THEMED trails and packages are one of the current marketing strategies being developed to encourage visitors to explore and enjoy the hidden delights of Herefordshire. The Black and White Villages Trail pioneered themed tourism in the county. Created eight years ago by retired head David Gorvett of Eardisley, it is a signposted 40-mile route around the famous timber-framed villages of north-west Herefordshire: Weobley, Pembridge, Eardisland and Eardisley.

Thousands follow the trail each year, experiencing the delights ofthe villages, the beautiful countryside the route passes through and the attractions along the trail.

Last year David Gorvett produced two new themes based on visiting some of Hereforshire's lesser-known village churches and on sampling the gastronomic delights of the fertile and productive county.

The churches are featured in a series of three booklets, The Yew Tree Trails, available from Tourist Information Centres and bookshops. They lie in south-west Herefordshire in the hidden valleys between the Wye and the Black Mountains.

Foodies are catered for with the Tum Tum Trail; a leaflet gives visitors a guide to producers of yoghurts, ice creams, cooked meats and sausages, smoked salmon, wines, ciders and other delicacies for which Herefordshire is famed.

Herefordshire means apples and the Big Apple theme has brought many visitors to sample the delights centred on this versatile fruit in the country between Ross and Ledbury. Twice a year, at blossom and harvest times, visitors converge on Putley and villages below Marcle Ridge to taste cider and other delicacies and enjoy traditional festivities associated with a fruit reaching back to Roman times.

This spring the Mortimer Trail, a new footpath linking Kington with Ludlow, was opened. It leads visitors on foot through the wonderful hill and vale country of north Herefordshire.

Now, on a much wider scale, Herefordshire is being incorporated into The Hidden Highway, a new trail aimed principally at the American visitor, now able t fly long-haul into Birmingham and explore the Marches countryside.