Gardeners from across Seaton Valley were celebrated at the Gardening Competition 2023 Awards ceremony on Wednesday 6 September, where the category entrants were presented with their certificates and the winners with their trophies.
Our annual Seaton Valley Gardening Competition is in its nineth year, and we had an excellent response to our annual competition.
Entries in all the categories were received from residents across the villages in the Valley, and we were amazed by the wonderful gardens, floral displays, containers and allotments that were entered into the competition.
The judges had a difficult time deciding on the category winners and commented on how impressive the standard of the entries and displays had been this year. Despite the sunny start to the summer followed by a very wet spell we have experienced, the gardens and floral displays looked great and are a credit to the dedication of our gardeners.
The category entrants are listed below:
Best Community Garden
- New Hartley Community Garden – Gold
- New Hartley Memorial Garden – Gold
- Hartley Court, New Hartley – Gold
- Concorde House, Holywell – Silver
Best in Class – New Hartley Community Garden
Best Single Container
- Pauline Partis – Silver
- Ken Collier – Silver Gilt
- Joan Plewes – Gold
Best in Class – Joan Plewes
Best Garden
- Eric Collier – Gold
- Judith and Mark Fraser – Gold
- Jill Humphries – Silver Gilt
- Ted Barras – Silver
- Angela Baird – Silver Gilt
- Debbie Mahoney – Silver Gilt
- Ken Phillipson – Silver Gilt
- Brenda Hall – Bronze
- Linda Peers – Silver Gilt
- Patrick Barber – Silver Gilt
Best in Class – Eric Collier
Best Allotment
- Sophie Purvis- Gold
- Trevor Mackie – Silver Gilt
- Ashleigh Symonds & Jack Till – Bronze
- Mr & Mrs Partis – Silver
- Michael & Brenda Thompson – Gold
Best in Class – Michael & Brenda Thompson
The judges also decided on the following awards and their comments are included below:
Best Newcomer 2023 – Sophie Purvis
Sophie’s allotment plot has changed in the two years that she has been the plot holder from being one of the most unused sites to an outstanding plot. The judges were impressed by Sophie’s knowledge and interest in gardening and how proud she was of her achievements, which she definitely deserves to be. This is a very tidy plot with a great variety of produce in.
Judges Choice 2023 – Jill Humphries
Jill’s garden is practical and fun for kids and family life, but had an air of tranquility about it too. It’s not a huge garden but you could see the different areas of interest and included both floral and produce growing. The type of garden where you could party or relax in.
