GARDENERS are celebrating success for their eye-catching efforts in an annual front garden competition.

The summer contest is organised by Knutsford Town Council, and is part of the town’s ‘In Bloom’ initiative.

Residents were encouraged to nominate street-facing front gardens worthy of recognition, whether their own garden, a neighbour’s or a stranger’s.

This year the competition was extended to include two additional categories, Back Garden and Children’s Gardening for families, to reflect the coronavirus lockdown, which has seen many residents at home with extra time to tend to their gardens.

Alex Brown from the town council said the council received more than three times as many entries than ever before for this year’s competition, with 20 entries to each of the Front Garden and Back Garden competitions and a number for the Children’s Gardening competition.

The entries were judged by a panel of Cllrs Andrew Malloy and Stewart Gardiner, Town Mayor and Deputy Town Mayor, respectively, along with Celia Baxendale from volunteer group Knutsford in Bloom, who met online to choose this year’s winners.

The Front Garden competition was won by Ann Long from Church Hill, with Ted and Lorraine Dorset from Woodside in second place, and Dorn Reed from Overfields in third place.

The Back Garden competition produced joint winners of Andy Coatsworth from Ruskin Way and Barry Tilby from Gloucester Road.

The Children’s Gardening competition was won by Harley Groves, with Dylan, Betty and Robin Peterson in second place and Jessica and Amelia Frith in third spot.

Winners will be contacted and gift voucher prizes emailed to them .

Cllr Malloy said: “We enjoyed seeing the amazing gardens entered into the competition and it was clear we have some very green-fingered residents in Knutsford. Congratulations to all our winners and especially those who keep beautiful front gardens the whole town enjoys.”