Winning Dorothy for the Day!

The spirit of our Dorothy Goodbody – has been brought to life for our 2013 calendar cover thanks to 'Dorothy for the Day' competition winner Lucy Dearden.  

Dorothy Goodbody is the brains and beauty behind a delicious range of real ales from Wye Valley Brewery.  Legend tells that Dorothy was the daughter of a Herefordshire hop farmer in the 1950's and renowned local belle.  Inspired by the Herefordshire countryside, she developed a passion for real ale and created a range of fantastic ale recipes using local hops.  

We received over 90 applications from potential Dorothy’s, all keen to represent her in a fabulous 1950's styled photo-shoot.  To make this all possible, we worked with the lovely ladies from vintage fashion designer Vivien of Holloway.

We were overwhelmed by the response to this competition – and there were so many fantastic entries – it was really hard to pick just one winner!  But in the end, Lucy’s entry won over judges for her spirited prose - explaining why she would be a great Dorothy for the day - and her winning smile.

Lucy, comments “I had a great time on the photo-shoot, it was amazing to be transformed into the 1950’s look, the clothes were beautiful.  It was surprisingly hard work though – I certainly deserved a bottle of Dorothy Goodbody’s Golden Ale by the end of the day!”

To celebrate the local hops used in Dorothy Goodbody’s ales, the backdrop for the photo-shoot was the verdant hops at Pridewood Farm. Winner Lucy was joined for the day by runner-up and local girl Hannah Tuffin from Hereford. Percival the farm Jack Russell also had his 15 minutes of fame when he posed with Lucy in one of the photos!

The 2013 Wye Valley Brewery calendars are hot of the press.  Over 1000 copies will be distributed to Wye Valley Brewery customers and for Dorothy-fans they are also available to purchase from the brewery shop.

PICTURED IS: Winner Lucy Dearden, amongst the hops at Pridewood Farm near Ledbury.

For, further images from the photo-shoot see the facebook album.