YOUNGSTERS at Overbury First School in the heart of the country have turned their hands to the art of cookery.

Now they are sharing their skills with the launch of their own book of Favourite Recipes to celebrate British Food Fortnight.

Favourite Recipes is packed with more than 100 pages of tried and tested recipes, hand-written and illustrated in colour throughout, which have been given by children, friends and families linked to the small village school on the lower slopes of Bredon Hill.

From frantic fruity pudding to spicy pumpkin soup to red pepper tart, the recipes have been contributed by young and old alike. The book includes one recipe for cottage pie from local butcher John Walker, aged 85, who attended Overbury School in 1927.

Head teacher Val Wilkinson said: "We're a small rural school with our roots in the farming community and this is an ideal opportunity to celebrate food and promote local producers, as well as to raise valuable funds to provide new learning resources for our children."

Mrs Wilkinson added: "As a school, our healthy eating initiatives promote fresh, seasonal food, we have a cookery club as part of our rolling programme of out-of-hours activities and we encourage our children to respect the natural environment through our Forest School sessions and local visits around the village and beyond."

Favourite Recipes has a limited print run of 300 copies, available at £7.50 each from Beckford Stores or from Overbury First School on 001386 725235.

Mrs Wilkinson said that thanks to generous sponsorship to produce the recipe book, every penny from sales of the book would be used to support children at Overbury First School.