Thank you to everyone who entered this year’s garden competition and a huge congratulations to the winners! We had over 35 entries across all six categories in Dorset and Somerset this year and the judges had a very difficult job picking the winners.
A big thank you to Countrywide Grounds Maintenance for part sponsoring this year’s competition.
Alice Bagg, Head of Customer Experience and Home Services at Magna, was one of the judges. She said: "Thank you to everyone who entered and let us visit their amazing gardens. We were so impressed by the time and effort taken to make your outside spaces so wonderful and unique."
Gavin Barker and Nick Brown were the other two judges from our grounds maintenance team at Magna. Gavin said: "It was fantastic to see the pleasure that people were getting from being outside and hear the stories behind so many of the beautiful gardens this year."
Nick added: “It was a pleasure to be asked to help judge the garden competition again this year. We saw some amazing gardens, some we had seen in previous years and it was great to see them maturing, and some new ones. The standard was very high and doing it a month earlier meant so many plants were still flowering, which gave some amazing displays. Seeing the variety of garden styles and meeting the gardeners really opened my eyes to peoples' personality and styles, and how that inspired some unique gardens and amazing ideas. It was great to see that the formality of years gone by are history, and nature and children now play a big part.”
After much head scratching, the judges came to a decision, and the winners are:
Large garden category
- 1st prize - Steve Sully, Minehead
- 2nd prize - Debbie McCarthy, Lyme Regis
- 3rd prize - Richard Butler, Weymouth
Small garden category
- 1st prize - Gillian Hurley, Minehead
- 2nd prize - Jenny Shepard, Puddletown
- 3rd prize - Jack Potten-May, Sherborne
Patios / containers / windows / hanging baskets / indoor pots category
- 1st prize - Andrew Hodder, Lyme Regis
- 2nd prize - Janice Ford, Martinstown
- 3rd prize - Alyson Mead, Dorchester
Children's creative gardening category
- 1st prize - Arya and Edyson Boyland, Lyme Regis
- 2nd prize - Aurelia Pettegree, Shaftesbury
- 3rd prize - Alba and Lincoln McDonald, Dorchester
Wildlife garden category
- 1st prize - Helen Chant, Beaminster
- 2nd prize - Terri Payne, Brushford
- 3rd prize - Mike Hale, Chickerell
Vegetable and / or fruit garden category
- 1st prize - Rebecca Brake, Sherborne
- 2nd prize - Lisa Boyland, Lyme Regis
Well done to the lucky winners and thanks to all our entrants for their hard work.
We run our garden competition every year, so if you didn't enter this time, why not give it a go next year! Keep an eye out on our website and social channels to stay updated and find out when our garden competition is next open.
