The New Marque, logo or slogan for Herefordshire was unveiled at Hampton Court Castle last week and immediately seemed to srike a chord with many people involved in promoting and attracting people to this wonderful county.

Taking the Here from Herefordshire and proclaiming all the different identities the county has seems such a simple idea it is a wonder no-one has thought of it before. Sam Phillips from the Ross Walkers are Welcome group said:?"At first glance it looks great, such a good idea very simple but effective."

Sir Ben Gill, Chairman of Visit Herefordshire, the company which is aiming to improve tourism and awareness for the area, joined forces with the Herefordshire Business Board to introduce the new marque.

One of the problems the team behind the new brand design found was that there was not one easily identifed symbol for the county, which are not already used by somewhere else.

They said that the only thing Herefordshire has which is totally its own is the bull. However the team did not want something which was purely harking back to the past and to agriculture so the bull can take many different guises. These include a fibre optic bull to ones covered with apples or strawberries, from the union flag, demonstrating that Herefordshire is the place to invest and do business, to ones covered in an image of the countryside.

Several companies have already agreed to use the marque in their own advertising or promotional materiel.

Sir Ben Gill said that a group of Americans looking to invest in the county had been shown the designs and made favourable comments. And next year, he said:?"The strawberries on sale at Wimbledon will carry the message."