The grandson of Cadbury's chocolate founder has joined the board of the Cotswolds Distillery.

Sir Dominic Cadbury, who was previously chief executive and chairman of Cadbury Schweppes, lives near the distillery in Stourton, Shipston-on-Stour.

He is the second key appointment to the Cotswolds Distillery board, following the addition of Richard Watling, former CEO of Justerini & Brooks.

Sir Dominic joined Cadbury in 1964 and five years later the company merged with Schweppes. He joined the board in 1975, before working as the company's group chief executive from 983 and 1993, serving as chairman until he retired in 2000.

Commenting on his appointment, Sir Dominic said: ""I am delighted to be joining the Cotswolds Distillery Board and look forward to contributing to their plans to grow this exciting young business."

The Cotswolds Distillery was founded in 2013 and makes single malt whisky, gins and liqueurs.

Dan Szor, founder and CEO of Cotswolds Distillery, said, "We are delighted to welcome Sir Dominic to the board. He brings a huge amount of experience and will add enormous value to the board as the distillery moves into its next chapter."

The Cotswolds Distillery, which was named World's Best Craft Whisky Distillery 2018, has seen rapid growth in the past year, completing a funding round which raised £3 million in April. This has allowed the company to break ground this month on the construction of a new visitor centre at the distillery, attracting 30,000 visitors annually.

It has also seen the company expand their senior management teams; in October Stan Owen join the distillery in the newly created position of finance director and Debs Carter joined the company as head of marketing in August.

Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky was launched in October 2017. Each bottle lists the barley variety, harvest year and local Cotswolds farm it was grown on. It recently won Gold at the New York World Wine & Spirits Competition and took 2 stars (one of only two whiskies to do so) in the 2018 Great Taste Awards.

Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky is available nationally and in 12 countries across the world. Key UK retailers include Majestic Wine, The Whisky Exchange and Laithwaites.

The distillery also produces award winning Cotswolds Dry Gin, l Wine and Spirits Competition. Difford's Guide recently ranked the Gin as one of the top 20 Gins available in a survey of 450 brands.

Cotswolds Dry Gin is on sale nationally and in over 23 countries. Key national accounts include Waitrose & Partners, Majestic, Oddbins, Laithwaites, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, and Fortnum & Mason.