Thanks to the businesses and householders who have done so much to produce this wonderful display!

Little did we know what a mammoth task we had set ourselves! Organising the whole judging competition took weeks and would culminate in a whole week of judging visits. On some days there was more than one team of judges going out to judge — all day!

During the judging week our judges looked at more than 80 front and back gardens, 143 allotments, 90 homes in the Quarr Lane Park and 120 businesses, pubs and restaurants. Those who entered the competition told us how pleased they were to show the judges around.

Awards were presented to the winners at a presentation ceremony at the Butterfly House, Castle Gardens on judging day, Tuesday 13 July.

Jean Gillingham receives judging award from Mrs Wingfield-Digby with Mayor Jane Smith looking on

For a complete list of the prizewinners in Growing for a Gold, click here.

Caroline Rowland, organiser of Sherborne in Bloom, would like to thank the following people. We are indebted to Aurelie Ryser, our Douzelage student from Granville who designed the wonderful judges scoring sheets and so much more. We were so appreciative of the commitment and dedication of our judges and photographers, Betty Deavin, Brian Haigh and Keith Lane, who weathered so well the scorching hot days.

We also received tremendous support from our sponsor and head judge Louise Burks of Castle Gardens who hosted all the lunches and half-time refreshments for the judges and photographers. Our judges thought it a real treat to be served with the most delicious cream teas for elevenses!

Grateful thanks to all of our judges: Louise Burks, Brian King, Tim Stiles, Janet Vincent, Jean Gillingham, Mary MaClean, Katherine Vickery, Christine Stones, Malcolm Mills, Steve Fry, Mary Brodie, Elaine Spencer-White, Paul Newman, Cordelia MacFarlane and Sally Westlotorn. Thanks also to Gillian Langham of Sherborne Town Council for showing our judges around the allotment sites.

Thank you to all Sherborne Bradford Abbas Camera Club members for their efforts throughout the year especially Gillian Gunner who also runs our fantastic website.

And finally a huge thanks to Paul Newman, Ady, Simon, Alex and Colin from the Town Council for keeping our town looking so good all year round.

Our judges were Kim Parish and Martin Abrahams and we treated them to a tour of the town designed to show them why Sherborne deserves another gold!

In contrast to the previous few days the weather was cloudy, windy  and rainy but that didn’t stop us getting around .

The tour started at Sherborne Station and proceeded through Pageant Gardens, up Digby Road and into the Abbey.

After visiting Cheap Street and a few locations in between the judging party stopped at the Quarr Local Nature Reserve which is blooming at this time of year.

After a busy two and a half hours ending at the Old and New Castles Kim and Martin were then taken to a reception at the Butterfly House at Castle Gardens where they met all the Growing for a Gold winners and were treated to a delicious cream tea!

Thanks to all the hard-working gardeners of Sherborne who make the town look so beautiful, not just on judging day but all the year round.

Thanks also to Louise and Mike Burks of Gardens Group, our main sponsors of Sherborne in Bloom, for their tremendous support and their hospitality on the day.

Venue
Butterfly House, Castle Gardens, New Road

Opening Times
9:00am – 5:00pm Mon-Fri 12-16 July and Sun 18 July

On Display
Photos taken by Sherborne Bradford Abbas Camera Club
Gardens in ‘Growing for a Gold’ competition

Admission Free

Plenty of parking – come along and see more fabulous photos like this:

Containers grow just as well up in the sky as these shots from The Maltings prove:

In fact, when you see the town from on high it’s immediately apparent just how much greenery and trees there are dotted around the town:

Indeed, Sherborne truly is a picture on a beautiful summer’s day…

The South West Market Town Awards are part of the National Market Town Awards which each year celebrate the great variety of volunteer-led projects which are helping to regenerate and sustain small towns throughout the country. The Awards are organised by Action for Market Towns, the national organization with over 400 towns in membership which supports the regeneration and vitality of small towns.

Here Gillian Gunner, chairman of the Sherborne Bradford Abbas Camera Club, receives the award from AMT board member, Peter Godfrey, on behalf of Sherborne In Bloom.

The prize was awarded for ‘… the regeneration of Sherborne station in partnership with community groups, young people, business and South West Trains. The idea was to bring light and colour to the dark and dingy platform 2  of the station, promote the town and provide passengers, tourists and local residents with a permanent display of local art.’

The judges were very impressed by the impact and low cost of the project and its applicability to any number of venues both within Sherborne and beyond.

Here are some recent shots of the boys and girls working really hard (well, most of them…) gardening and planting at various adopt-a-plots around the town:

These are really worthwhile days out for the kids and the work they do enhances and brightens up our town for everyone to enjoy. Thanks a ton, Gryphon!

Here they were on Sunday evening adding more compost to the plot and generally tidying it up:

This is a busy crossroads with a lot of traffic during the week, so Sunday evening is an ideal time to get to work.

This planter is just one of Sherborne’s ‘adopt-a-plots’ and it is the dedication of volunteers such as Bill and his neighbours that makes all the difference to these otherwise neglected plots.

Thanks, guys!

When all the talk is of gloom and doom and recession it really helps to have some cheerful splashes of colour to tempt the customers through the door!

Looking round the houses in Sherborne (old and new) it is surprising how many still observe the charming tradition of growing roses around the door. Here are a few of the many examples to be seen:

The sight and smell of romantic roses cheers everyone as they pass the front door – thanks rose growers!