Winchester is celebrating a blooming marvelous result in a major floral competition.

The cathedral city has been named joint winner of the large town category of the Southern England in Bloom Competition along with Salisbury.

The Wiltshire rival narrowly beat Winchester to first place in last year's competition.

As well as the major win, the city has also won a host of other awards involving the competition.

St Bede Primary School in Gordon Road has been awarded the title of Best Individual School.

And Winchester Floral Group, which organised the city's challenge, has also been honoured.

Their press officer, George Stoney, has been honoured for his "outstanding contribution" to the production of a promotional leaflet for the competition called Be Proud of Winchester.

A proud Mr Stoney said the joint result was revenge for the one point defeat by Salisbury last year.

He said: "Everyone was on tenderhooks and the judges awarded Winchester three points higher score than last year, but Salisbury were also on their mettle - a tie for first place - each having 212 points out of 250."

Mr Stoney added this is the eighth time in 12 years that Winchester has been in first place.

Representatives of the Winchester Floral Group will travel to Poole in October to receive their awards.

Also in the area, Alresford returned to the competition this year and made a good showing with an award for the best display of private gardens.

Bishop's Waltham is gearing itself up for Saturday when the town, as winner in last year's regional contest, will be judged in the prestigious Britain in Bloom competition.

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