MENHENIOT is officially the best blooming village in Cornwall – at least as far as flowers are concerned!

Supported and encouraged by the parish council, volunteer gardeners entered the entire village in the South West in Bloom competition for the first time. Not only did they come away with a Gold Award for achieving high standards in horticulture, environment and community, but they were also presented with the Pennant Cup as overall winners in Cornwall.

Judges were impressed by the range of projects they saw across the parish, ranging from displays at the sports pavilion on East Road, through the primary school’s garden and vegetable patch, taking in the wildflower planting on the football field, the village green with its tubs, troughs and planters by St Lalluwy’s Church and through to the wildlife bank along Mine Hill Road.

Special judges’ mentions also went to Malcolm Davey and Carol and Steve Clifford for their private gardens, as well as the stunning displays outside The White Hart pub and Post Office.

Neighbouring Merrymeet village received two separate “It’s Your Neighbourhood” awards for its work across the village and maintaining the verges along the A390.

Chair of Menheniot Parish Council councillor Adrian Cole said: “After our previous entries for South West In Bloom competitions, we had high hopes of getting at the very least a certificate and a handshake. So you can imagine our delight when we heard we’d won Gold – and a proper cup to go with it!

“My thanks go to everyone who turned out over the last year to get their hands dirty and  their backs aching, and special thanks to Keith Goldsmith and the Menheniot Gardening Club for driving this forward.”

South West in Bloom is one of eighteen regional and national competitions that make up Britain in Bloom, the biggest horticultural campaign in Europe. The aim of the communities that take part each year is to improve and regenerate local environments through the imaginative planting of trees, shrubs, flowers and landscaping, conservation and recycling projects, and to sweep away the eyesores that blight our streets, such as litter, graffiti and vandalism.