WATERING cans are out in force to keep Hampshire's pub blooms in peak condition for this year's Daily Echo Pubs In Bloom competition.

Whether it is fantastic flowers, huge hanging baskets or a children's playground that puts the others to shame, we want to see how your pub celebrates the best the summer has to offer.

This is a great chance for landlords and regulars to put their pub on the map as the best in the south.

The first contender battling for botanical brilliance is The Cricketers Arms on Chestnut Avenue in Chandler's Ford which have entered before and is hoping this will be its lucky year.

Assistant manager Jenny Clarke said: "This is the fourth year we have entered the Echo competition and we always hope we will win. The customers love the garden and are always complimenting us on our blooms."

Next in line is Helen Lowe, landlady at The Fox and Hounds on the Winchester Road in Fair Oak, who took over the pub last July and has spent an incredible £1,500 on flowers in the hope of winning this year's competition.

She said: "The pub has got a good history of winning flower competitions in the past so we want to get it back to how it used to look.

Awards "We have an engraved board with all its previous awards in the bar but for the last few years the flowers haven't been that good. The customers say it's starting to look like its old self again."

Another pub hoping to beat off the competition is The Pilgrim Inn on Hythe Road in Marchwood.

Manager Dave Etchell-Johnson said: "This is the first time we have entered but it will take a lot to beat it with all the hanging baskets and flowers I have got. They look pretty stunning and picture postcard perfect."

The winner of the competition will receive a framed photograph, a plaque to place in the bar, a bottle of Champagne and free entry into next year's competition.