefield Experience will be situated on land north west of the Alcester Road.
Plans include the development of a medieval courtyard featuring 13th Century crafts.
A multi-sensory virtual reality experience would help visitors step back in time to understand what it was like to be in the middle of a battle with 15,000 soldiers fighting each other.
Fields will be restored to wildflower meadows, and the ancient spring said to have appeared at the site where Simon de Montfort fell in battle will be restored.
On the success of August’s battle reenactments, which brings around 60,000 visitors to Evesham, Mick is keen to further exploit the town’s tourism potential. “The history tourism economy is booming in England, and Evesham needs to tap into this family demographic that wants to explore places of historic interest,” he said.
A gruesome end for many. Picture by Marcus Mingins 3122017MMR6 copyright Bullivant Media
A key plan is to bottle the water at the spring and sell it at the visitor centre along with the mead made from honey produced by bees feeding off the planned wildflower meadows and wine collected from vineyards planted as Evesham monks would have done in medieval times.
Mick told the Observer: “The monks of Evesham Abbey recorded 200 miracle cures after drinking the de Montfort Spring Water from Evesham Battlefield.
“These holy men wanted to canonise Simon de Montfort into a Saint.
“Evesham has long been a symbol of religion, with pilgrimages still taking place today – the town was founded on a miraculous vision after all.
“The water from this spring should be considered as important as Malvern or Droitwich water, and maybe has healing properties.”
“If we as a town can get all behind historic and heritage tourism, we shall see Evesham flourish over the next five to 10 years.”
“This will benefit everyone, even those who have no interest in history – services will improve, new business opportunities will appear, and the evening economy will carry on getting better.
“My question to everyone reading this is – what can you do to help turn Evesham into an historic tourism destination, and into somewhere you are proud to live?”
